‘The Matrix’ From Freecom Will Provide Stand-Alone Home Theatre Experience With DivX Video Compatibility
San Diego, CA and Delft, The Netherlands–Jan 9, 2003 — DivXNetworks, Inc., the company that created the revolutionary patent-pending DivX™ video compression technology, today announced that Freecom Technologies will launch an official DivX Certified portable entertainment center based on a chipset from Sigma Designs. The Freecom Matrix will provide a complete broadband home entertainment center in one unit.
The Freecom Matrix joins a number of DivX Certified consumer electronics devices scheduled to hit the market in 2003. DivX, which offers DVD-quality video at 10 times greater compression than MPEG-2, is the world’s most popular MPEG-4 compatible video compression technology with over 75 million downloads worldwide. The DivX Certified Freecom Matrix is a stand-alone unit that will offer the ability to plug in directly to cable/DSL or the television and surf the Internet, send and receive email, and store and playback music, DivX videos and other files. Capacity starts at 20GB and goes all the way up to 60 GB, allowing for the storage of over 60 movies.
“The Freecom Matrix provides an all-in-one home entertainment solution that brings the rich variety of multimedia content available on the Internet directly to the television,” said Howie Miller of Freecom USA. “The significant global brand recognition of DivX video combined with the superior visual quality and large pool of content make DivXNetworks an ideal partner to help launch this product.”
“The Freecom Matrix demonstrates the power of using MPEG-4 and DivX Video features for an advanced entertainment product,” said Ken Lowe, vice president of strategic marketing at Sigma Designs. “We are excited to work with Freecom Technologies and encourage the continuing proliferation of the DivX Video standard.”
“We are very excited about bringing the DivX community a wide range of convergence devices such as the Freecom Matrix that allow consumers to unleash their DivX video beyond the PC,” said Kevin Hell, chief marketing officer and managing director of DivXNetworks, Inc. www.divxnetworks.com.
The DivX Certified Partner Program was created to enable the development of official DivX-enabled consumer electronics products to meet the global demand for high-quality DivX convergence devices. For more information on DivX certification process, visit www.divx.com/certified.
About DivXNetworks
DivXNetworks is a consumer-focused video technology company positioned at the center of multimedia convergence. The company’s core offering is the DivX ™ video codec, the world’s most popular MPEG-4 compatible video compression technology with over 75 million users worldwide. Often called “the MP3 of video,” the patent-pending DivX video technology offers DVD-quality at 10 times greater compression than MPEG-2 files, enabling full length films to easily fit on a CD or be delivered over broadband connections. DivX video technology powers a range of applications that span the convergence value chain, from a secure IP-based video-on-demand solution to next-generation consumer electronics products and video software applications. DivXNetworks is headquartered in San Diego, California, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. For more information, visit www.divxnetworks.com.
About Freecom Technologies
Freecom Technologies is a leading manufacturer of easy-to-use multimedia storage solutions. Freecom products provide simple access to digital data and enhance the connectivity of portable digital devices. The company’s products offer feasibility, connectivity and value that are unmatched by other storage manufacturers. Headquartered in Delft, The Netherlands, Freecom is dedicated to providing customers with easy-to-use, intelligent storage solutions. Freecom has sales and support offices in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland, Spain and The Netherlands. For further information, please visit www.freecom.com.
About Sigma Designs, Inc.
Sigma Designs specializes in silicon-based MPEG decoding for streaming video, progressive DVD playback and advanced digital set-top boxes. The company’s award-winning REALmagic® Video Streaming Technology is used in both commercial and consumer applications providing highly integrated solutions for high-quality decoding of MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., the company also has sales offices in China, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. For more information, please visit the company’s web site at www.sigmadesigns.com/.