Stage6 - to be taken down - a crime?

[Rhodite 3]

I have only recently come across this site and was suitably impressed with the quality of the site and of the videos they permitted to be uploaded and viewed.

However they have just announced it is to be closed (three days notice before it completely shuts down)

I wondered if anyone here uses it or has used it and what your thoughts are on the whole thing.

Personally I was quite disappointed it was imho considerably better than YouTube or other rivals that I was aware of.

Perhaps there is an alternative that is just as good but the statement on the site explaining why it was to be closed caused quite a riot in their community, and also posed many more questions. I have pasted the statement in this post as it will soon not be available to view.

What are your thoughts do you care? Was it a fantastic site that has died because of the money men? Do all media hype sites have an "expected life span"?

What are your thoughts?

Quote[/b] ]

I’m Tom (aka Spinner), a Stage6 user and an employee of DivX, Inc., the company behind the service. I’m writing this message today to inform you that we plan to shut down Stage6 on February 28, 2008. Upload functionality has already been turned off, and you’ll be able to view and download videos until Thursday.

I know this news will come as a shock and disappointment to many Stage6 users, and I’d like to take a few moments to explain the reasons behind our decision.

We created Stage6 with the mission of empowering content creators and viewers to discover a new kind of video experience. Stage6 began as an experiment, and we always knew there was a chance that it might not succeed.

In many ways, though, the service did succeed, beyond even our own initial expectations. Stage6 became very popular very quickly. We helped gain exposure for some talented filmmakers who brought great videos to the attention of an engaged community. We helped prove that it’s possible to distribute true high definition video on the Internet. And we helped broaden the Internet video experience by offering content that is compatible with DVD players, mobile devices and other products beyond the PC.

So why are we shutting the service down? Well, the short answer is that the continued operation of Stage6 is a very expensive enterprise that requires an enormous amount of attention and resources that we are not in a position to continue to provide. There are a lot of other details involved, but at the end of the day it’s really as simple as that.

Now, why didn’t we think of that before we decided to create Stage6 in the first place, you may ask? That’s a good question. When we first created Stage6, there was a clear need for a service that would offer a true high quality video experience online because other video destinations on the Internet simply weren’t providing that to users. A gap existed, and Stage6 arrived to fill it.

As Stage6 grew quickly and dramatically (accompanied by an explosion of other sites delivering high quality video), it became clear that operating the service as a part of the larger DivX business no longer made sense. We couldn’t continue to run Stage6 and focus on our broader strategy to make it possible for anyone to enjoy high quality video on any device. So, in July of last year we announced that we were kicking off an effort to explore strategic alternatives for Stage6, which is a fancy way of saying we decided we would either have to sell it, spin it out into a private company or shut it down.

I won’t (and can’t, really) go into too much detail on those first two options other than to say that we tried really hard to find a way to keep Stage6 alive, either as its own private entity or by selling it to another company. Ultimately neither of those two scenarios was possible, and we made the hard decision to turn the lights off and cease operation of the service.

So that’s where we are today. After February 28, Stage6 will cease to exist as an online destination. But the larger DivX universe will continue to thrive. Every day new DivX Certified devices arrive on the market making it easy to move video beyond the PC. Products powered by DivX Connected, our new initiative that lets users stream video, photos, music and Internet services from the PC to the TV, are hitting retail outlets. We remain committed to empowering content creators to deliver high quality video to a wide audience, and we’ll continue to offer services that will make it easy to find videos online in the DivX format.

It’s been a wild ride, and none of it would have been possible without the support of our users. Thank you for making Stage6 everything that it was.

--Tom

[Sheps 0]

Thats a lie, Anti Piracy agencies were obviously all over their back about it, as they are with everyone nowadays.

Its a shame, they had the best quality Losts on there as well.

[oyman 0]

no more high qaulity porn

[LeftSkidLow 1]

DAMNIT!!! How am I supposed to easily watch unreleased movie for free now????!!!! Joox was the coolest site ever, guess I gotta go back to torrents.

[shinRaiden 0]

YouTube, like most other Intardnet ratholes, ran at a substantial loss until Google decided to throw good money after bad. It's kept afloat only because it's THE 900lb gorilla now, the ad revenue is ok, and the operating costs evidently have stabilized.

Part of that though is the fact that compared to Stage6, an individual content item on YouTube has substantially lower infrastructure costs (storage and bandwidth) per session and item, and youtube has already gained critical mass for low-quality content, while the expectation is that Itunes will seal up the market for high-quality.

Regardless of the DRM boogeyman, this endeavour was just as doomed from a business and technical aspect as was the divx hardware player, despite all the tech addicts wishful thinking. Blaming boogeymen where their services are not essential (why should the RIAA get involved if DivX is bleeding cash over an unsustainable service?) is just beating a dead horse.

[AWDrift 0]

Damn, I better download my favorites off the site while I still can. On the plus side some alternatives are popping up.

[Sennacherib 0]

as an addict of Divx, i used also this site; this is really sad.

[mr burns 131]

hahaha, now im glad that i never registered or even downloaded the codec. Low quality youtube ftw

[Placebo 28]

http://www.dailymotion.com/ better alternative to youtube, better video quality after upload.

I store my Fifa replays on there: http://www.dailymotion.com/Placebo_SG

[quicksand 0]

I am in shock over this developement.

I've been a user on stage6 for almost as long as it started and uploaded a good number of videos even.Over there I've found a heaven for hi-def live concerts,documentaries,music videos etc. I've been away for a while on a trip in which I refused to use internet access and have returned to find my inbox full of mails announcing this horrible news.

Stage6 was the best worst kept secret on the internet.Youtube hurts my eyes,stage6 represented progress.320x240 resolution shouldn't have left the 20th century...

[rstratton 0]

4 letters explains it M.P.A.A. dammit no more quicksilverscreen com

[Dwarden 1124]

ok this is definitely VERY bad news ... who's next ?

i Stage6 and LiveLeak were my top ones ...

rest videosites suck in visual and audio quality and censored or useless content...