May 19 - 9:00am EDT   LG today said it had started shipping the BD390, its flagship Blu-ray movie player. The reader is the first to play DivX videos at a full 1080p when either burned to a DVD or from an external USB drive. It likewise brings Wi-Fi and 1GB of internal storage, and can handle Blu-ray Profile 2.0 features as well as Netflix and YouTube video streaming without stringing Ethernet cable to a router or a Wi-Fi bridge. [full story]

April 22 - 2:30pm EDT   LG Electronics and DivX on Wednesday announced more than 200 of LG's new line of digital TVs are the first to have the ability of playing back full DivX 1080p videos. The LH50-, LH70-, LH85-, PS70- and PS80-series HDTVs from LG, among others, are DivX Certified, and can play DivX HD videos from connected PCs or the Internet via a device connected to the TV's USB slot. [full story]

April 16 - 2:50pm EDT   DivX has released an update to its media player, DivX 7 for Mac. Users can view DivX HD videos, Internet content and full-length movies, with support for MKV and H.264/MKV/AAC video formats. The player features translucent windows, an on-demand scrub bar and keyboard hot keys, along with a desktop dimmer and window fade to further enhance video presentation. Mouse gesture controls can be used to fast-forward or rewind playback. [full story]

March 9 - 12:20pm EDT   LG today was revealed to have provided early details of its likely update to the Viewty in a largely unnoticed booth area at last week's CeBIT show. In addition to specifcations, Phone Arena has obtained photos that effectively confirm the GC900 will replace its camera-centric predecessor: the device will have an upgraded 8-megapixel sensor with a Schneider-Kreuznach lens and Xenon flash. It should also have a much sharper 800x480, 3-inch touchscreen useful for the phone's DivX video and Dolby Mobile sound support. [full story]

February 16 - 8:55am EST   Samsung today is headlining its introductions with three of the first non-Nokia phones to include a touchscreen Symbian interface. The Omnia HD is also known as the i8910 and is one of the first-ever phones to record as well as play back 720p HD video. The feat is accomplished with the help of an 8-megapixel camera that supports autofocusing as well as blink and smile detection. It also centers on an extremely sharp 3.7-inch, AMOLED touchscreen with a full 16 million colors and a 960x540 resolution. [full story]

February 3 - 3:50pm EST   Hoping to preempt its rivals, Toshiba on Tuesday launched itself into full touchscreens with its first model. The TG01 is envisioned as a performance device with a large, 4.1-inch touchscreen display and an 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon that's unusually fast for the category; Toshiba claims the TG01 will be the fastest phone available and that it will also be thinner than the iPhone at just 9.9mm (0.39in) deep. It will also include a G-sensor to recognize motion that is reportedly more advanced than an accelerometer. [full story]

January 20 - 2:05pm EST   Sony today revealed that the PlayStation 3's version 2.6 update will add a major new photo management feature. The simply-titled Photo Gallery will give the console much more advanced control that can sort images down to the specific time window and choice of camera hardware but also less tangible data such as the dominant colors in images or visible smiles. Slideshows are also more advanced and let users create specific playlists, including ones set to the user's choice of music. [full story]

January 13 - 11:25pm EST   Haier tonight added two more players to the Rhapsody ibiza line that both share direct parallels to Apple players. The ibiza Touch (pictured above) appears a higher-end counterpart to the ibiza Theatre that adds a sharper, 2.8-inch 400x240 touchscreen and Wi-Fi, which lets it browse the web, download podcasts and Real Rhapsody subscriptions, and tune Internet radio. It shares the Theatre's Bluetooth for pairing wireless headphones. Battery life drops accordingly and sees the Touch run for just 15 hours of AAC, Audible, MP3, Rhapsody or WMA audio but a relatively long 6 hours of DivX, H.264, MPEG-4, VC-1 or WMA video. [full story]

October 15 - 4:40pm EDT   DivX and Samsung on Wednesday announced high-end Samsung HDTVs will support high-quality DivX video files under a multiyear agreement. The DivX Certified HDTVs should be available worldwide at the beginning of 2009, and will be able to playback DivX media files stored on USB devices or a DLNA-certified Ethernet connection. Samsung already offers DivX-certified products that range from cellphones to DVD players. [full story]

August 18 - 8:20am EDT   Toshiba on Monday nursed its losses in HD format conflicts by launching its first player based on its promised Extended Detail Enhancement technology, or XDE. The XD-E500 upscales from as little as 480i up to 1080p, as with some DVD players, but sports customization features that Toshiba argues bring the player's output closer to real HD. Viewers can increase the sharpness of the picture to overcome the softness inherent to DVD's lower resolution and restore some of the perceived detail. [full story]

June 18 - 1:10pm EDT   Plyxim has upated its QuickTime-based scheduling software for closed-circuit broadcasting systems. Exibia 1.2 Server allows users from multiple platforms to use their web browsers to upload content to a central server. Version 1.2 includes a "major overhaul" to Exibia's web client interface. Exibia supports iCal and LDAP integration, and works with third-party plug-ins including Flip4Mac, Perian and Divx. [full story]

April 21 - 3:15pm EDT   Pioneer has started the week today with introductions for three high-end AVIC navigators. The DVD-equipped F900BT and Premier F90BT, as well as the CD-only F700BT, all offer in-dash mapping on a 5.8-inch wide touchscreen and support comparatively advanced GPS features such as Traffic Message Channel and support, an advanced voice command system, and text-to-speech to read out street names. Each, however, is built just as much for media playback: any can read discs with DivX, and MPEG-4 video as well as AAC, MP3, and WMA audio, while 2GB of built-in memory as well as slots for both SD cards and USB that provide both audio and video support from flash storage. Both ... [full story]

April 8 - 12:05pm EDT   IOGEAR today launched the Portable Media Player, its unusual take on the concept of a media hub. Rather than design a networked but fixed device like the Apple TV or Monsoon Hava, the company's new system is meant to be picked up and carried on vacation or between meetings, measuring only slightly larger than its remote and supplying many of the navigation controls on the player itself. [full story]

March 25 - 8:15am EDT   As promised, Sony today issued its version 2.2 update for the PlayStation 3. The firmware upgrade primarily adds Blu-ray Profile 2.0 support and allows HD movies to be released in April and onward to use Internet-based features, such as downloadable extras and live games. Viewers watching Blu-ray and DVD movies can also return to movies from where they left off after the movie is ejected. The software also sets up the framework for large downloaded or shared movies, and includes the PS3's first support for DivX and Windows Media videos larger than 2GB. [full story]

February 25 - 9:00am EST   DivX on Monday said it would shut down Stage6, its web video hosting service. The decision was made to focus on the company's self-titled video format and encourage its use on other platforms, such as the PS3, Xbox 360, and alternative websites. The shutdown blocks new uploads as of today and will see a complete shutdown of the site by February 28. Companies hosting their videos on Stage6 are being helped to migrate their videos to other pages, DivX says. [full story]