Garret H

Stocks with the Largest Short Positions

NOK?? Really?? Shorts 0.5% of the float, 1 day to cover. I am long this stock, and I didn't check the others, but price action you see on this guy is not gonna be a short squeeze.

Sector Relative Strength (7/17/08)

whidbey, you have no creativity. Obviously you have to subscribe to their service if you want them to hold your hand.

New DivX Hook-Up with Matroska to Provide Enhanced Video Experience

That is an interesting video. Singer really goes off on a rant and i'm not sure if he's really getting anywhere. He goes off on what a lot of companies are doing, that isn't working, but doesn't present a vision about what will work. However, it does show that Sony is working hard to own a piece of the future and the PS3 shows that they are willing to sacrifice profits for that. That doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to be right, or that they will ever successfully compete with pirates.

I actually see Sony adopting walled garden approach with their movie store, and limiting interoperability. However, they are also offering their movies for download in DivX format internationally, so that is a promising gesture of open-ness, and maybe that's all DivX is going to get out of them.

Being a large corporation, it seems like Sony will most likely be slow to embrace an open system and will need a lot of coercing from DivX's dealmakers to out some kind of partnership in the near-term. Longer term, DivX will keep on pushing their branded unified video solution with interoperability and DRM to many CE manufacturers, so it should be interesting to see who picks them up.

New DivX Hook-Up with Matroska to Provide Enhanced Video Experience

Good article. I've been reading your blog for a while and you do a good job of connecting the world of digital video hobbyists to the financial mainstream. Although there are probably few people out there who really understand both :)

This is great news for hobbyists, but the impact on the bottom line is foggy. However, I cannot dismiss it's impact on DivX's overall value as a franchise, since they have built their reputation on enabling hobbyists to record and manipulate video, and transfer it between devices. As a tech geek, I can see the value in this. It will help the company continue to garner support with the purist "hackers" who want an open and hackable solution, but may be willing to accept something that isn't quite "Open Source", but still very multifaceted and caters to a wide variety of technologies.

I'm actually more interested to see if DivX is going to be involved in Sony's upcoming PlayTV to any extent. The two companies have been awfully snuggly lately, with PS3 support and the Sony Pictures deal. Sony has a large variety of DivX certified devices and they could help provide the "glue" to help "connect" them together. Sony's PR (URL pasted below) has talk about interoperability between PSP, TV's, and mobile devices, which DivX could feasibly provide the software for. Also, if Sony Pictures distribution in DivX ever happens, they could seamlessly put their own content on those devices.

However, Sony may be interested in coming up with an in-house solution rather than paying licensing fees to DivX. DivX may not be the solution that Sony had in mind for their PSN download service. Also, Sony could go with Microsoft for software video and upgradeable DRM support, but this would be giving an awful big nod to a competitor.

This brings on the next interesting talking point. I'm surprised there isn't more murmur about a Sony buyout of DivX. DivX's "Connected" DSM-330 device has been better received than Sony's DMX-NV1. Sony could get DivX support on all their products without having to pay license fees, and help them to compete with Microsoft and Apple with DivX's "open" ecosystem.

I suppose this is pretty speculative, but one has to wonder what pieces of DivX's overall strategy still have yet to be revealed. People aren't asking questions about Stage6 anymore, but that doesn't mean that they have been answered. DivX still has gobs of money sitting around, and it's a bit puzzling why an aggressive tech company would be happy to let it sit around and collect interest, rather than invest heavily in RnD. Unless they think they already have the RnD that they need, and they are keeping their money for other purchases, or waiting to get acquired.

metue.com/06-27-2008/s.../

Is the Breakdown of Stage6 the Beginning of DivX's End?

Well, you should be happy. DivX 2008 projected revenues are down partly due to increased R&D spending on what will hopefully amount to new and innovative ways to spread and view content. Their stock took a massive hit and this should kill any ideas about short term profits. Stage6 was likely getting in the way of signing studio deals and had a model that could not scale due to bandwidth costs of HD streaming. I didn't use stage6 much, but I hope that they are able to reincarnate it someday as something better.

I think the truth here is much more benign than whatever has been thrown around on various blogs or whatever. DivX didn't have the resources to make this dream a reality. stage6 died a teenager, but we'll see it in another form someday, maybe from DivX, maybe from somebody else.. In the meantime, Netflix and Amazon have their respective offerings.

Is the Breakdown of Stage6 the Beginning of DivX's End?

I kind of agree. Although as a public company, DivX has to be loyal to their investors, so this is is somewhat of a pragmatic compromise.

In regards to stage6, to It would have been infinitely smarter to just totally revamp the site, remove 99% of all the videos, remove upload capability, and just stream a few special independent movie series, commercials, promos, etc.. Bandwidth costs are cut by 95% or something and it becomes a negligible expense.

That way they could keep their yahoo toolbar downloads, add marketing value, and even maintain some forums. Maybe they'll end up doing this. They are certainly going to keep the domain name as a property (or sell it) although I don't know if they still kept the people around who maintain the site.

Unlimited upload limits is just not going to fly. It would never have worked. Stage6 has been obsoleted and eclipsed by a multitude of other video sharing sites and really can exist only as a marketing campaign, which is 1/2 the purpose of the original, albeit half-baked idea.

But, back to shareholder value, this is probably what they have to focus on now due to their stock being in trouble, so I can't really blame them for the stock buyback, especially because I am a shareholder.

Divx and Stage6: Chock Full of Fail

Their business model is to make money enabling DVD players, cell phones, and home media centers to play those mp4's via DivX certification. Although, I pretty much agree with the stage6 drama. It is an asset and they should capitalize off that asset.