Deep Discount DVD
 

They have them at DDD now. Just search for UMD. Some of the prices are decent, and some are kinda high. They have current releases and pre orders. Enjoy!

UMD movies
 

I think what they really need to start doing is to offer a coupon with a large discount for UMD's packaged in with the DVD version of the movie, maybe like a 10 dollar off coupon. I live in Canada, they're usually 19.99 here except for new releases. Maybe once the UMD itself becomes cheaper to manufacture we'll see some better prices on games and movies (Is that wishfull thinking?)

they are around 14 for most titles at sams club.

Just wondering if viewing the movies off a duo stick will give you full widescreen? Like if you encoded the movie to the same resolution as the PSP screen, will it fill the screen, or will it be stretched or what? Does the PSP have aspect ratio options like widescreen TV's do? What happens if you have a video that is 4:3?
I only ask because from what I could tell by reading the large PSP thread is that movies don't fill the screen properly when played off the duo stick, but they do if it's a UMD movie. I think it was only mentioned early on it the thread.

You can get OAR on the PSP off of the memory stick duo. I've just had some problems with getting it to automatically adjust, but you can stretch video to the correct aspect ratio. You have different video modes, and I usually use full screen (this is not like fullscreen DVDs by the way) and it fills the widescreen at the correct aspect ratio. A 4:3 video will have black bars on the sides. I'm not sure if there's a way to get the video to automatically scale to the correct aspect ratio since I haven't fooled around with it too much, but I know you can adjust the settings on the PSP itself to manually stretch the video to the correct aspect ratio. Sad thing is that it doesn't remember the setting so that when I play the video again I have to adjust the aspect ratio again. I'll have to work with my roommate on getting his program to automatically adjust the aspect ratio because it would make it easier on me. If anyone else knows the answer please reply. Anyways, I hope this helps.

If I remember correctly, the only video that will play off a Memory Stick is 320x240 or whatever that size is. You have to stretch to fill the rest of the screen. The only way to get full resolution video is from a UMD. Its Sony's way of promoting UMDs. It can be unlocked via flashware if Sony ever decides to do so, but as of right now, you have to stretch to fit the screen.

Just to add more detail: The PSP has the same functions as a widescreen TV: normal, stretch, zoom, etc. If you encode a 16:9 image and use the stretch mode it will unsquish it and fill the screen. The resolution is limited to 320x240, which is less than a UMD, but it can be adjusted to fill the entire screen. It's not true that movies don't display correctly. For example, visit: http://engadget.com/entry/1234000980024404/

In this image, the video is displayed at it's native resolution, and since the screen resolution is higher than the 320x240 video, there is space all around the video:
http://img.engadget.com/common/image...8184228374.jpg

In this image, the video is displayed at it's default "normal" resolution, which is to fill the screen top-to-bottom which still leaves some space on the left and right:
http://img.engadget.com/common/image...5526216827.jpg

In this image, the video has been zoomed to fill the screen left-to-right, thus cropping the top and bottom of the image. If you had encoded a letterboxed image, the black bars would be chopped off:
http://img.engadget.com/common/image...1454465309.jpg

In this image, the video has been stretched horizontally to fill top-to-bottom and left-to-right. If the video were 16:9 enhanced, this would restore it to the correct aspect ratio:
http://img.engadget.com/common/image...8218796287.jpg

So, if you encode a letterboxed video, a 16:9 enhanced "squished" video, or a 4:3 fullscreen video/television show, any one of them could be displayed correctly on the screen.

I brought along Pirates of the Caribbean on a bus trip last week and could barely hear the audio during the trip (with headphones!). I haven't gotten around to comparing the volume of this movie to the Spider-Man 2 pack-in, but I'm guessing it was recorded too low.

I posted this list of all the UMD movies over in the DVD Talk forum, it's getting to be quite impressive.

4/19 XXX, Resident Evil Apocalypse, Hellboy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, House of the Flying Daggers, Kill Bill Vol 1, Pirates of the Caribbean
5/3 Reign of Fire, Hero, National Treasure
5/24 Are We There Yet?, Charlies Angels
5/31 Hollow Man, Boogeyman
6/7 Terminator 2, Van Wilder, Punisher, Saw, Open Water
6/14 Spider-Man: New Animated Series, Daddy Day Care, Hitch, Bad Boys, Grudge
6/21 King Arthur, Hostage, Cursed, Tron
6/28 Air Force One, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Resident Evil, Starship Troopers
7/5 Napoleon Dynamite, Dodgeball, I Robot, Predator, Super Troopers
7/12 Black Hawk Down, Anacondas
7/19 Kill Bill 2, Armageddon, Gone in 60 Seconds, From Dusk Til Dawn

There is an option to boost the sound for UMD movies. Did you try that?

darkside, thanks for the info, I hadn't noticed that before in the video settings. Hopefully this will solve the problem the next time I come across this.

Picked up Daddy Day Care at Circuit City for $12.99 today. Hitch is only $14.99 which is a great price considering the list price is $29. Hopefully, Circuit City will continue this trend in the future on all new releases.

Damn Sony's really going with the UMD Video market....I mean, almost all of the releases I've been looking forward to picking up on DVD are being relased on UMD as well. Sin City, Kung Fu Hustle, Oldboy, Dawn of the Dead (late...) and FDtD (late...) plus a few others are all going to be mine! Well, once I can pony up the cash to buy 'em, that is...

BTW: To anyone with a PSP + UMD movies, how does it feel to watch them? Is the experience too different than watching the DVD versions, and if so, is it in a good or bad way?

