Avi dvd player

[imkool]

I wanted to buy a dvd player that can play avi file so that i don't have to convert them to dvd files.

I know there are some players that just state that they play avi(so i amssum they play both fomats) but i relized that some dvd players either play Divx or Xvid and i was wondering whats the difference between them. When i checked my avi files some are Xvid compressed and some are Divx compressed. So if i were to buy a player that plays only Divx will i b able to player all my avi files?

[guns1inger]

I have yet to see one that won't play both if it claims to play either. The formats are almost identical. Caveats

1. There are restrictions on how the files need to be encoded. There is not strict rule, so lowest common denominator is usually used. This means no qpel, no GMC, 720 pixels wide or less, 2000kbps maximum bitrate, 2GB maximum file size. Packed Bitstreams work on some, don't work on others. VBR MP3 works on some and not on others.

2. Some players will play Divx, but not in the Divx container.

[jman98]

Excellent post by guns1inger which sums up the points real well. I would add only that people who encode with Xvid have a tendency to use settings in the encoding process that are problematic for some DVD players and people who encode with Divx have less of a tendency to do so because the encoding tools that the commercial Divx codec uses don't use those problematic options he mentions in #1 in his post.

Note that I've read that a few DVD players that support Divx don't actually support the very old Divx 3 codec, but I don't know which models this is supposed to be true of. My Philips DVP-642 supports Divx and it can play Divx 3 files. Nobody should really be using Divx 3 these days anyway, so this shouldn't be a big deal, just note that some have reported problems with it.

[jagabo]

Note that AVI is a container -- a "box" that holds video and audio. That video and audio can be compressed (or not) with any number of compression schemes, or "codecs". DVD players that play "AVI" typically only play AVI with Divx and Xvid compressed video and MP2, MP3, and AC3 audio.

[imkool]

so basic, some or al divx player can play both fomats but has some resrictions to it, is that right?
o and i really dont get want u mean but Some players will play Divx, but not in the Divx container. im no pro at this can u explain?

[jagabo]

Yes, most players that play Divx AVI will also play Xvid AVI.

Divx, the company, added extensions to the AVI container to support things like menus, chapters, and subtitles. To differentiate the files they change the extension to .DIVX rather than .AVI.

[Cornucopia]

The players that can play Divx in an AVI container file SHOULD also be able to play them in a Divx-container file (since they are nearly the same--just the filename is different along with support for additional structures--txt, sup, menus, chapters). If your player can do the one but not the other, all you would need to do is rename ***.DIVX to ***.AVI.

Scott