• On MovieTome: The next Spider-Man villain?
June 19, 2008 2:47 PM PDT

DivX returns to Web video with the HD-licious Vreel

by Josh Lowensohn

When I put together a small comparison test of video services earlier this year, an overwhelming number of people got on me about not including Stage6, a side project of the people behind the popular DivX codec to showcase what their technology was capable of. Shortly thereafter, Stage6 shut its doors in a rather dramatic fashion--giving users mere days to find somewhere else to host their high-resolution videos.

That was in February though, and since then a group of half a dozen developers has put together their own solution, called Vreel. Originally planned to launch back in March, it opened up its doors this morning.

Like its predecessor, one of the service's strong suits is that it uses DivX, a codec that's not as popular as Adobe's Flash for Web video, but beat it to market for delivering high-resolution videos and is largely the format of choice for videos found on sites like The Pirate Bay. Since then, Flash has caught up technologically, but high-resolution videos have not quite reached the mainstream, only popping up on sites like Dailymotion, Vimeo, and in a gallery on Hulu. The user-uploaded videos already filling up Vreel's servers are beautiful (albeit mostly illegal).

The service is allowing users to upload gargantuan video files by most standards. The current cap is 1GB, which is what many free Web storage services offer as their entire limit. I'm told users will be able to upload even larger sizes in the future. The best thing is that there's no time limit, so as long as your video is under the size cap, it can be as long as you want. Considering the news about YouTube extending its video length, this is a necessary move.

The short clip I uploaded earlier today came from my digital camera and was converted from AVI to DivX with no noticeable loss in quality. The one caveat there is that, to see it, users have to install the DivX Web player in their browser, the same thing you have to do with Flash and YouTube. DivX's player, however, has a few tricks up its sleeve. For one, you can pop out any video to its original quality, which on some widescreen videos looks just great. It's also got a much more complex options menu for every clip that lets you do fast forward and rewind, and even save the clip if you have a premium version of the player--the same kind of things you get with Apple's QuickTime.

Unfortunately, the one thing missing is a way to embed the clip on other sites, so if you want to see how it looks beyond the screenshot below, you'll have to go here

Update: Oops, looks like we helped take the site down. Removing links for the time being--will put them back up when the site returns.

Update 2: Vreel is getting more servers and should be officially "re-launching" soon. We'll keep you posted.

Update 3: Everything is back to normal. Links are back.

High-quality videos on Vreel shine. You can even view them in close to native resolution with a pop-out player.

(Credit: CNET Networks)
Josh Lowensohn writes for Webware.com, CNET's blog about Web applications and services. E-mail Josh, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Josh.
Recent posts from Webware
Google launches Maps tool for finding flu vaccine
Get a $10 Restaurant.com gift certificate for 80 cents
Hundreds of Facebook groups hijacked
Plan your wedding with these Web resources
Twitter, LinkedIn team up for self-promotion free-for-all
'Elf Yourself' returns with Facebook and Twitter power
Sneak peek: Xobni e-mail app for BlackBerry
More time needed for revised Google Books deal
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (4 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
by DigitAl56K June 19, 2008 4:13 PM PDT
A beta version of the DivX Web Player that features improved support for Windows Vista is available here:
http://labs.divx.com/node/6277

If you know the URL of the source file, you can embed the web player on your own site using this code generator:
http://labs.divx.com/WebPlayerCodeGenerator

I suggest only doing so if the hosting parties TOS allows this, otherwise you may be accused of leeching bandwidth.
Reply to this comment
by Josh.Lowensohn June 19, 2008 4:40 PM PDT
Hey thanks, I've got the current build running on Vista just fine. I think the issue at this point is that the servers where the video is hosted are currently kaput, but will try to do that later--it's really quite pretty.
by hqdivx July 13, 2008 6:04 PM PDT
There is another high definition video sharing site at http://setvid.com
Reply to this comment
by joecool6101 October 25, 2008 11:28 AM PDT
Since vreel is constantly down i thought i would share with you guys http://stagehd.com .. its been around since the unfortunate closing of stage6 and hasnt needed any of that annoying downtime that vreel says they need to stay online and working as they are good programmers and know how to run a good site on the fly. Its worth your while i assure you. **I am not affliated with them, just a fan**
Reply to this comment
(4 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

About Webware

Say No to boxed software! The future of applications is online delivery and access. Software is passé. Webware is the new way to get things done.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Webware topics

After 5 years, Firefox faces new challenges

Mozilla helped reshape the Web since releasing Firefox 1.0 five years ago. Now it's got a reawakened Microsoft and Google Chrome to reckon with.

There's a map for that: GPS or smartphone?

Almost every handset comes with mapping software these days, but standalone GPS devices are becoming more affordable than ever.

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right