Final thoughts (for now), links, right2reply
Stage6 has only recently entered beta so it may be unwise - and unfair to the company and our readers - to say anything too definite about its performance or prospects.
But, as we've pointed out, there are clearly some screamingly obvious things that DivX can do to make Stage 6 easier to use, more approachable and more likely to attract new videos and new viewers.
A decent help page would clearly go a long way towards solving a number of the issues and its absence is a mystery to us.
It's also kind of perverse that DivX seems to have made so little effort to look at existing video-sharing sites - not even the leader, YouTube - so that it can lift the good features from them.
Being first or among the first is no guarantee of long-term success. It can cost a lot to be a pioneer (yes, even on the web) and rivals that follow in your wake can learn by your mistakes and from your successes - something that DivX, with Stage6, appears so far not to have done to any significant degree.
If DivX had done that, then it would already have included a number of features (or equivalents) that are conspicuous by their absence from Stage6.
In that list, the most obvious contenders are:
1/ Free (and
speedy) online
conversion of videos to DivX formats compatible with Stage6
and with DivX hardware and software players
2/ A way of including on a web page a DivX player that's pointing to a specific video - by using an embedded script that Stage6 generates for you
3/ Proper editing, after a video has been published, information about that video, notably the title and description
4/ The ability to remove your published videos when online and logged into Stage5 - rather than having to use the DivX player
2/ A way of including on a web page a DivX player that's pointing to a specific video - by using an embedded script that Stage6 generates for you
3/ Proper editing, after a video has been published, information about that video, notably the title and description
4/ The ability to remove your published videos when online and logged into Stage5 - rather than having to use the DivX player
Numbers 3/ and 4/ are, we'd like to think, trivial tweaks that DivX can and should be able to implement quickly and easily.
In contrast, item 1/ is a far trickier proposition though, we reckon, massively important. Trouble is, it's probably the one change that DivX is least likely to implement since we get the impression - rightly or wrongly - that its aim with Stage6 is to sell conversion software.
But if DivX sticks with that as a financial model, Stage6 is always going to be hamstrung and short of videos.
Yet Stage6 is, potentially, an excellent way of making the DivX player far more popular on computers and to significantly increasing the sales of DivX hardware - but only if the Stage6 site has masses of videos that people want to watch.
And the best way of ensuring that lots of videos do get published is for Stage6 to carry out the hard work of file conversion on behalf of the majority of would-be publishers - and to make that process easy and free. That would have a couple of useful side benefits - videos would be of better quality and yet take up less room on DivX's servers.
It's true that companies that can make money by publishing good-quality videos on Stage6 shouldn't object to paying a reasonable price for sophisticated DivX-encoding software - rather than pocket-money prices for unsophisticated apps - and DivX Convert and Author are cheap and unsophisticated.
But forcing everyone who might consider publishing on Stage6 to buy low-cost DivX encoders (or, at least, make most of them think they have to buy DivX encoders), is going to hugely reduce the number of potential publishers.
Okay, DivX needs to make money somehow but that will come if Stage6 becomes popular and drives the sale of DivX-compatible hardware and the uptake of DivX player software and more sophisticated DivX-encoding programs.
It should also come as a matter of course simply from operating a very busy video-sharing site - if DivX makes sensible use of online advertising.
Sorting out the second item in our list is also very important. DivX needs to make it possible for videos to be viewed from players that can be easily embedded on anyone's web site and this has to happen as a matter of urgency.
But the current absence of embedding capability suggests that DivX has been unable to secure a sensible price for the use of the Adobe Flash or might have firmly grasped with both hands the wrong end of the stick.
If Flash isn't the issue, then we think that the company may have come to the conclusion that having zillions of embedded players reduces the likelihood of folk downloading videos to play later on DivX hardware or, indeed, on PCs running DivX player software.
In our view, exactly the opposite is likely to be the case, especially if DivX ensures that the player embedded on web pages does offer a clear option to download the video.
Some types of video almost demand pictures and sound of the highest quality that it's practical to provide - and that demand will only become more insistent as broadband speeds continue to increase and high-definition TV becomes more popular.
That being so, we can see many situations where the higher resolutions that are possible with Stage6 will have massive appeal to the providers of clips - especially those who are publishing promotional movie trailers or music videos - as well as the many people who love to watch such footage.
The higher quality that Stage6 offers compared with YouTube promises DivX a significant advantage, as does the ability to download videos for later playback on hardware and in software.
But we think that DivX needs to ensure that it speedily capitalises on its advantages and quickly makes good its shortcomings.
