DivX launched at the beginning of the year DivX Web Player, a plug-in that allows you to embed videos into a web page. But we can already do that with Flash plug-ins, you'll say. It's true, but this plug-in allows you to view high-quality DivX files and it needs as an input the location of a DivX file. So it doesn't transcode the video as a FLV file, like YouTube or Google Video's Flash plug-ins.
So we have high-quality videos, big files, broadband connection. One thing is missing: who hosts the files? DivX considered this problem and launched Stage6, a place where you can upload your files, share them with the rest of the community, rate them, and even get paid for your work. Unfortunately, to upload videos you need to install another plug-in. I couldn't make this plug-in work, but it must function properly for the rest of the people who've uploaded videos to the site.
DivX describes the new site like this:
"Stage6 is the next evolution in digital media. What does that mean? It means we want to improve the experience for finding and viewing good media online. It means having access to high-quality video on the web that actually looks good in full screen, rather than the all-too-familiar choppy, pixilated, low resolution videos we are all accustomed to seeing online nowadays. It means being free to burn backups of our media and take it with us wherever we go. It means having the freedom to watch Internet videos anywhere and anytime we choose on any device we want, even on our TVs, without cumbersome digital rights management (DRM). It means having a voice in the content we consume. It means being able to easily share cool content with our friends, discover new content our friends think is cool and, perhaps most importantly, make new friends along the way."
DivX Stage6 feels a lot like YouTube, but the quality of the videos is impressive. You can view the videos in full-screen and even download them.
I reminded you some days ago that DivX has signed an agreement with Google so that "Google and DivX can work together in the connected home to give consumers, content providers and consumer electronics manufacturers the freedom to move content across secure devices and platforms." Maybe we'll soon see high-quality videos on Google Video too.
Until then, the video-sharing community launched by DivX is in alpha-stage, it needs some money and may not get a strong adoption because of the plug-ins necessary to upload and view the files. But someone had to start the revolution and DivX is the right company for that.