DivX: Full Stream Ahead!

01.11.05

By Nick Stam, ExtremeTech

We had a chance to meet with Jordan Greenhall (Co-Founder and CEO of DivXNetworks) and some of his top staff members at CES last week. You may recall the intriguing story of Greenhall partnering with ``MPEG4-like`` DivX codec developer Jerome Rota (aka ``Gej``) and others in early-2000 to form ``Project Mayo``, which by late summer 2000 would be incorporated and called DivXNetworks. By January 2001, Rota and team developed a clean-room version of DivX to head off possible legal problems, but it was still MPEG4-like for video compression, and it used MP3 for audio. DivXNetworks gave away millions of copies of basic DivX for free, while selling higher-end versions, licensing technology to third parties, and continually improving feature sets over time. Today, DivXNetworks cites over 160 million DivX users and roughly 2 billion DivX files in existence. Equally impressive, over 20 million DivX-compatible consumer DVD players have been sold to date, and the number is growing rapidly.ADVERTISEMENT

DivX 6, the upcoming and highly anticipated version presently in beta, was demonstrated at CES and is expected to be released in March 2005. It will provide higher levels of compression, improved video quality, and interactive video menus. We look forward to seeing the final product, but we did get to watch a demo of a high-definition video clip encoded with DivX 6 at the show, and it looked great as described below. But first, let`s get back to the DivX story for a moment, so you have some perspective on where DivXNetworks has been and where it`s going...

When speaking to Greenhall, it was apparent that he, Rota, and their founding partners fully understood the potential of seeding the market with millions of copies of free DivX encoders and players from the onset. They wanted to see DivX become as ubiquitous for video as MP3 was for audio. DivX could compress full-length DVD movies to fit on CDR disks with good quality, or permit large video libraries to be stored on hard drives, or allow popular movies to be readily distributed over broadband Internet links. The team also knew the huge user base that ripped (and ripped off) Hollywood DVDs with decryption utilities was the perfect audience for DivX compression. They knew such users would want to play their DivX files on numerous consumer electronics devices (PCs, DVD players, DVRs, set-top boxes, handheld video players, PDAs, cell phones, etc.), or use various software packages to edit, play, or stream DivX files. And that meant legitimate licensing agreements with numerous CE companies, and legitimate video on demand (VOD) business deals. DivXNetworks now claims over 175 CE partners and over 30 software partners today.

Over 75 independent movie studios and distribution outfits are now using DivX for their VOD services to deliver free and/or premium content to their customers. DivXNetworks is currently negotiating with many larger studios to get them to adopt the DivX format for VOD services, and while many business and technical hurdles exist, Greenhall is confident we`ll see some major studio announcements in the near future. Note also that two of the largest movie download services, MovieLink and CinemaNow only use WMV and/or Real encoded movies today, so DivXNetworks has the added challenge of getting such large VOD operators to also offer DivX formatted movies.

From what we could tell, DivxNetworks is up for all challenges with its many recent or new products, partnering announcements, and certification initiatives. Last summer they rolled out a DivX high definition (DivX HD) video format and the new DivX 6 version will be able to encode 720p at 4Mbps, instead of the standard 19Mbps for MPEG-2 HD streams. DivX 6 HD is claimed to produce HD video quality similar to the Windows Media High Definition Video (WMV HD) encoder at 20% smaller file sizes with faster compression speed. In fact, a DivX HD-encoded movie with 5.1 Dolby Digital audio, a standard definition encode, multiple language tracks, and bonus features can fit easily on a standard dual-layer DVD (and doesn`t require the upcoming HD-DVD or Blu Ray high definition DVD media). We watched a DivX HD clip at CES and it was visually impressive with no obvious artifacts or quality loss, but then there wasn`t a side-by-side setup versus WMV HD or an MPEG-2 encoded HD stream, and we don`t know the compression parameters used, but to our eyeballs it looked great. As broadband speeds continue to increase, distributing DivX HD-encoded movies over the Internet will soon become feasible in a reasonable amount of time (about three to four hours assuming a 2Mbit/sec sustained download speed).

DivXNetworks also has a ``DivX Certified`` program for CE devices that helps ensure optimal video playback capability and compatibility with DivX codec versions 3.11, 4.xx, 5.xx, and DivX VOD (video on demand). A new ``Connected Certification Program`` just announced at CES is meant to provide seamless user experiences when moving digital content among multiple DivX certified devices in the home, between PC and TV, or when accessing content from ``DivX Connected`` online services using a PC, set-top box, or other DivX Connected devices. Also announced at CES, Apex Digital, one of the largest sellers of DVDs in North America, just entered a strategic partnership with DivXNetworks to integrate DivX support into its complete line of DVD recorders and players, portable video players, and DVR devices in 2005.

Everyone knows that premium content providers (movie studios, original artists, VOD distributors, etc) demand their content is protected from piracy throughout any download processes or usages scenarios on PCs or various consumer electronics devices. Approved by the MPAA, DivXNetworks DRM solution for VOD services ensures content is protected and only playable in devices or software systems certified to decode DivX DRM. The technology also supports digital broadcast television`s ``broadcast flag``. DivXNetworks DRM system is approved by 20th Century Fox, Buena Vista, and Warner Bros. to encode and secure their movies playable on digital video players (Digiplayers) used on Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and others.

DivXNetworks is a legitimate video codec vendor that is leveraging its huge underground network of users to become a formidable competitor to Microsoft, Real Networks, Apple, and others. It has licensed its technology to numerous CE device and software manufacturers while creating compelling new codecs, DRM, and VOD solutions for a variety of product categories, services, and connected home usage models