DivX links up with Google Video and Pioneer

Video technology company DivX is partnering with Google to make Google Video accessible on a variety of consumer electronics devices, the companies announced Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The DivX video-codec video compression technology offers DVD quality at ten times the compression of traditional MPEG2 files, enabling a full-length film to fit on one CD or eight films on one DVD.

DivX also announced that Pioneer will introduce a new line of DivX-certified DVD players and recorders in the US and JVC will introduce a new line of DivX Ultra-certified in-car DVD receivers in North America.

More than 50 million DivX-certified devices are on the market worldwide, DivX said.

In addition, Divx said Zoran's Vaddis processors are DivX certified and ADS Tech's DVD Xpress DX2 audio/video-capture device supports DivX digital video technology.

Further strengthening its ties to Hollywood, DivX announced that Christopher McGurk, former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer chief operating officer, has joined the DivX board of directors.

DivX does for video what the popular MP3 audio standard does for music, allowing people to create and playback copy-protected video that is small enough to be easily distributed over the Internet and played on a variety of devices. The company's latest DivX 6.0 technology is designed for storing high-definition personal movies and allows distribution of commercial movie releases.

"First-run movies still have not made it to the digital realm," said DivX chief operating officer Kevin Hell in an interview with CNET.co.uk's sister site News.com. "The timing is hard to predict. It's based on buzz and the perceived market opportunity and sometimes based on politics."

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