DVT Makes the PWC 2013 "Digital Gateway to Africa

Publication by Wesgro, City of Cape Town and PWC - Cape Town’s Creative Software Design and Development sector

DivX killed the DVD Star

The birth of video compression

 

DivX^TM is a popular video compression technology created by DivX Incorporated in California in the early 2000s. The technology or CODEC (short for compressor/decompressor) allows for DVD video (for example) to be compressed from its original DVD format (~ approximately 4.7GB in size) into smaller DivX encoded AVI (audio video interleaved) files (~ approximately 700MB in size).  Although the size of the output file could be varied (depending on compression quality), 700MB was a popular size since it could be written onto writeable CD-ROMs. This became a popular form of “copying” DVDs onto CDs without significant loss of viewing quality. Since 2003 the free DivX codec has been downloaded over 240 million times (Wikipedia, DivX Inc, 2011).

The start of digital proliferation

The tools responsible for performing the conversion from DVD to DivX are not produced by DivX themselves but other software vendors (e.g. Nero, AnyDVD, Magic DVD Ripper) whose software is able to “break” DVD copy-protection technology in order to read the original video data and then convert it into the DivX format using the codec provided by DivX Inc. Commercially available writable CDs (CD-Rs) and the corresponding CD writer devices first originated in the mid 90s (Wikipedia, CR-R, 2011) whereas DVD-Rs (writeable DVDs) appeared in the late 1990s. It is during this time that the proliferation of DivX began (Wikipedia, DivX, 2011) which allowed users a popular means of copying, storing and sharing DVD movies that were quick to copy, relatively small in size and easy to distribute.

Acceleration through broadband and peer-to-peer sharing

 

During the early to mid 2000s, broadband internet connectivity around the world became increasingly available (Figure 1) with ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and cable modems being able to provide bandwidth in the range of 1Mb/s to 4Mb/s. This meant that DivX files (in the region of 700MBs) could be downloaded within the space of approximately 1 hour. It was also during the early 2000s that peer-to-peer networks (Wikipedia, File Sharing, 2011) such as Kazaa, BitTorrent and Usenet) began rapid proliferation of media sharing between networked users (or peers).

Although initially used to share music (mp3s), these networks rapidly increased the sharing of large media files and games as bandwidth speeds increased and the bandwidth cost decreased. Many of these peer-to-peer networks supported fragmentation (i.e. breaking up the file into separate packages), so that downloads could be resumed at a later stage (without having to restart) increasing the probability of acquiring media files. According Altopia.com (Wikipedia, Usenet, 2011), the daily downloads through Usenet, grew from 81 GB/day in 2001 to 7.52 TB/day in 2011 reflecting a growth of 1000% in ten years. Today, uncapped bandwidth, increasing processing power, searchable indices and multi-threaded downloads (creating simultaneous download threads from the same computer) are increasing the ease at which large media files can be obtained disrupting traditional DVD and media distribution.

Impact to- and response from the move industry

 

Online media sharing has become a major concern for movie studios and distributors. Online movie sharing ultimately reduces the amount of legitimate copies of DVDs purchased reducing studio earnings. As early as 2001, Kazaa was already being ordered by courts to take steps to prevent its users from violating copyrights. In 2006, the then owner of Kazaa (Sharman) had settled to pay $100 million in damages to four major music companies and an undisclosed sum to movie studios – agreeing to convert the brand into a legal music download service (in much similarity to the Napster case). In 2007, DivX Inc themselves were subject to legal action (Wikipedia, Divx Inc, 2011) when a user-generated content site they created (Stage6) came under scrutiny for proliferating copyrighted material. After DivX Inc separated Stage6 into a separate company in 2007 it eventually shut the entity down in 2008.

The future of digital media

 

Apart from legal action, efforts to run anti-piracy campaigns in DVDs and copy-protection have also been correlated by the movie industry’s move toward high definition. The Sony Blu-Ray format for example, has a data payload of 30-50GB per disc making it less easy to share online. Legal digital media services offering pay-per-view and video on demand are now becoming common-place. In South Africa, Multichoice has recently launched Box Office (DSTV, 2011), a service which allows DSTV subscribers to purchase latest movies (normally available in video stores) at a fee of R25 per movie for viewing over 48 hours. Selected titles are available within five minutes and are available in HD. The service is marketed for its ease of use and hassle-free nature of ordering a blockbuster video without leaving the comfort of your couch. In the US, NetFlix Inc provides on-demand internet streaming movies to its subscription base. By 2009 the company was offering more than 100,000 titles to over 10 million subscribers. In 2011, the company aims to expand into Europe. Manufacturers are also supporting the brand by developing “Netflix-ready” devices. These manufacturers include Apple, LG, Microsoft, Nintendo, Panasonic and Samsung. As of 2010, Netflix is now available for the Apple iPhone and iPad moving its strategy into the mobile space.

Concluding Remarks

 

Although DivX is not the only video compression format available today, it is one of the more popular formats that predominated during the early 2000s when online media sharing became common-place. With its format being well adopted by users and consumer electronics, it makes for an interesting case and starting point for the proliferation online media sharing which disrupted the traditional entertainment markets owned by movie studios and record labels affecting sales of home DVDs, CDs, television broadcasts and cinema. Through legal action, it would appear in this case, that the studios and record labels have won the battle for now, at least against content aggregators such as Kazaa. Furthermore legal media services (e.g. Netflix, Box Office) and improved bandwidth are providing consumers with practical and cost-effective alternatives to piracy.