DivX 7, the latest version of the popular video format, is out. DivX 7 includes support HD H.264 videos in the MKV file format. It also supports AAC audio.

The company has also created a new DivX Plus certification program, which means that hardware products like DVD players and other set top boxes or portable media players that bear the DivX Plus label will be able to handle DivX 7 playback.

If all you want is the DivX codec which allows you to watch videos, you can download the latest version for free. The $20 DivX 7 Pro pack also includes tools for encoding DivX movies.

DiVX killed off the Stage6 video sharing community back in February. And ever since then, new sites have been trying to pick up the torch. Stage6 used the popular DiVX codec and a DiVX Web player which allowed users to watch high definition videos at a time when most web video was YouTube quality. But the company decided the web service wasn't worth the price of bandwidth.

Last night one of the most talked-about DiVX clones, Vreel launched in public beta. And then the site went down after it was hit by a rush of traffic and several apparent attacks on the site. Durign the few minutes that Vreel was publicly available, the site looked pretty good. It features a fair number of videos, makes use of the DiVX web player, and allows you to watch high quality videos in full screen.

One of the things that really sets Vreel apart from other sites like YouTube is support for videos of any length. What that means is that while you won't find too many videos that are clearly labeled Lost episode 1, you can find plenty of full-length TV shows and movies if you look around. That means that once Vreel recovers from its traffic and hacker problems it may still face legal challenges.

But if you're tired of waiting for Vreel to get its act together, you should know that this is hardly the only site hoping to replace Stage6 in you hearts and minds. Others include Stage Next, Stagevu (which is currently down for maintenance), and SetVid. The video selection at these three sites is somewhat limited. But at least they're up and running (most of the time), which is more than Vreel can say at the moment.

Still reeling from DivX shutting down its Stage6 online video site? Vreel is here to help. Or it will be soon anyway. Vreel, or the Stage6 clone formerly known as DivXit, is preparing to launch a new online video sharing site featuring a high definition video player like the one formerly used at Stage6. Of course, we heard the same promises almost 2 months ago when Vreel was first announced. But now the team behind the site have released a super-short promotional video that seems to indicate that... well, not much really.

The How To Geek, on the other hand, has a more in-depth look at the new service and an interview with the site's founder. The new site uses the DivX Web Player and a decent looking site navigation. One nice feature is a pop-out button that lets you watch videos in a separate browser window.

Vreel is currently in private beta and accepting beta testers, with a full launch to follow once a few bugs have been worked out, including problems with files uploaded that don't have a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio.

Remember that Stage6 clone called DivXit we told you about yesterday? Apparently the folks at DivX didn't really like its name too much. Because today the site has a new name: Vreel. There's also a new Q&A which makes it clear that while the site was inspired by DivX's defunct Stage6 video sharing service, Vreel will build a brand new video database.

Vreel will, however, use the DivX codec and webplayer which are pretty much the things that made Stage6 special. Stage6 was one of the first sites to offer high definition video streams. While many other video sharing sites have since caught up, the DivX webplayer is still one of the best looking HD video streaming applications we've seen.

The launch date for Vreel has been pushed back a week to May 6th. Vreel says when the site goes live users will be able to upload files up to 800MB, with an eye toward enabling 1GB uploads eventually.

Vreel will eventually offer video downloads in addition to online video streams.

[via Davis Freeberg]

Have you been so busy sending angry letters to Saturday Night Live about their choice of actors to portray Barack Obama that you've fallen behind on your Download Squad reading? Not to worry. Here's a roundup of some of the stories you might have missed this week:

Download Squad at Future of Web Apps

Download Squad's Grant Robertson hit up the Future of Web Apps 2008 conference in Miami this week. And he's been kind of busy. Here are just a few of the topics he's covered or live-blogged:

• Scaling Web Applications
• Google's Kevin Marks and the future of APIs
• Bringing a Web App to the masses
• Adding new features to existing applications
• Leah Culver of Pownce on the future of web services
• Launch an app in 40 minutes
• How to grow a community in the future

DivX shuts down Stage6 online video site

This week DivX shut down the online video sharing site Stage6. The web service never got as much attention as YouTube, DailyMotion. But it was a favorite among online video connaisseurs for its excellent video quality. DivX is now directing users to check out online video site Veoh.

TotalEdit 4.1: Text editor for programmers

TotalEdit is an advanced text editor with programs that could come in handy for coders, including syntax-coloring, code-folding, and line-numbering. There's also a portable version you can run from a USB drive. But one of the best things about this article is the fact that a bunch of readers weighed in with their favorite text editors in the comments.

DivX has announced plans to shut down its video hosting service Stage6 on February 28th. As of this morning, the company has disabled the uploading feature, but if there's a few videos you've been meaning to watch, you've only got a few days to cross them off your list.

