byd:sign Introduces First DivX Certified HDTV to Hit Japan
By NEWS RELEASE |
June 30th, 2008
Comments (7)
DivX, Inc., a digital media company, today announced the DivX Certification™ of byd:sign Corporation’s new LCD HDTV (model: DC-1902DWB [black], DC-1902DWW [white]).
To be released this month, byd:sign’s LCD HDTV (liquid crystal display high-definition television) is the first LCD HDTV with DivX Certification for the Japan market. With guaranteed DivX video playback, users will enjoy a media experience that seamlessly bridges from the PC to the television while maintaining superior video quality.
“We are very happy to launch the very first DivX Certified HDTV in Japan. DivX videos have let consumers easily enjoy high-quality content through the internet, working in conjunction with the environment surrounding HD digital media popularized by digital broadcast and next generation DVD players. DivX Certification enhances our HDTV features and gives added value,” said Mr. Katsumi Iizuka, Chief Executive Officer of byd:sign corporation. “We plan to provide more valuable entertainment to our customers in working with DivX high quality content and devices in the future.”
“We are very happy to work with byd:sign in the introduction of Japan’s first DivX Certified LCD TV, empowering the Japanese market to easily transfer high-definition videos directly to their TVs,” said Kevin Hell, Chief Executive Officer of DivX, Inc. “DivX is the only video format that offers consumers an easy and flexible way to move video content across devices, guaranteeing interoperability between the PC, TV, DVD players, mobile phones, and more. byd:sign’s compact LCD HDTV is a prime example of the simple transferability of high-quality content in an open, digital system.”
Products that bear the DivX Certified® logo have undergone a rigorous testing program to ensure interoperability, security and visual quality. DivX Certified products enable consumers to create, play and share high-quality video content across a range of devices and platforms. Over 100 million DivX Certified devices from a variety of manufacturers have shipped worldwide.
About DivX, Inc.
DivX, Inc. (NASDAQ:DIVX) is a digital media company that enables consumers to enjoy a high-quality video experience across any kind of device. DivX creates, distributes and licenses digital video technologies that span the “three screens” comprising today’s consumer media environment–the PC, the television and mobile devices. Over 100 million DivX Certified® devices have shipped into the market from leading consumer electronics manufacturers. DivX also offers content providers and publishers a complete solution for the distribution of secure, high-quality digital video content. Driven by a globally recognized brand and a passionate community of hundreds of millions of consumers, DivX is simplifying the video experience to enable the digital home.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:39 am
The thought of a TV that supports DivX is exciting, but I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t include WiFi w/ DivX Connected support instead of running everything through USB. The USB support is nice because it lets me plug my external hard drive directly into my TV, but it would be even better, if I could hook up the actual TV to my home network and be able to stream without having to physically move my media. Considering how expensive big screen TVs can be, I think wifi support would really help to differentiate one TV from another. If I had a choice between a $3,000 big screen TV or a $3,000 big screen that offered home networking with my DivX files, it would be a no brainer for me. Once the wifi TVs hit the market, I’ll take a closer look at something like this, but right now the future offers too potential much to settle for a compromise.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I believe this is how this TV is supposed to work. I’m pretty sure it will be able to stream content from the PC via Ethernet and possibly Wi-Fi (natively or via an adapter). The DivX Connected box that you mention works in the same way. DivX bundles a PC application that does all the hard processing and UI generation and streams the output it to the adapter. I’m guessing this TV has DivX Connected like functionality built-in. OR it could be a lot simpler than that… the TV could be a UPnP client that’s certified to play DivX encoded files stored some place on the home network.
My wish is that DivX would integrate a UPnP A/V media server in their platform and port the PC application to Mac OS X and Linux as well.
June 30th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I took a look at the specs and didn’t see any mention of an ethernet or wifi connection. A UPnP A/V media server built directly into the TV would definitely be cool. They could probably even use your power lines for the broadband connection, but I haven’t seen a lot of consumer products successfully implement this technology. I think that the important thing is for companies to remember that less is more in the future. I have a Connected box right now and think it’s fantastic, but it would be so much better if it was included inside of DVD players, game consoles or directly into the TV sets, so that you wouldn’t need a separate box in order to enjoy our digital video in your living room. This would open up the product to more mainstream customers who aren’t interested in having to burn their movie to a disc before being able to watch it.
June 30th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Where did you find a link to the actual TV (DC-1902DWB or DC-1902DWW)? I can’t seem to find them on the site. Please post.
UPDATE - I found the product page [translated]:
http://www.bydsign.jp/Form/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?shop=0&cat=103&swrd=&pid=DC-1902DW&vid=
You’re right. The specs state you can play DivX files from a USB Memory (2.0), SD Memory Stick card, MultiMediaCard. No mention of Ethernet of Wi-Fi connectivity. Strange… the press release clearly says “a media experience that seamlessly bridges from the PC to the television.” What a joke. I guess sneakernet is considered seamless now
Price: ¥ 64,800 ($610 USD)
June 30th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I did a google search for the product number with the term wifi and ethernet and didn’t find anything that included it. I figured if they went through the trouble/expense of adding a wifi to the TV, that it would be big/huge news, but there weren’t any results.
Supposedly we’ll see the first wifi TVs hit the market in time for the holiday rush, but it’s still not clear what type of video experience they will be offering. Once ethernet is embedded directly in the TV, it will create mass adoption for internet delivered content because it will be bundled with a mainstream product.
I think that the wifi/ethernet TV will be what ends up defining the VOD market. It will be fun to watch. In the meantime, it’s nice to be able to have access to mezzanine products, but it’s so hard to settle for less when the future looks so promising. As soon as someone offers a big screen plasma TV that can play Netflix and DivX content, they will have at least one new customer
In the meantime, I’m still holding out for the future.
June 30th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Best network capable HDTV set on the market TODAY: HP MediaSmart TV. Includes a built-in UPnP A/V client (DLNA certified) and Windows Media Center Extender. So, install the vmcNetFlix add-on on your Vista Media Center PC and watch Netflix via Media Center Extender on your HP MediaSmart TV.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
This almost looks promising except for their FAQ
http://tinyurl.com/5ktgsq
Question : How can I share a DVD movie from my PC to the MediaSmart TV?
Answer : DVD movie sharing is not supported. Due to copyright and legal requirements, Windows Media Player does not export the VOB files used in DVDs.
-So you’re allowed to watch a VOB file on your computer, but if you want to watch your backed up DVDs on your TV you are out of luck.
Also . . .
Question : According to my documentation, my MediaSmart TV supports .divx (.ogg, etc.) files, but when I try to play these files they are not listed. Where are these files?
Answer : The types of files exposed on your MediaSmart TV depend on the media server being used. For example, the WMP11 media server does not share files with extensions .m4a, .divx, .xvid, or .ogg (and others). HP includes with your MediaSmart TV special PC software that should allow you to view most of these files from your MediaSmart TV. Make sure you install the MediaSmart TV software suite on any PC that you want to share media from. As an alternative, you can try renaming unsupported files with a supported extension (for example, you can rename mymovie.xvid to mymovie.avi ) or use another UPnP compliant media server.
-How could Microsoft release a product that doesn’t even support their lates media player? No wonder Apple is eating their lunch. They are so close to perfection, but DRM also ends up mucking it up.