Yahoo! DVD/DivX player product line launched

..and we are not talking about software here. The Y! has extended the usage of their well known brand to consumer electronics hardware, namely DVD players and home theatre systems. The product line seems to focus in compact or portable devices, and the designs are quite radical and certainly differ from the mainstream.

Discover a DVD player in an entirely new way�full functionality meets true life style versatility. Watch and listen to all your favorite video and audio formats. View your favorite digital photos on any TV with an integrated card reader and USB port on selected models. The YDP-530 is DivX� certified which allows you to view content downloaded off the internet. Whether it�s an ultra compact design for use in any room in the house, or a unique form factor inspired by cutting edge convergence features, Yahoo! has a refreshingly new solution for you!

Source: Intreo.com

Written by: Lasse Penttinen @ 7 Dec 2004 6:37

Advertisement - News comments available below the ad

7 comments

vato_loco

AMAZING

7.12.2004 07:59 #1

Ne007

looks good....hopefully you can update codecs.

7.12.2004 08:31 #2

thegdog

Except that the player showed doesn't support DivX according to their web site (http://www.intreo.com/yce_prod_ydp700.html).

This is the Yahoo! DVD player that does:
http://www.intreo.com/yce_prod_ydp530.html

7.12.2004 12:36 #3

WesleyHes

Their YDP-530 is listed as having a "distinctive design" and a "unique design" and their not kidding. The analog gauges showing bit-rate and volume are darn near useless but they are cool as all get out. I especially like the memory card reader and USB support and wish more players in the future make this a standard feature - cut out the "burn JPEGs to CD" middle man so to speak. Overall, I like all of the players but I can't afford even more players that don't support everything the ones I have do. I wish the product line great success. Looks like the smaller companies are still shaking things up in the DVD world and hopefully the big boys will catch up with some of these great ideas and designs.

7.12.2004 21:35 #4

A_Klingon

Personal Opinion from an old stick-in-the-mud:

Maybe I'm getting old or something, and I hate to be a party-pooper, but all of this stuff just strikes me as "too little too late".

People have been harping for years about the lack of DivX-compatible i.e. mpeg-4 hardware (non-computer) related playback equipment. Now, YEARS later, the powers-that-be are finally getting off their duffs and coughing up the goods, if only in minute quantities.

Mpeg-4 compression is far superior to standad dvd-mpeg-2 compression. If it were not so, DivX would be dead. Mpeg-4 is the only thing keeping DivX alive. Not without good reason of course. With mpeg-4 (divx or non-divx versions) you can get a terrific looking, full-length dvd movie to fit on the lowly 700MB compact disc.

Which today, means very little in practical terms however, because blank dvds are selling (at least locally) at cheaper prices than blank cdr-s. I can buy TWO blank dvds for the price of ONE blank CDR.

Yahoo and the DivX people should have done all this stuff 2 years ago when there WAS a bigger price difference in media prices.

Now..... I don't do my homework very well, but does not Nero Burning ROM's new RECODE *also* produce stunning, exemplary, mind-bogglingly terrific MPEG-4 encodes?

I visited Doom9's site the other day, and everyone is squeaking delightedly about the new Nero Recode. Simply based on the mountains of stuff I have read, I get the distinct impression that Nero's version of mpeg-4 encoding beats the pants off DivX's. In fact, Nero's mpeg-4 encoding is not compatible with DivXs (I don't think) because Nero incorporates more quality mpeg-4 features than DivX hasn't even thought of yet. (There's tons of quality-enhancements that only hard-core encoding-enthusiasts like Doom9 can understand).

So, in my opinion, DivX (and DivX-related hardware players) are WAY too late. And not just for the reasons stated above either, (lesser quality than Nero, plus cheap media prices), specifically :

Newer, higher-density recording formats just around the corner. I'm not talking about Hollywood's next-generation retail HD movie format, whatever form that may take. But rather, *consumer* home-recording format(s). It could be Blu-Ray, or it could be something else. The data-storage capability of the new home format(s) is staggering. When the hi-density consumer discs get here (many predict by next year), you're going to quickly forget ALL about DivX hardware players. And perhaps even Nero Recode as well.

When you see that you will be able to archive a dozen or so present-day dvds on a single disc with NO loss of quality, you're going to forget ALL about DivX.

Yeah yeah, I know - I'm a pessimist, but I still say....

"Too Little Too Late". And I think that YDP-530 player looks absolutely ridiculous. It would be an embarrassment having it in the house.

[End Of Speech].

8.12.2004 00:32 #5

Ankhtify

Here's the one, which supports Divx.
http://www.intreo.com/yce_prod_ydp530.html

They all look really cool, but what are the real facts in these products ? I mean quality in picture and sound or reliability in firmware. I hope Yahoo makes it better then many others, specially when they are just starting the whole business I doubt they can make realisticly good in first phase. The Divx one doesnt have price yet, but it should be in same range as the other products.

8.12.2004 11:21 #6

six60six

its too bad it doesn't support cf/microdrive.

13.12.2004 11:32 #7

AfterDawn: News