Cirrus Logic Inc. has licensed the DivX video codec from DivX Networks (San Diego, California) for both its high end and single-board DVD processor families. The deal would usher in the first sub-$149 DVD players that support DivX-enabled content by late 2003.
DivX is an MPEG-4 compatible video compression technology with 75 million users worldwide that offers DVD-quality at 7 to 10 times greater compression than MPEG-2 files. MPEG-4 allows full-length films to easily fit on a CD or be delivered over broadband connections.
Terry Ritchie, Cirrus Logic's vice president of video marketing, said adding DivX technology to its DVD chips would allow Cirrus to "raise the bar of performance to provide more horsepower in DVD ICs and create a new class of DVD product." The first DivX-capable DVD players would allow users to transfer DivX-based content from PCs on CD media and play it on their DVD devices.
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