Divx...............................
onlineinc.com
Everyone has an opinion on Divx, and four more key players have publicly chosen sides, with one major film studio and two hardware manufacturers casting their lot with the new format, and one major dissenter on Divx's long list of outspoken opponents. With Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's (TCFHE) recent agreement with Digital Video Express, LP (Divx), five major motion-picture studios are now set to deliver movie titles in the controversial DVD format. And hardware manufacturers JVC Company of America and Pioneer Electronic Corporation have signed on as licensees of Divx technology-with Sony Electronics remaining a dissenting voice. Whether Divx will really fly as a popular home-video format remains a point of fierce debate, but the technology at least seems to be gaining strength in numbers.
Twentieth Century Fox's multiyear Divx agreement calls for new video titles to be released on Divx discs in tandem with VHS rental and sell-through copies, with selected films from the Fox catalog also scheduled for Divx availability. "We believe that Divx is a great proposition for the growing number of consumers entering the digital marketplace," says Pat Wyatt, Acting Head of TCFHE. "Given the significant anti-copy safeguards that Divx offers, we feel our film assets will be
sufficiently protected to allow for their day-and-date release with VHS." Fox joins Disney, DreamWorks, Paramount, and Universal as the fifth movie studio to sign on to the Divx technology. (Two of the five, Disney and Universal, will also issue movies on the open DVD format.) |