If it doesn't, it runs the risk that YouTube or some other more nibble competitor is going to see what's good about Stage6 and integrate those features into its own video-sharing site - and leave Stage6 floundering.
Thoughts on Stage6, YouTube or video-sharing generally? Then comment in the HEXUS.community.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this articleExternal.links
DivX - Stage6 home pageDivX - home page
YouTube - home page
HEXUS Right2Reply
DivX has responded to our review. Bruce Lidl, the company's PR manager, emailed saying,Just
a few points we wanted to respond to, but in general, we absolutely
appreciate hearing about your experience with the site. As we
move from beta to fully live status, we definitely hope to make major
improvements in many of the specific areas you mention.
You write about having difficulty finding "genuine" HD footage. Perhaps mistakenly, we generally think of almost anything noticeably over standard Home Theater resolutions (720x480, or 720x576) as "high-def," at least in the broadest terms. Nonetheless, the site does support files up to 1920x1080 and there are some clips on the site at very high resolutions. Look here and here for a couple of examples.
As to special playback features, menus are dependent on download, that is true, but some of the other features, including multiple audio tracks and subtitles are in fact accessible from within the DivX Web Player and Stage6. You can see examples here and here.
We are aware of the issue with browsers crashing, and we're working on it, although I can't give you a specific date, unfortunately.
Uploading should be relatively easy from both the DivX Player software and from within one's own Stage6 User page. There are a few more steps to uploading than we would like, but we're working on streamlining it. Bugs exist in the tagging functions, and we are aware of them.
Deleting videos from a user's Stage6 site is actually quite easy, once you find it online. If you are on the page of a video that you have uploaded, it can be deleted by pushing the "manage video" button below the Web player interface.
All the videos on the site can easily be embedded in other web pages. We actively support embedding, absolutely. I have written more about the subject, including some basic instructions on the Stage6 Blog, here.
We do have resources to help users, including a FAQ, active user forums, and well-trained tech-support staff. These resources are evolving but should get better with time.
We don't have online conversion tools yet, but I'm happy that you had relatively good experiences with Dr. DivX. Between that application, DivX Converter, and the numerous video encoding applications that support DivX output, there are many tools users can choose from for their encoding needs. Your point on editing thumbnails and titles is a good one, and I've forwarded that on to our engineers.
So, in sum, I would be happy if your readers did hear that:
Thanks again for letting us respond and please don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.
Best,
Bruce Lidl
PR Manager
DivX Inc
You write about having difficulty finding "genuine" HD footage. Perhaps mistakenly, we generally think of almost anything noticeably over standard Home Theater resolutions (720x480, or 720x576) as "high-def," at least in the broadest terms. Nonetheless, the site does support files up to 1920x1080 and there are some clips on the site at very high resolutions. Look here and here for a couple of examples.
As to special playback features, menus are dependent on download, that is true, but some of the other features, including multiple audio tracks and subtitles are in fact accessible from within the DivX Web Player and Stage6. You can see examples here and here.
We are aware of the issue with browsers crashing, and we're working on it, although I can't give you a specific date, unfortunately.
Uploading should be relatively easy from both the DivX Player software and from within one's own Stage6 User page. There are a few more steps to uploading than we would like, but we're working on streamlining it. Bugs exist in the tagging functions, and we are aware of them.
Deleting videos from a user's Stage6 site is actually quite easy, once you find it online. If you are on the page of a video that you have uploaded, it can be deleted by pushing the "manage video" button below the Web player interface.
All the videos on the site can easily be embedded in other web pages. We actively support embedding, absolutely. I have written more about the subject, including some basic instructions on the Stage6 Blog, here.
We do have resources to help users, including a FAQ, active user forums, and well-trained tech-support staff. These resources are evolving but should get better with time.
We don't have online conversion tools yet, but I'm happy that you had relatively good experiences with Dr. DivX. Between that application, DivX Converter, and the numerous video encoding applications that support DivX output, there are many tools users can choose from for their encoding needs. Your point on editing thumbnails and titles is a good one, and I've forwarded that on to our engineers.
So, in sum, I would be happy if your readers did hear that:
o
embedding video is both possible and encouraged
o high def is absolutely supported
o deleting is easy from the site itself
o we are working on the other issues you raised
o high def is absolutely supported
o deleting is easy from the site itself
o we are working on the other issues you raised
Thanks again for letting us respond and please don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.
Best,
Bruce Lidl
PR Manager
DivX Inc
Dive over to the next page, for Bob Crabtree's reply...
