Video technology company DivXNetworks Inc. has donated its patent-pending DivX video compression technology for use in the USO Video Story Project, a joint effort between the USO and several technology companies that will enable hundreds of U.S. service men and women to create video messages and distribute them to family members all over the country during New York's 17th annual Fleet Week.
"We believe in the project and want to support it," corporate communications manager Thomas Huntington told AVNOnline.com. "It's a great cause. One of the primary advantages of DivX and new technology in general is the ability to make it easier for people to connect in meaningful ways regardless of geography and other barriers. This project is a great example of that.
“It has to be incredibly difficult to be separated from your loved ones for such long periods of time, all the while putting yourself in harm's way. Of course we would want to do anything we can to help make that separation a little more bearable.”
DivX is a video compression technology that offers DVD-quality video at 10 times greater compression than MPEG-2 files, enabling full-length films to fit on a CD or be delivered over broadband connections. The superior compression of DivX technology will enable the video messages created by military personnel to easily fit on portable USB flash drives or to be distributed to family members via e-mail.
"Because DivX is so highly compressed, the USO video team can fit high-quality video messages on a tiny USB drive for easy, economical delivery to the family members of service people all over the nation," noted Huntington.
Produced by New York based Our Living Tree, the USO Video Story Project will let 400-600 U.S. military personnel record video messages at the United Service Organizations of Metropolitan New York Center from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Thursday, May 27 to Tuesday, June 1. Each service man and woman, working with trained personal historians and interviewers, will have up to 10 minutes to tell their story.
The video stories will then be compressed using DivX video technology, saved to Cruzer mini portable USB flash drives donated by SanDisk Corporation of Sunnyvale, California, and sent to the family members of military personnel. Additionally, Our Living Tree has arranged for VMdirect to send a personalized e-mail message or an e-greeting card via video e-mail.
"The USO Video Story Project is a great initiative that shows the potential of cutting-edge technology to serve as a positive force in society," DivXNetworks chief operating officer Steve Frison said in a statement. "We are proud to be involved in a project that helps service men and women communicate with loved ones all over the country."
"We believe that telling stories helps bring, and keep, families together," added Our Living Tree president Bob Breakstone. "Back in World War II, the USO set up recording booths for GIs to cut 6-inch vinyl records and then sent them stateside. Now, 60 years later, great new technologies such as DivX are letting service men and women do much the same thing in far more efficient way. We are grateful to DivXNetworks for their participation in the USO Video Story Project, and we look forward to bringing the stories of hundreds of sailors and marines to their families across the country."
The USO Video Story Project is sponsored by DivXNetworks, Blastgard International, SanDisk, and VMdirect, with the help of the Association of Personal Historians, Berwyn Editorial, Metrovision, Tamberelli Video, and numerous volunteers.
