DivX On The PS3: Is Sony Selling Consoles or Sabotaging HD-DVD?

When I found out that DivX was going to be supported on the PS3, I was pretty much floored by the announcement. I can see lots of reasons why Microsoft would want to add DivX to the Xbox, but with Sony’s studio assets, I never expected them to embrace the format.

While there is no way for me to know what really motivated Sony, I do have my suspicions.

On a basic level, Sony obviously adopted DivX as a competitive strategy for the console market. Announcing support for a popular codec among hardcore gamers, makes a lot of sense, especially going into the holiday season. Whether or not Microsoft ends up adding DivX to the Xbox 360, Sony’s support for DivX will certainly provide a boost for the console.

On the surface, this explanation seems to make a lot of sense, but the tin-foil hat part of me, can’t help but wonder, if this really had more to do with Blu-Ray.

The current state of the HDTV DVD market is a mess. The Blu-Ray and HD-DVD camps seem to have settled for a stalemate and consumers are getting shafted in the process. By choosing a side in this battle, consumers risk ending up with obsolete technology, but that isn’t the greatest obstacle to adoption. The real reason why consumers are sticking with the standard DVD, is because they can’t get all of their content on either format.

It might be great that you can watch James Bond on Blu-Ray, but it’s a serious weakness when consumers can’t watch Universal, Paramount or Dreamworks content. If Sony was only certifying the PS3, I would dismiss these thoughts as paranoid delusions, but at DivX’s most recent investor presentation, they did say that they hoped to announce the first Blu-Ray/DivX chip before the end of the year.

Now I would never expect Sony to come out and openly endorse piracy, but if you think through the implications of PS3/DivX support, you might understand why I think that they are really engaging in a form of HD-DVD sabotage. By supporting DivX, consumers won’t get the same HD experience, but they will get access to all of the forbidden HD-DVD content and that has huge value to the consumer.

DivX support won’t be enough to end this silly war, but it could prove to be an important band-aid for the Blu-Ray camp. By partnering with DivX, Blu-Ray is now able to offer all content, even if some of that happens to be illegal. I don’t believe that DivX support will change the format war, but it will certainly put pressure on the HD-DVD format. Their advantage so far, has been based on the exclusivity of content and if Blu-Ray consumers are denied the programs that they want, I have no doubt that they’ll turn to DivX as a solution.

Whether Sony adopted DivX to help jump start PS3 sales or to gain a guerrilla advantage in the HD wars will remain a mystery, but either way the move is so shrewd, that I’m surprised to Sony make it. After seeing so many failed attempts at trying to maintain a proprietary system, it is a welcome relief to finally see cracks appearing in the Blu-Ray defenses.

While DivX support on the PS3 isn’t an admission that Blu-Ray has failed, I do think it’s a sign of how far Sony is willing to go, in order to win this battle. If both camps would just agree to cross-license their content, we could end this stupid war, but in the meantime, at least consumers will soon have illegitimate options, to get at the content that the studios don’t seem to want to sell them.

Comments

[Frank Z]

Well the hopeful part of me was thinking that Sony has finally realized that video on physical disc is a ridiculous antiquated format that won't be relevant in the not so distant future. DivX is one of the best purely digital formats out there. It's video as it should be... a bunch of bit and bytes on a hard drive. There is no need for a physical disc and unnecessary packaging. It's stupid and wasteful. Hopefully both sides will realize this and end this silly "war".

[Tommyhj]

Well, PS3 users have had access to all the forbidden HD-DVD material since launch. Most pirated HD movies are in H.264 codec, fully supported by PS3...

What matters is, that it would be possible for Sony to rent HD DivX movies via Home, that previously were only available on HD-DVD. That would require some very clever negotiations, but never-the-less...

[Tommyhj]

Well, PS3 users have had access to all the forbidden HD-DVD material since launch. Most pirated HD movies are in H.264 codec, fully supported by PS3...

What matters is, that it would be possible for Sony to rent HD DivX movies via Home, that previously were only available on HD-DVD. That would require some very clever negotiations, but never-the-less...

[User 122860]

i think that was the smartest move that sony has made,now ppl could see even the hd dvd movies.lol man that was genius!

[DivX Pro]

Sony has many other DivX certified products. Adding DivX to PS3 is really not a surprise or an insidious plot.

A Sony PS3 with DivX does not endorse piracy any more than a Sony Walkman with MP3.

People can convert any video (including HD-DVD movies) to AVCHD for Blu-Ray players. Adding DivX support doesn't change things one way or the other.

All titles are available on standard DVDs which the PS3 plays just fine, so consumers who don't need the HD experience already have easy access to all the "forbidden" HD-DVD content.

DivX competes directly with Windows Media Video while Sony has no dog in that fight. It's not suprising that Sony is quick to adopt DivX while Microsoft is reluctant.