Is a Divx player worth it?

[bchalker]

I love how Divx-encoded movies are so beautiful at a fraction of the file size. I play them on my computer with no problem. Look great.

Know I hear about these Divx player (Kiss, Lite-On, etc.) coming out and I'm getting interested. I have a Sampo and a Norcent I am happy with (they play anything...except Divx .

Do these Divx players play typical DVDs with Divx movies burned onto them - without all of the re-encoding headaches VCD/SVCDs bring? i.e. can I burn a Divx movie onto a DVD, stick it in the player, and select the movie...just like that?

If so, would it be worth archiving all my stuff onto Divx and buying this player?

Thanks

[tigerman8u]

I put all of my divx. xvid (mpeg 4) on dvd and cd media. I think by sometime next year the bigger companies ie sony etc. will enter the market and the prices will start coming down. It would be nice to see firmware upgrades available but this would lose to much money in sales. This would save alot of time converting to vcd, svcd or dvd. I'm definitely gonna get one of these players (when the price comes down). For now I play them on my tv with my video out card.

[flucky]

I have the Elta 8882 and it's fantastic. Not only does it play DivX (version 4 or any version 5 straight out of the box) and with a firmware upgrade it will play the version 3 codec. It also plays DVD-R, -RW, +R & +RW as well as VCD (also SVCD apparently). It is can be easily made to a Region free player via a simple remote control hack. It does not support subtitles yet but the new model coming out soon will (Elta 8883). I have had very liitle problems with it. I hope this helps............................................. ..............

[bchalker]

thanks for the info guys.

So how is the Divx burned? Just as an ISO DVD - like mpeg files?

[SARK]

You don't need to burn the DVD or CD in a "special" format, the normal file format is good enough for the LiteOn LVD 2001. If you load more than one file on one disc (you can mix all the formats on one disc) you just select the title you want to see. It plays any DivX 4/5 XviD I throw at it.

[Gazorgan]

Don't expect miracles. Most DivX you download are crap. Overcompressed is the correct word.

Let's not forget the Aspect Ratio issue. Yes a DivX is 1:1, bust most are 16:9 or greater in how they are encoded (640x360 and 640x284). This results in some pretty dam narrow displays. And how your player deals with 23.97 progressive encode is a key factor.

Now, if you are making your own, then you can get some seriously impressive results at 3 movies/DVDR. This equates to roughly a 2 CDR movie per encode. You can get pure DVD quality at 2/DVDR. Make a test DivX sometime with CQ/2-pass VBR and shoot for 2GB final product. You won't be able to tell it from the original DVD (except for maybe interlacing artifacts).

[bchalker]

I encode the Divx movies myself. Quality is really close to DVD. On my 27" I doubt I would see a difference.

I'm leaning toward the Lite-On. I've got a Norcent DP-300 and a Sampo DVD player I'd sell off to fund the purchase. Hmmmm... Looking likely

Thanks guys...

[jgandara]

I purchased the DVD neuston maestro and it plays almost any divx and Xvid I have. You just burn them as a regular file and they will show up as a file list. This player supports subtitles.

The only problem is with action scenes and file errors. If the file has errors (like missing frames) then you will have problems, otherwise you are ok.

[Brant]

Let's not forget the Aspect Ratio issue. Yes a DivX is 1:1, bust most are 16:9 or greater in how they are encoded (640x360 and 640x284). This results in some pretty dam narrow displays. And how your player deals with 23.97 progressive encode is a key factor.

What does this mean about the aspect ratio? On a liteon lvd-2001 you can adjust the aspect ratios on divx.

[mgh]

slightly off topic-will the liteon play NTSC DVDs on a strictly PAL TV with colour?- Have seen the DVD Players section and member reports- some of them have ticked PAL/NTSC convert-am seriously considering the liteon-but am in PAL country-with most DVDs available in NTSC!!
Thanx

[aybesea]

slightly off topic-will the liteon play NTSC DVDs on a strictly PAL TV with colour?- Have seen the DVD Players section and member reports- some of them have ticked PAL/NTSC convert-am seriously considering the liteon-but am in PAL country-with most DVDs available in NTSC!!
Thanx

Yes

[mgh]

Thanx aybesea

[SARK]

Just converted a DVD to the XviD format (devided over two cd's, 700 mb each), runs perfectly on my LiteOn LVD 2001. Picture quality is really great, ok compared to the original the copy lacks some sharpness but it's very close.
Just wanted to let you know.

[Bob W]

I ordered this player http://www.vinc.com/product.asp?id=31&PID=21 which plays Divx plus outputs to DVI at 720p and higher. i may have to try some mpeg4 files to see how they look at 720p.

[jtoolman2000]

I too was interested in getting one of these players but I have now changed my mind. It takes several hours to properly backup a DVD to Divx format. Depending on the number of operations you choose to perform during the process. I can also make a DVD-+R DVD backup of most DVD with or without compression in less than a hour. Obviously the resulting DVD will better than any Divx I can make ( and I've been encoding Divx for a few years )

DVD-+RW drives are almost universally affordable now and disks are under a $ so making Divx seen to not make any more sence at least to me.

I don't mean to offend anyone, just my oppinion.

I still have hundred of Divx CDs I've made on hand and maybe whe the prices drop to regular DVD player ( $100 and less ) I might cinsider getting one.