Stage6 never really got the kind of attention that its competitors like YouTube and DailyMotion have. But Stage6 has supported high definition video streaming longer than almost anyone else. Their video player is slick and easy to use, and we can only hope that another company will license the technology.

Last year DivX considered selling Stage6 or spinning the service off as a private company, but neither option seemed economically feasible. The company has now decided that it can't justify the cost of running the bandwidth-heavy service and instead will focus on working with hardware makers to deliver DivX-certified devices like media extenders, DVD players, and video game consoles.

[via Electronista]

DivX is giving away copies of the DivX Pro 6 bundle again. Normally this package will cost you $20, but for the second time this year, DivX is offering up the Pro bundle at the low low price of nothing.

The package includes the DivX Pro codec, the DivX file converter, content upload, video player and web player. The free download comes in Mac and Windows flavors. You'll need to enter your email address to get a free registration code.

While it's not clear how long the free download will be available, it's billed as a limited time "holiday offer." So we're going to go out on a limb and say that you'll probably want to register your software before Christmas unless you've got $20 burning a hole in your pocket.

[via Digital Inspiration

Oh they grow up so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that DivX's answer to YouTube was taking its first baby steps. But now it's all grown up and ready to leave the nest.

DivX has announced plans to spin Stage6 off as a separate company. According to the press release, the move will let DivX focus on its "high margin, fast-growing technology licensing business" by separating Stage6 from the parent company.

CEO Jordan Greenhall is stepping down to oversee the transition. Stage6 has been gaining visibility in recent months. The site had 10 million unique visitors in June, up from 4 million in April. Of course, that makes Stage6 about .001% as popular as market leader YouTube, but hey, you've gotta start somewhere. And Stage6 has one thing YouTube lacks: better video quality.

Now that Stage6 will be operating independently of DivX, it should be interesting to see how aggressive the company is at marketing itself as a YouTube/DailyMotion/Soapbox/Metacafe competitor.

[via PaidContent]

CodecInstaller does exactly what you would think. It installs codecs. Audio codecs, video codecs. All the usual suspects, DivX, XviD, Windows Media, AAC, you name it.

Of course, if you've got a good media player like VLC or ZoomPlayer, you probably don't need a separate program to install these codecs. But CodecInstaller can still come in handy if you want a lightweight program for analyzing audio and video files.

Just click the analyze button at point CodecInstaller at your mystery file. It's not perfect. For example, when we tried to analyze several DivX recordings made using BeyondTV, it could only find info for the audio codec, not the video codec. But if you want to know the bitrate, framerate, codec, or dimensions of that file you downloaded from the interwebs, you might want to give CodecInstaller a try.

[via Lifehacker]

For a limited time only...no not used cars, not poorly designed cleaning products, it's the Divx Pro bundle available free for the downloading. The bundle includes the Divx Pro Codec 6.6.1, Divx Content Uploader, Divx Converter 6.2.1 6.(MPEG2/DVD), Divx Player 6.4.3, and Divx Web Player.

Unfortunately, this Divx bundle is not ready for Microsoft Windows Vista (pout), despite the obligatory courtesy update-check on Divx's website. Everyone not running Windows Vista, feel free to download either the XP version or Mac Version and thumb your nose at anyone using Vista.

It is conceivable that the Divx programmers are hacking away at Vista logo requirements to make it ready for Microsoft's latest as we speak, but that is unconfirmed as of this writing.

Enjoy the free bundle, and note that the basic version (usually free) edition of this package contains a free 15-day trial of the converter, but today you get the full version of it with this limited time Pro bundle download from Divx.

Thanks George for the tip.

Here's one for the Mac folks: Perian is a free download for OS X that allows QuickTime to play video files in almost any format known to man. It uses the fantastic open source ffmpeg library to enable DivX, XviD, AVI, and even Flash Video files in a variety of configurations. According to the Perian web site, it will also be bundled with the next version of Democracy Player. Very cool.

[Via Anarchaia]

DivX, the little video compression software company that could, is aiming to go public this week, CNET is reporting. The company has almost matched last year's annual revenue of $29.3 million in the first 6 months of 2006, and after adding copy protection to its software which helped it land in over 50 million DivX-certified devices to date, the company is now shaking hands with its former enemy: Hollywood studios. DivX is hoping to strike it big with said studios in a lucrative web distribution deal for films, though as far as we can tell, no deals are itching to be signed just yet.

DivX Labs has released a brand new DivX player plugin for Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Mozilla. The plugin is pretty full-featured and will stream high-quality DivX files off of any web server. It's currently in beta and available only for Windows, but Linux and OS X versions are on the way. Head over to the DivX Labs blog to give it a whirl.

[Via Digg]