Mvix has announces the worldwide launch of the Mvix Ultio, a hard-disk based media center capable of HD digital media playback with video output as high as 1080p.
The company claims the device supports the largest array of AV formats and codecs of any media player.

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray

When it comes to Blu-ray deck price decreases, we'll take whatever we can get -- especially with the naysaying that seems to follow the format these days. So file the fact that Zoran and DTS have put their legal disputes behind them, and Zoran plans to have single-chip solutions for Blu-ray decoding with support for DTS' codecs shipping by the end of the year under "more competition has to be good." Zoran filed suit against DTS back in October, claiming that the company wasn't being fair in its codec licensing terms; not surprisingly, Zoran wasn't granted a license. But the suits ironed it all out, and after paying out a settlement that will have a "modestly positive" impact on DTS' financials, Zoran is the latest licensee to the DTS codecs.

DTS and Zoran shake hands and make up, expect to see silicon this year originally appeared on Engadget HD on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Movavi has announced an expansion of its popular online video conversion service.
The upgraded Online.movavi.com service now enables users to fine tune a number of conversion parameters – codecs, resolution, video and audio quality, bitrate, and other key elements demanded by more sophisticated users.

VholdR has unveiled what it describes as the first wearable HD camcorder.
Weighing just four ounces, the 5 Megapixel ContourHD can record 1280×720 video at 30fps or SD video at 60fps with H.264 codec.

Filed under: Media PCs

Whoa, we may need to slow down on the celebration over out of the box h.264 codec support in Windows 7, with reports from developers indicating the beta OS blocks the usage of third party decoders under Windows Media Player and Media Center. Of course, the included codec support would obviate third party installs for many users anyway, and until we get an official release candidate we can't be sure how things will stack up in the retail experience. Digitalwerks has run down the sources, noting that third party solutions like VLC and Media Player Classic could still serve as workarounds, but Media Center Extender heads will want to keep a close eye on things going forward.

Will Windows 7's integrated codec support cut off third party solutions? originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The global economy may be suffering but that doesn't mean the drive for technological advancement draws to a complete halt.
At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, On2 Technologies' director of marketing, Tony Hope, told hdtv-biz.news about the push to bring high-def video content to mobile devices.

A PC-based H.264 software encoder that offers advanced encoding solutions has been developed by Broadcast International and Fixstars Corporation.
The CodecSys CE-100/200 has been designed to improve the productivity of IPTV content creation in areas like Blu-ray disk authoring, digitization of video archives and large scale surveillance camera networks.

Filed under: Misc

DivX Connected v1.4 brought us the highly anticipated addition of Hulu support last September, and now v1.5 is bringing a few extras that are also quite delicious. The v1.5 Beta, which is out this very moment, adds in support for Matroska (MKV) and H.264 codecs, though you'll need the newly unleashed DivX 7 installed in order to experience the magic. The entire changelog is surprisingly lengthy, so we'll point you to the read link for those details as well as a download URL. A demonstration vid is just past the break.

[Thanks, Karolis]

Continue reading DivX Connected v1.5 now friends with MKV / H.264

DivX Connected v1.5 now friends with MKV / H.264 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Other hardware, Others

In case you haven't noticed, official DivX support has become a part of many consumer electronics platforms over the last few years -- but not the Xbox 360. While it will play back many files with DivX and Xvid encoding, DivX VP Jerome Vashist-Rota is still "not very happy" that Microsoft's console works off of unofficial third party support, unlike the DivX Certified PlayStation 3. Of course, considering DivX's history as a reverse engineered version of Microsoft's own MPEG-4 codec some chippiness is to be expected so it's hard to say if that will ever change but let us throw in one more (probably fruitless) request for MKV playback while we're at it.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy & 1UP]

DivX is not 100% in love with Xbox 360's tone right now, or its unofficial codec support originally appeared on Engadget HD on Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HDTVs may seem wafer thin already but don't expect the drive for even slimmer models to stop anytime soon.
The Zoran Corporation has just announced a pair of new HDTV processors that should help set manufacturers shave a tad more off their future sets.

The Blu-ray Disc Association doesn’t take kindly to satellite and cable providers claiming their products deliver high definition picture and sound “equal” to that delivered by Blu-ray Disc.
hdtv.biz-news.com spoke to video compression provider ATEME about its plans to deliver video of Blu-ray quality and beyond