DivX Stage 6 is no more
Well there ya have it.... The DivX VOD site Stage6 is shut down.
The audacity! After i had written so many nice things about them...!
The vision tht I think DivX displayed in creating a dynamic platform for content creation and distribution in a plural way across all emdia forms at al resolutions was genuinely progressive and exciting. Alas, the company has deemed the VOD end of that equation to be too much effort for not enough return.
Is this pragmatism or short-sightedness...? Arguments could be made either way, But I do generally think its a shame. High-quality, high defintion, good user experience. Stage6 was very close to being VOD done right.
But now they are no more leaving BlipTV and Brightcove as the champions of high-quality, great-experience VOD, albeit without the holistic approach that Stage6/DivX had.
Heres is the open letter from Stage6.
---
Im Tom (aka Spinner), a Stage6 user and an employee of DivX, Inc., the
company behind the service. Im writing this message today to inform
you that we plan to shut down Stage6 on February 28, 2008. Upload
functionality has already been turned off, and youll be able to view
and download videos until Thursday. I
know this news will come as a shock and disappointment to many Stage6
users, and Id like to take a few moments to explain the reasons behind
our decision.We created Stage6 with the mission of empowering
content creators and viewers to discover a new kind of video
experience. Stage6 began as an experiment, and we always knew there was
a chance that it might not succeed. In many ways, though, the
service did succeed, beyond even our own initial expectations. Stage6
became very popular very quickly. We helped gain exposure for some
talented filmmakers who brought great videos to the attention of an
engaged community. We helped prove that its possible to distribute
true high definition video on the Internet. And we helped broaden the
Internet video experience by offering content that is compatible with
DVD players, mobile devices and other products beyond the PC.So
why are we shutting the service down? Well, the short answer is that
the continued operation of Stage6 is a very expensive enterprise that
requires an enormous amount of attention and resources that we are not
in a position to continue to provide. There are a lot of other details
involved, but at the end of the day its really as simple as that. Now,
why didnt we think of that before we decided to create Stage6 in the
first place, you may ask? Thats a good question. When we first created
Stage6, there was a clear need for a service that would offer a true
high quality video experience online because other video destinations
on the Internet simply werent providing that to users. A gap existed,
and Stage6 arrived to fill it. As Stage6 grew quickly and
dramatically (accompanied by an explosion of other sites delivering
high quality video), it became clear that operating the service as a
part of the larger DivX business no longer made sense. We couldnt
continue to run Stage6 and focus on our broader strategy to make it
possible for anyone to enjoy high quality video on any device. So, in
July of last year we announced that we were kicking off an effort to
explore strategic alternatives for Stage6, which is a fancy way of
saying we decided we would either have to sell it, spin it out into a
private company or shut it down.I wont (and cant, really) go
into too much detail on those first two options other than to say that
we tried really hard to find a way to keep Stage6 alive, either as its
own private entity or by selling it to another company. Ultimately
neither of those two scenarios was possible, and we made the hard
decision to turn the lights off and cease operation of the service.So
thats where we are today. After February 28, Stage6 will cease to
exist as an online destination. But the larger DivX universe will
continue to thrive. Every day new DivX Certified devices arrive on the
market making it easy to move video beyond the PC. Products powered by
DivX Connected, our new initiative that lets users stream video,
photos, music and Internet services from the PC to the TV, are hitting
retail outlets. We remain committed to empowering content creators to
deliver high quality video to a wide audience, and well continue to
offer services that will make it easy to find videos online in the DivX
format.Its been a wild ride, and none of it would have been
possible without the support of our users. Thank you for making Stage6
everything that it was.--Tom
Posted at 12:00AM Mar 01, 2008
by Mike Jones in general |
That being said, many of us stayed logged on into the Stage6 site, in anticipation of being kicked off by the "Pulling the Plug" of the servers. It is now 06:35am (MST) February 29, and community members are still logged on wondering why the service is still available. Uploading of course has been discontinued a little over a week ago. Downloading and viewing online functionality continues. Stage6 appears to be behind schedule on its "Pulling the Plug." Of course many of use are not sad to hear this. Unfortunately, It also appears that neither Staff nor moderators are present. Because of this, there is mass Spamming not only on videos (which happens anyway) in much larger volume... but the forums and threads that are closely monitored by staff and moderators are being spammed excessively by anonnymous users.
It would seem that the demise of Stage 6 is caught in a slow ride down the river Styx ( or for Sci-Fi communities, "The Barge of the Dead")
--- Jerry Z.
Posted by Jerry Z. on March 01, 2008 at 12:41 AM EST #
On the other side, as a DivX stock owner (and I am in for quite a few), I am also relieved that DivX took this decision. It is much safer at medium term.
The high cost of the bandwidth (i heard 1 M$/month) very low revenues and the threatening lawsuit from UMG....
Although I am very surprised, DivX always been the David fighting against Goliath, they were the first to come up with a technology that allow great quality in very small files.
Many of you just discovered DivX when Stage6 launched, but the technology has been around for many years and will still around for much more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divx
So one one Side I am very sad to loose such a great site but I am also relief to see the management team of DivX Stand up to protect my investment.
Posted by Papineau on March 01, 2008 at 02:31 AM EST #
Posted by codename: sword....ham? on March 03, 2008 at 08:57 AM EST #
Posted by tom on March 05, 2008 at 07:23 PM EST #