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(Universal Media Disc) The optical disc used in Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP). Officially the ECMA-365 standard, a UMD is a read-only medium for games and movies. Video is encoded in H.264, and audio is encoded in ATRAC3plus. See PlayStation.
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Universal Media Disc |
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| Media type | Optical disc |
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| Capacity | 900 MB (single layer), 1.8 GB (dual layer) |
| Developed by | Sony |
| Usage | Games, movies, music |
| Optical media types | |
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| See also | |
The Universal Media Disc (UMD) is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform. It can hold up to 1.8 gigabytes of data and is capable of housing video games, feature-length films, and music.
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Contents
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ECMA-365: Data Interchange on 60 mm Read-Only ODC – Capacity: 1.8 GB (UMD)[1]
DVD region coding has been applied to most UMD movies and music. However regional lockout is not applied to games, making them region free.
The primary application for UMD discs is as a storage medium for PSP games, although the format is also used for the storage of motion pictures and, to a lesser degree, television shows for playback on the PSP. The video is encoded in the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format, with the audio in ATRAC3plus.
The BBC released a number of its TV titles on UMD in the UK, including The Office, The Mighty Boosh, Doctor Who and Little Britain.
Some adult films have been released on UMD in Japan.[2]
Although it was implied that UMD piracy was impossible due to the proprietary nature of the discs, a combination of software security flaws in early PlayStation Portable firmware builds made it possible to extract images of a disc in the standard ISO 9660 format. Sony had always included methods for loading game images from other storage mediums, as a means of future proofing the system. This has been exploited to allow full retail UMD images to be run, making piracy possible with no hardware modifications.
The UMD discs offer large capacity and the capability to store quality audio/video content; however, the format's proprietary nature and the lack of writers and blank media has made adoption difficult. In comparison to Sony's MiniDisc format, there are a number of features lacking; the sliding shield which prevents direct disc contact on MiniDiscs is absent from all UMDs released to date, though it is an option according to the ECMA specification.[1]
According to the official ECMA specification Sony designed the UMD to support two possible future enhancements and products.[1]
1. Protective Shutter: Similar to the MiniDisc and 3½" floppy disc, this protective shutter will shield the inner disc from accidental contact.
2. Auto-Loading: UMDs were designed for possible future slot loading devices with Auto-Loading mechanisms. These would be very similar to the auto-loading mechanism used in slot loading MiniDisc home and car decks. It would also be similar to the VHS U-Matic auto-loading mechanism. Unlike the current clamshell loading design the PSP uses, a slot loading device using an Auto-Loading mechanism would be motorized and completely automatic. The user would insert the disc into the device slot, the motorized mechanism would then take over and draw the disc inside the drive completing the loading process. The disc would also be ejected fully automatically by the motorized mechanism, like a VCR. This would also mean that power would be required in order to insert or eject a disc.
The UMD format never saw implementation on any device other than the PlayStation Portable. As a result, the market is very limited compared to those for other optical media formats. Although poor sales early in the format's life had caused major studios Universal and Paramount to rescind their support[3][4], Sony Pictures, Columbia, and other film publishers continue to distribute their films on UMD in a limited capacity. Capcom, HBO, Disney and various other content producers have also continued their support of the format, releasing TV shows, cartoons and OVAs on UMD as well. Retail support of the format experienced similar troubles, and in 2006 Wal-Mart began phasing out shelf space devoted to UMD movies, with other chains soon following suit. Today, most non-specialty retail stores have stopped bringing in new UMD movies and no longer have a separate section devoted to them, with a few stray unsold titles mixed in amongst the regular PSP games.[5]
In August 2007, Multimedia Recovery brought to the market their UMD Replacement Case after many complaints from PlayStation Portable owners that the outer casing of the UMD disc was cracking or pulling apart due to the poor design. This causes the UMD to become unreadable in the PlayStation Portable.
In late 2009, Sony began pushing developers away from the UMD format and towards digital distribution on the PlayStation Network in preparation for the launch of the digital-download-only PSP Go, which is the first PSP model to not include a UMD drive.[6] However, the new system has experienced lackluster sales compared to previous models, with most consumers still choosing the UMD-compatible PSP-3000 model, which continues to be sold along side the PSP Go.[7][8] And despite the earlier push for PlayStation Network releases around the PSP Go's launch, over half of the PSP's library is still only available in UMD format including Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, though there have been a few PlayStation Network-only releases since the PSP Go's launch, such as LocoRoco Midnight Carnival. Still, most new games continue to be distributed via UMD, and, aside from those published by SCE, not all have been released on PlayStation Network. In 2011, a faster and slimmer version of the PSP-3000 came out called PSP-E1000 with a UMD slot.
The successor of the PlayStation Portable, the PlayStation Vita, was announced to introduce the use of a new type of media for its software.[9]
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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