Is Divx Player All I Need?

[hech54]

I want to send a Xvid/Divx file to my brother on a CD-R.
I'm almost 95% sure he has no idea what Xvid/Divx is
and does not have either codec on his computer.
Can I just add the Divx Player executable to the disc for him
to install on his machine so he can watch this concert?

I'd be willing to attempt to burn it to DVD for him but I'm almost
positive this concert is PAL and that is even more of a hassle for him.

[DB83]

I do not think so.

IIRC the Divx player is just that - a player. It still needs a codec to play the clips.

A better choice would be the VLC (Videolan) player which plays many formats without the need for additional codecs.

[guns1inger]

I would probably send VLC instead. I have never been really impressed with the Divx player

edit : DB83 - snap

[redwudz]

How about VLC Media Player Portable? http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/vlc_portable

[greymalkin]

I don't think that's right about the player not including the codec. From my experience after installing the players you then have the codec on your machine which other media players (like vlc, mpc, etc.) can make use of.

[hech54]

Well I burned both the Divx file and the portable VLC executable to a disc. Ran the disc in my wife's laptop (which I KNOW does not have either Xvid or Divx on it). The Xvid file would NOT play....I installed VLC....and VLC played it perfectly.
Thanks for the tip about VLC....I always forget about that player.
What is the difference between the portable and regular VLC player?
I mean....you still need to install both on the computer right?

[redwudz]

I admit I didn't read all the way through the VLC portable page. But I saw this on the site:

Running From CD (VLC Portable Live)
Support for running from a CD is built into VLC Portable. Just extract it to a local drive and run it at least once to generate a set of default settings. Next, make any configuration changes you'd like. Finally, burn the whole VLCPortable directory to CD being sure not to change the locations of any files.

Apparently that sets the defaults, like full screen, or subs or skins, etc.

But the regular VLC is probably a better choice as I imagine it's more versatile. And they would have it to keep on their system after the install.

[cd090580]

You can put VLC portable on the cdr and also build you own autorun.inf which will launch your video and vlc when you will put the cd on the drive.