What are DivX Players?

[Alienverse]

Hey all! I'm not sure if this post has been answered already in another thread but I was just wondering what what exactly is DivX playback on a DVD player. The Future Shop near my house is having a sale on a DVD player with DivX capabilites but before I purchase it, I would like to know what exactly DivX is. If this question has been answered, please send me a link showing where. Thank you very much for the help and sorry for the inconvenience if this topic has been posted already.

[Baldrick]

http://www.divx.com/divx/whatisdivx.php

[celtic_druid]

The term DivX DVD player really refers to a player that can handle MPEG-4 video with mp3/AC3 audio in an avi container. Just a guess but I would say that far more XviD avi's are playedback on such players every day than DivX files. Not sure that I have ever played a DivX file on my player, other than my old DivX3 avi encodes.

Also they make it sound like converting to DivX is a lossless process. It is not.

[handyguy]

What file formats do they take & what names are required? e.g. *.avi *.mpg ??

[manono]

Hi-

What file formats do they take & what names are required? e.g. *.avi *.mpg ??

As already stated, in an avi container.

So, DVD/MPEG-4 players will play videos with the .avi extension. Many will also play the new DivX Networks videos with the .divx extension. And as also stated, most of these AVIs are XviDs in the AVI container (with the .avi extension). I'd also go further and say that if you don't know what it is by now, and don't have any, then you don't need a player with such capabilities.

[handyguy]

Actually, I was looking for one, just wondered on the file format as there are programs that do convert AVI to DVD. A 1.2g became a 4.3g dvd & I would prefer not to convert

CC has a nice philips that plays everything you throw at it.

[celtic_druid]

If you mean the 642 then there are more limitations than most in terms of playback.

The divx media format is based on avi and is backwards compatible. So if it can play avi, it can play divx, even if it requires renaming.

Read a recent review though which stated that changing audio streams worked better on a particular player with avi files than divx files. Could have been the XviD video vs. DivX 6 though rather than anything to do with the container or the way that the DivX file was muxed.

Some players also support mp4 as a container. These would typically be Nero Digital Certified.

Most (all?) also support raw mpg files. So for instance rather than burning a bunch of VCD's you could just burn all the mpg's to a DVD. No need to author.

[Alienverse]

So let me get this straight, a DivX player can play raw AVI files from CD, DVD, etc. For example, I have a raw Xvid AVI file on CD and if I insert it into this player, will it play the movie? If so, I really need this player badly as I have a lot of Xvid files on CD. Thanks for the help!

[jtoolman2000]

So let me get this straight, a DivX player can play raw AVI files from CD, DVD, etc. For example, I have a raw Xvid AVI file on CD and if I insert it into this player, will it play the movie?

Yes

[Alienverse]

Wow... I need to get this! Would it play just normal raw AVI files on CD?

[handyguy]

Yes, already answered above.

[Alienverse]

Oh, I thought it was just DivX encoded movies in AVI containers. Sorry about that...

[celtic_druid]

They don't support RAW avi's. The datarates required would I think be too high anyway, even from DVD. Besides you wouldn't fit much.

Also just because an avi uses XviD for video doesn't mean that it will work. There are restrictions. Most support 720x576 max for resolution, none can handle XviD's 3 warp point GMC, etc.

[Alienverse]

Hmm, I guess all of the movies on my hard drive are DivX. I have files with an hour and a half of footage compressed to fit on a CD-R. I guess they were compressed with DivX.

[celtic_druid]

Nah, If I had to guess, I woudl guess that they are mostly compressed with XviD. Scene rules prohibit the use of DivX.

[Alienverse]

Hmm, that's still good cause this player plays Xvid as well as DivX. I'm not even sure what the difference between the two is.

[handyguy]

I use DVDSanta. It converts AVI to dvd. No need then for a divx player. You can try it. It can take a whole bunch of files @ the same time.

[Alienverse]

I use Nero to encode my AVI files to DVD but it takes so long. I usually have to leave my computer on all night to encode a movie that is only an hour and a half long. Anyways, I already ordered the DivX player from Best Buy Canada's website, I should get it in the mail later on this week.

[handyguy]

DVDSanta takes 2.5 hrs to convert 1.5 hours or so.

[rvelez]

I have the Phillips 642 and it works great! I bought it from Walmart fro $59 and I have had no trouble.
Plays avi's and mpeg files.

[Alienverse]

Well, I got the DVD Player in the mail earlier today and I immediately hooked it up and began testing it. So far it has played everything I have thrown at it with no problems whatsoever. The reviews I read about the player were right, it looks like it came out of Chinatown and it plays every single format. So far, I have no complaints about it but I will wait a few months before I decide how good it really is.