More Japan IP Communications Stories

Sonic Solutions, a digital media provider, is aiming to bring easily accessible entertainment to the Japanese market. This strategy was put into action by releasing the first six popular Harry Potter movies from Warner Bros. Pictures, with extra features in the DivX format on USB hard disk drives from Japan’s Buffalo, Inc.

Sonic Solutions includes the technology brands Roxio (News - Alert), DivX, RoxioNow, and MainConcept. Sonic delivers a universal platform for Hollywood Studios, retailers, consumer electronics manufacturers, and PC OEMs. DivX is a division of Sonic Solutions and provides high quality video experience to its consumers across three scenes, by creating, distributing and licensing digital video technologies.

The strategy to offer DivX’s superior visual quality, content security, and broad device interoperability, will help Sonic enter the previously untapped Japanese market for Blu-ray discs and mobile devices. DivX is the only provider of Internet video format. Japanese consumers will now be able to enjoy playing the Harry Potter movies, which have already been preloaded to the Buffalo hard disk. The users can also transfer the DivX format movie or video files to a flash drive, which can then be played using gaming consoles, Blu-ray Disc players, digital televisions, and mobile devices.

In a release, the executive vice president and general manager of DivX, Matt Milne, said, "Offering hit movies to the Japanese marketplace are an important milestone. It not only helps reinforce the quality and flexibility of the DivX format for premium content distribution, it also signals the continuation of Sonic's multi-phase plan for international expansion."

DivX has already achieved shipment of more than 350 million DivX devices. The digital video technologies are compatible with DivX certified electronics devices including DVD players, televisions, game consoles, media streamers, Blu-ray players, mobile or smart phones, set top boxes, in-car players, multimedia storage devices, and portable media players, with the DivX logo prominent on them. DivX solutions can be classified into three categories: high-definition devices, which include DivX Plus HD and DivX HD 720p and 1080p; standard definition devices including home theater and DivX Ultra; and mobile devices including DivX Mobile Theatre and DivX Mobile.