NEC Licenses DivX Plus™ HD for EMMA™ chips

NEC Electronics’ EMMA™ chips to power advanced Blu-ray players, digital TVs and set-top boxes

SAN DIEGO and KAWASAKI, Japan — DivX, Inc. (Nasdaq: DIVX), a digital media company, and NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions, today announced a multi-year licensing agreement covering the integration of DivX Plus™ HD technology into NEC Electronics’ ‘Enhanced Multi-Media Architecture’ (EMMA™). NEC Electronics’ EMMA chips are designed to power next-generation Blu-ray players, digital televisions (DTVs) and set-top boxes, to enable consumer electronics manufacturers to deliver a high-quality and comprehensive high definition digital media experience to consumers.

Only DivX Plus HD Certified devices support playback of DivX Plus content (H.264 video with AAC audio in an MKV file container) created with DivX® 7 software, while also supporting previous versions of DivX video up to 1080p and Hollywood content in the DivX format. Available on www.divx.com, DivX 7 software enables DivX Plus content creation.

Known for developing DivX Certified® devices that offer great performance, interoperability and visual quality, DivX gives consumers a complete digital media solution for enjoying highly compressed, high-quality Internet video from the PC to the TV and beyond. NEC Electronics is actively promoting EMMA chips for digital audio/visual (AV) appliances as a strategic business segment. Having released world’s first digital broadcasting STB system-on-a-chip (SoC) in 1998 under the brand name “EMMA”, the company has built a formidable range of successful AV SoC devices since then covering three main areas — STBs, digital TVs and DVD recorders.

“Partnering with DivX enables us to incorporate their latest DivX H.264 digital video technology into our state-of-the-art EMMA chips and provide added value to our customers,” said Masao Hirasawa, general manager of the SoC Systems Division, NEC Electronics Corporation. “With these new chips, our consumer electronics manufacturer customers will be able to offer Blu-ray players, DTVs and set-top boxes that support DivX Plus HD video playback up to 1080p.”

“NEC Electronics is a valuable IC partner for DivX as we expand our ecosystem to include the next generation of electronics devices,” said Kevin Hell, Chief Executive Officer of DivX, Inc. “Thanks to IC agreements such as this one, we continue to fuel the introduction of DivX Plus HD Certified devices to the market, enabling consumers to watch their favorite DivX HD videos and premium content anytime, anywhere.”

NEC Electronics intends to actively utilize the DivX technology and extend it to the company’s future EMMA products to provide customers with the highest quality and performance solutions for system development.

Products that bear the DivX Certified logo have undergone a rigorous testing program to ensure a high-quality DivX media experience, including reliable video creation and playback, interoperability with other DivX Certified devices and the visual quality users expect from DivX.