MP4 vs DivX player

[Serville]

I have some basic questions about MP4 vs DivX.
I never cared so much before, until I'm now about to buy a new DVD player.

**** What is the difference between MP4 & DivX. I'm a little confused.
When I read on the net, it says DivX is using MP4 video compression.
So, if I buy a player that says "DivX compatible", does it also play MP4 video ? OTH, if it says "MP4 compatible", does it always play DivX ?

**** In term of picture quality & filesize, how do they compare ?
If a player can play DivX, What software is used to burn it ? I thought Nero only supports DVD & VCD/SVCD format ?
I have a feeling that Nero burns DivX in data mode ?
If yes, does that mean I can not create menu structure, etc like DVD ?

**** Same as DivX, if a player says "MP4 compatible", then what software do I use to burn the disc ?

[yoda313]

I believe mp4 is the ipod/psp format. Slightly different than divx. So I think you'd at least need to do some kind of header change to make it playable - though new firmware for the divx dvd players may make it possible to read without conversion - I really don't know on that point.

However from everything I've read on this forum all you have to do is burn the divx/xvid file as data and you're all set. You can even use a dvdr for large files. Nothing special it should read just like a computer does.

[Bjs]

From what I can gather :

Mpeg4 is divx , xvid , realmagic , and other's .

Mp4 cover's other's such as nero's format of mp4 ... and may also be psp , ipod .

Seem's to be alot of question's regarding what is and what is not .

I have seen some user's with issue's of video not recognized on both ipod's , psp , and other portable device's ... which dose need to be clarified sooner .

In the case of dvd player's , some are certified divx playable , which also cover's xvid , realmagic , and other's , though some are better than other's in actual video quality .

Some dvd player's are mpeg4 playable , which cover's divx , and what was mentioned in the previous sentence .

There are no official mp4 dvd player's , apart from portable device's .

This is only my opinion as to the difference's between mpeg4 and mp4 .

[yoda313]

Ah I forgot about the trusty old videohelp glossary:

https://www.videohelp.com/glossary?M#MP4


MP4 is a new container format, a container format allows you to combine different multimedia streams into one single file. Multimedia containers are for example the well known AVI, MPEG , Matroska, OGM.
MP4 is the global file extension for the official container format defined in the MPEG-4 standard. MP4 is streamable and supports all kinds of multimedia content, multiple audio-, video-, subtitlestreams, pictures, variable-framerates, -bitrates, -samplerates...) and advanced content like 2D and 3D animated graphics, user interactivity, DVD-like menus.
doom9 MP4 FAQ

[jagabo]

There are no official mp4 dvd player's , apart from portable device's .

There are a few:
http://ww2.nero.com/nerodigital/enu/DVD_Player_Recorder.html

Also the LinkPlayer2:

http://www.iodata.com/usa/products/products.php?cat=HNP&sc=AVEL&ts=2&tsc=&sc=AVEL&pId=AVLP2%2FDVDLA

[whitejremiah]

if a device is say, divx compatable, that means it will play back divx for sure...nothing else...although GENERALLY speaking, most of the time those devices do other things such as xvid, mp3, mpeg, wav, ect.......if it's mp4 compatable then it does h.264, and will probably also do divx, xvid, mpeg, wav, mp3........though honest to god mp4 compatable dvd players are (at least where i live) not easy to come by......

[celtic_druid]

DivX compatible means that it is certified for whatever DivX profile it is certified for. Nero Digital certification is not official mp4 certification, as far as I know that doesn't exist. Does mean that it can handle mp4's that confirm to the ND specs though.

Don't think any ND AVC cerfified players are out yet. The current crop just support MPEG-4 Part 2 video (XviD and DivX are MPEG-4 Part 2 and RealMagic is just XviD).

When comparing DivX to mp4 you would be comparing just the containers though. The DivX container is a hack/extension of avi. It supports chapters, subtitles, multiple audio streams, tags and menus. mp4 supports all of that and more. However there is no hardware support for all mp4 features. You would need DXN Ultra certification for divx menus, etc. though. Most players just support subtitles and multiple audio streams, which were possible with avi anyway.

[CobraPilot]

Check out the Avayon DXP-1000 at www.avayon.com.

Plays just about everything, including Nero Digital.