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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JEFF K who wrote (37897)	12/21/1998 8:06:00 AM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Divx 'Fan Sites' Raise Suspicion (12/20/98, 11:02 a.m. ET) By Andy Patrizio, TechWeb On the Web, Circuit City's Digital Video Express (Divx) has been the object of almost as much scorn as last year's Communications Decency Act, and several Divx "fan sites" aren't helping to improve its image. Divx is the pay-per-view version of DVD developed by Circuit City and a Los Angeles entertainment-law firm. Introduced nationally in October, Divx has drawn anger from DVD owners, who accuse Circuit City of deliberately creating confusion in the market just as DVD is taking off. Those who express positive opinions about Divx on Internet newsgroups or message boards are often shouted down or "flamed," in online parlance. While satisfied customers of Divx have proven few and far between on the Web, in recent weeks some pro-Divx sites have appeared. But their content has raised suspicion. For example, Absolute Divx, a site on GeoCities, is far more polished than the typical GeoCities member site. Absolute Divx has sharp graphics, neatly formatted text, and Java code on every page. Its message reads, in part: "Individuals who have never used the system -- indeed, in many cases not even seen the system in person -- have joined the bandwagon of misinformation aimed at surrounding Divx in an aura of negativity." The site doesn't provide any information about the owner; nor is there an e-mail address to contact him or her. The webmaster did admit in an e-mail that he/she lives in Richmond, Va., where Circuit City and Divx are based, but denied working for either company. Even more suspect was ProDivx.Com, which was shut down. The site was filled with slick graphics and text that sounded much like marketing material, such as "Divx is a giant leap forward in home-entertainment concepts." Some of the pages were copied from Divx.com's own site. Like Absolute Divx, it had no contact address or the name of the site operator. The Internic registry listed a Hotmail address to contact the site owner. The webmaster took the site down suddenly on Thursday, notifying visitors that "to position this site where I would like it ... I would need to quit my job and do this full time. My wife would never let me ... ha ha." ProDivx.Com was registered to a group called the ProDivx Association, located just a few miles from Circuit City's headquarters. Calls to the number listed in the Internic registry went to a home answering machine that didn't identify the individual or a ProDivx Association. No calls to that number were returned. This doesn't fly with Bill Hunt, webmaster of The Digital Bits, a DVD fan site that pulls in 800,000 hits every month. "Clearly, [the site's webmaster has] a day job and that day job is for Circuit City or Divx," Hunt said. Divx denies any involvement with these sites. "No one is authorized to engage in any Internet banter and no one is authorized to start a Web page," said Josh Dare, a spokesman for Divx. "Individual employees are not permitted to communicate in the newsgroups." But there is no doubt Divx could use positive reviews, and the Internet is one of the fastest ways to do that. "You can count on one hand the number of independent positive reviews of Divx in print, online, and on television," said Steve Tannehill, webmaster of The DVD Resource Page "That cannot be good to the bottom line, especially during Divx's critical first holiday-sales season." Circuit City said it will disclose Divx sales figures on Jan. 7 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. techweb.com