Posted Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 07:00 AM PDT by Dick Ward
Remember that awful technology that got shut down hard by DVDs? It can be yours for the right price.
Think way back to the days when DVD first came on the market and try to remember DIVX. Not the computer format, but that strange video rental style scheme that Circuit City came up with.
The way DIVX worked was that you'd purchase a disc for four dollars or so and then take it home and watch it. You could watch it as many times as you wanted for 48 hours and then it would be disabled. After that, you could activate the disc again by paying more. Sort of like a crappy version of VODs.
That technology and others are being sold at auction on August 16th for a starting price of $750,000. If there are no bidders, Imaging Transfer Co. will pick it all up at the starting price.
"Although Circuit City was not able to capitalize on its inventions, the video distribution model it envisioned has become the mainstream," says Gabe Fried of Streambank - the company assisting in the sale of the tech.
DIVX may have helped to pave the way for video on demand, but how much is a failed technology that showed everyone what not to do really worth? Apparently $750 grand.
Source: Engadget
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