Thursday, March 6,2008 @ 9:10am
Hauppauge readying DivX HD home media hub
Hauppauge is in the midst of developing a networked media hub, says a statement by DivX. The video codec designers reveal that the former company, best known for its TV tuners, is planning a device that would share DivX videos between a PC and a TV. The hub will be capable of playing HD-level video and will also offer Internet services directly from the device itself; like the Apple TV, it will have its own hard drive to cache information locally. DivX declines to elaborate on most other details but does note that the Hauppauge hub will support a plug-in architecture.
Pricing is not yet ready for the device; a formal release is planned for the second half of this year but is not certain to include North America as well as Hauppauge's European home region.
While DivX-capable players are not new and recently included game consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in its ranks, the unnamed Hauppauge hub will be one of the few dedicated devices to offer the feature while also supplying HD video, local cache, and Internet features.