Sony introduces its first DivX certified portable DVD player

June 12, 2006

Despite
the wide range of portable DivX supporting media players, Sony has introduced
its first DivX certified portable DVD player, the D-VE7000S DVD Walkman, which
combines the features of a portable media player with the features of a
walkman. DivX certification means that it will also support DRM
protected content such as DivX rentals, which can be purchased for download from
online movie download stores.

The DVD player features a 7" LCD, embedded
rechargeable battery, Video input & output, Dolby Digital & DTS 5.1
digital output, 2 headphone sockets and weighs 780g (1.7lb). Sony decided
to take on DivX technology due to strong consumer demand for DivX support and
with over 35 million DivX certified devices shipped world wide by other
brands. Going by the photography on this Akihabara news article, the DVD player folds up like a
laptop, but can also fold completely around such that the base is flat with the
back of the screen to handle like a portable media player.

Sony of
Canada Ltd. and DivX, Inc. today announced that Sony's new DVD Walkman
portable DVD player is fully DivX Certified, allowing users to playback
DivX videos on the go.

With over 180 million software product downloads worldwide, DivX is
a digital media format that enables video to be compressed so that it uses
only a fraction of the amount of data required by a standard-length DVD
for secure playback on PCs and millions of consumer electronics devices.

The new ultra-compact D-VE7000S, a slimline tablet-design DVD player
with a seven-inch widescreen LCD and embedded rechargeable battery,
supports a wide range of playback disc formats. The DVD Walkman offers
Dolby(R) Digital surround sound and dts(R) digital output with selectable
video in/out for connecting to a camera, game system or
television.

With widespread DivX usage, many consumers expect this
to be a standard feature with new DVD players, so Sony certainly done the right
thing by adding support to it to its portable DVD player series. Then
again, it took them long enough to even add MP3 support to its portable music
players, which is potentially one of the reasons it had little success
in competing with MP3 players.

Source: Businesswire Press Releases