DivX is providing a technology preview outlining the support for DivX Plus HD video in applications using the Microsoft Media Foundation, a new framework introduced in Windows 7. Windows 7 maintains support for established frameworks such as DirectShow but until now, there was no other solution for rendering content in an MKV container through the Media Foundation framework.

The advantages of enabling MKV file support in the Media Foundation framework include the ability to use hardware acceleration for H.264 video decoding via the system H.264 decoder (where supported), as well as adding support for serving both DivX and DivX Plus HD video through Windows Media Center Extenders and the Windows Media Network Sharing Service for UPNP devices. However, be aware that transcoding creates an additional CPU load on the server, some loss of quality and potentially reduces picture resolution.

The package, which is available for download after creating a free DivX Labs account, includes native versions of the DivX MKV Demux and the DivX AAC Decoder, as well as shell extensions that provide thumbnail images and detailed file information for files with either ".divx" (DivX 6) or ".mkv" (DivX 7) extensions.