I watch UMD movies at work and love 'em. I've only bought 4 movies (plus Spiderman 2 pack-in) but I'm looking forward to a handful more. The visual quality of the movies is superb but the PSP screen does glare and that may distort your view. Sound is also a problem but fidgeting with your settings seems to do the trick. DVD like extras are almost non-existent although Hero has a Tarantino bonus that's interesting. My only other gripe about watching UMD movies is the battery drain. Sluuuurp...it's done. A spare battery/charger is the way to go, I picked up a Noki USB charging cradle for work watching.

Is there any possible reason why someone would buy a UMD instead of buying the DVD and then ripping to a card to watch? Is the quality hit that big? Is it some sort of sinister mind controlling gas the PSP emits?

UMD is the only way to get the movie in full screen resolution. Otherwise, it accepts resolution off the memory stick at 320x240 and you have to stretch it out to the full screen. So technically, you do get a better picture using the UMD.

The time to rip a DVD movie and convert it (1+ hour or so on average), buying a big enough card to hold a movie (512MB MAY hold 1 had a decent quality), the price of the 512MB cards, and the convience of watching more then one movie.

I currently own three UMDs (Both Resident Evils and Napoleon Dynamite), and there are a handful I plan on buying in the future.

The UMD is easier and the resolution is higher. Sony limits movies off the memory stick to 320X240. That is okay, but not that great. My PDA can do much better video than the PSP due to that limitation.

UMD on the other hand looks about as good as portable video can get, but buying two versions can get expensive in the long run. Paying $15 extra to watch it on the PSP doesn't work for me. I buy the DVD and convert it for portable watching. UMD is only going to be useful on the PSP so I see no reason to invest a lot of money in them. Its not like they would look very good on a TV so that is not much of an option even if Sony gave it to you down the road.

As others have said there are many non-brainwashing reasons to go with UMD:
picture-quality improvement
sound quality improvement
$100 for 1 GB memory card which only holds 2 movies at a time
2 to 3 hours of to encode movie to a card.

The obvious benefit of the memory card is a better selection of movies, or perhaps generally across-the-board OAR of DVDs. But I can't imagine why someone would spend the time and money to encode a movie if a UMD version exists. Once the price drops significantly on the 1 GB cards and PC processing power increases, I may see the benefits of ripping DVDs, but as it stands I see the outstanding selection of UMD movies as reason not to bother with it at all as I have more than enough movies to watch when the need arises (the occasional business trip or family vacation).

The latest list of movies available:

4/19 XXX, Resident Evil Apocalypse, Hellboy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, House of Flying Daggers, Kill Bill Vol 1, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider-Man 2
5/3 Reign of Fire, Hero, National Treasure
5/24 Are We There Yet?, Charlies Angels
5/31 Hollow Man, Boogeyman
6/7 Terminator 2, Van Wilder, Punisher, Saw, Open Water
6/14 Spider-Man: Animated Series, Daddy Day Care, Hitch, Bad Boys, Grudge
6/21 King Arthur DC, Hostage, Cursed UR, Tron
6/28 Air Force One, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Resident Evil, Starship Troopers, 7 Seconds, Short Circuit, Dreamscape, Endless Summer, Super Speedway
7/5 Napoleon Dynamite, I Robot, Predator, Super Troopers, Dodgeball, Appleseed
7/12 Black Hawk Down, Anacondas, You Got Served
7/19 Kill Bill 2, Armageddon, Gone in 60 Seconds DC, From Dusk Til Dawn, Man of the House, Oldboy
7/26 XXX State of the Union, Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Not Another Teen Movie UR, Final Fantasy Spirits Within, Monty Python & Holy Grail, Cowboy Bebop The Movie, Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), Chronicles of Riddick UR, Dawn of the Dead UR, Fast and the Furious, Rundown, Van Helsing, Steamboy DC
8/2 Big Daddy, Guess Who, Ghostbusters, SWAT
8/9 Kung Fu Hustle, Team America World Police, Coach Carter, Without a Paddle, Replacement Killers
8/16 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Coyote Ugly DC, Sin City, The Rock, Shaolin Soccer, Big Hit
8/23 Layer Cake, Snatch, Time Bandits, Total Recall, Young Guns, Cabin Fever, House of 1000 Corpses, House of the Dead, Evil Dead, Halloween, Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, Blood: The Last Vampire
8/30 Sahara, Friday Night Lights, Bourne Identity, Italian Job, Transporter, American Pie UR
9/13 13 Going on 30, Akira, Beauty Shop, Be Cool, Bulletproof Monk
9/20 The Longest Yard, American Pie 2 UR, Mr Deeds, Pitch Black UR
9/27 Robots
10/4 Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider Cradle of Life, Star Trek Nemesis, Warriors DC
10/11 Unleashed, American Wedding

^^^and theres no reason to spend money on UMDs, right? Pfft....

I'd still rather rip my own DVD to a memory card. At least until UMD's come down in price. I cannot see spending $15-$30 on a movie, when I already own the DVD with more features, better quality. I've been tempted a few times, but have passed

yeh, the prices are steep, but still...you could do what i do, mix and match. Get the real important films on DVD, and the rest on UMD for roadtrips and whatnot....

Not sure what kind of PCs you guys have, but it only takes me 30 minutes to convert a DVD for portable use and my PC is hardly a powerhouse. AMD 3200+ nothing real fancy. Its really easy once you get the process down. I probably wouldn't bother if it took 2-3 hours, but it doesn't take anywhere near that long.

What I would like to see is DVDs that include the UMD with them. If you could get both for an extra $5-$10 it would be worth it to get the UMD version.

I picked up T2 at Sams Club for $12.

Are you converting them at then highest possible quality? Even then its still not comparable to UMD movies.