Divx confusion (mine).....

[DVWannaB]

Hey gang,

New to the Divx game so I may ask some really stupid questions. In any case I need your help to clear up my confusion.

I see there are codecs out there for Divx 3, 4 and 5. I want to create short clips of anywhere between 5 to 45 minutes and make them available on the web for people to watch or download.

Which one of these versions gives me most compatibility for playback on version Windows Media Player, Real Player or any other player available?

Which gives the overall better quality?

Can I use all in Virtualdub for real-time capture and/or conversion from AVI to Divx?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[negon]

DivX is awesome, but when it comes to streaming on the web I go with WMV. Windows Media Encoder is free on the Microsoft website (Just type "windows media encoder" on www.google.com . Good luck!

[negon]

Sorry, I didn't answer it in my previous post... MPEG is the best format for compatibility with all the media players, but it isn't the best compression method for the web. DivX, I believe cannot be played on RealPlayer or others, though I may be wrong. Still, I believe Windows Media Video is the best format currently.

[DVWannaB]

Thanks, Negon. So if I undrstand this correctly, for video on the web go with a MPEG-4 encoder (WMV or MPEGable, etc.). So Divx is best used to compress video in a small file, but maintain quality and best used for non-internet purposes.

I just thought that Divx 4 & 5 were mpeg-4 codecs, therefore produced mpeg-4 video. Guess I was wrong there.

Last question: If I created a Divx file and burned to a CD-R, would someone else be able to watch it on his/her computer without any problems, or do they have downlaod the codec?

Thanks.

[bugster]

Thanks, Negon. So if I undrstand this correctly, for video on the web go with a MPEG-4 encoder (WMV or MPEGable, etc.). So Divx is best used to compress video in a small file, but maintain quality and best used for non-internet purposes.

I just thought that Divx 4 & 5 were mpeg-4 codecs, therefore produced mpeg-4 video. Guess I was wrong there.

Thanks.

Divx (3, 4 and 5) are all forms of mpeg-4 codecs, though they may or may not be compliant with the official mpeg-4 spec. However, when it comes to playing back divx content, you must have at leats one of the divx codecs installed and unlike the microsoft WMV codecs, they are not automatically downloaded if not present whn you try and play a video that requires one.


Not all 'Mpeg-4' video is the same, unlike mpeg-1 and 2 which have been around a lot longer and the codecs pretty much standardised.

[DVWannaB]

Ok, bugster. Thanks. I think I understand much more now than before this thread started

[DivXExpert]

DivX 3.11 has proved for me to be the best quality. DivX was made for internet distribution. The person would have to download the codec. Provide a link to the divx 3.11 website. (http://www.divx-digest.com/software/divxcodec.html) on the website you put the videos. If you distribute it on a CD provide the codec on the CD, or a little not on the CD saying you need to download the codec if they don't have it.

You may here about XviD, and it is very good, but only for experts. Stick with DivX 3.11 and you will be fine.

[DivXExpert]

Any of the DivX codecs can be used to do a realtime capture in VirtualDub. Or you could capture HuffYUV and convert it to DivX if you want. It all depends.

[DVWannaB]

DivXExpert,

Thanks for the note. That makes me feel much better. Sharing short family videos on the web seems a lot more efficient than I first thought. Instead of streaming, they will just have to download the video and the codec to play it. COOL!!!!

In your experience what is the deal with DivX 4 and 5? What makes them come up short when compared to 3.11?

[DivXExpert]

DivX 3.11 was derived from Microsoft Tecnologies. When the DivX crew ran into legal trouble they rebuilt the codec from the ground up to avoid any problems.

DivX 4 and 5 are perfectly legal. While DivX 3.11 is not so legal. Oh well, Microsoft doesn't really care anymore. And are not going to make the same mistake twice, so they are making Windows Media 9 a codec that can be used with VirtualDub or whatever, so the same thing doesn't happen again (someone hacks the codec so that they can use it in VirtualDub or whatever).

[DivXExpert]

DivX 5 is also completely Mpeg-4 ISO standard.

DivX 3.11 is not.

[DVWannaB]

Hey thanks again. Great background and info as well. Much appreciated.

DV

[DivXExpert]

As for Windows Media. It is very good. But is also streaming.

DivX 3.11 is a hack of Windows Media, and is very custimizable thanks to Nandub. So 3.11 is alot better than Windows Media, because you can change 3.11 for different movies, and tweek it to the extream, you canot do this with Windows Media.

XviD is catching up, but not yet as good as 3.11.