Stage6 to shut down.

I found this story via the excellent cinematech.blogspot.com. DivX Inc. the company being the DivX codec is to shut down its video sharing site Stage6. DivX Inc. have made their own announcement on the Stage6 blog but there is a great deal of difficulty getting the link to work right now (possibly the server is overwhelmed with irate Stage6 users) but the link is http://www.stage6.com/blog/108/

Stage6's problem was that it allowed users to set their own parameters (that and needing to install it's own dedicated plug in). That meant uploaders could push the quality settings off the scale in order to preserve as much quality of the original as possible. However viewers would spend most of their time watching a "buffering" logo.

Say what you like about Youtube (or Vimeo, BlipTV or Veoh, etc), the compromises they impose are designed to give the viewers a hassle free experience - "Give me convenience or give me death" as the Dead Kennedy's said...

Stage6 had the potential to be a great service, and I get the feeling that as company in general, DivX are on the side of the angels (well, at least on the side of content creators) but I'm not surprised it's being switched off...