Media Players Handle mini-DV (dvsd) Format?

[webpa]

Do any set-top media player boxes ( Asus O'Play, Iomega ScreenPlay, etc) handle mini-DV camcorder tape format without conversion to something else? This format is an AVI wrapper encoded with the dvsd codec; it is what results when you capture DV camcorder tapes directly to HDD via a firewire (IEEE 1394) port. I have a WD TV Live...and it does not play such files.

[poisondeathray]

None of them

[aedipuss]

not that i've ever heard of either. DVavi isn't an end use format.

[nic2k4]

If you could capture to quicktime MOV format, there are some players that can handle it. Like the MVIX Ultio. The only thing that's unclear is which CODEC is used. Also, the wdig page doesn't specify, but you should use QT7.

[webpa]

Thanks, all. I suspected that was the case...although the excuse "...not an end-user format..." is absurd. Many millions of mini-DV camcorders were sold over a decade (plus). Since most of the tens or hundreds of millions of recorded mini-DV cassettes are never edited...merely watched as-is, it seems like a media player capable of playing the format would be quite popular. BTW: Not capturing in mini-DV (dvsd) avi format was not an option for most of us...nor was it ever desirable. That because the data (video+audio+timecode) on the tape was in exactly the same format bit-for-bit.

[aedipuss]

more likely is that most tapes were never captured. they were played directly from cam to tv only.

[edDV]

Thanks, all. I suspected that was the case...although the excuse "...not an end-user format..." is absurd. Many millions of mini-DV camcorders were sold over a decade (plus). Since most of the tens or hundreds of millions of recorded mini-DV cassettes are never edited...merely watched as-is, it seems like a media player capable of playing the format would be quite popular. BTW: Not capturing in mini-DV (dvsd) avi format was not an option for most of us...nor was it ever desirable. That because the data (video+audio+timecode) on the tape was in exactly the same format bit-for-bit.

Logical true. But I suspect patent royalty issues. A $1 codec royalty per player would show as $5-10 impact on user price. The same reason DVD and Blu-Ray players don't play DV format. They must pay the MPeg2/h.264/VC-1 license but the user percentage using DV is small so why burden all players?

The DV decoder codec did make it into many DVD recorders.

Since most people never captured DV to a file, to make DV playback useful to many, you would have to add an IEEE-1394 port to the player and pay those royalties as well.

[Cornucopia]

Logical true. But I suspect patent royalty issues. A $1 codec royalty per player would show as $5-10 impact on user price. The same reason DVD and Blu-Ray players don't play DV format. They must pay the MPeg2/h.264/VC-1 license but the user percentage using DV is small so why burden all players?

The DV decoder codec did make it into many DVD recorders.

Since most people never captured DV to a file, to make DV playback useful to many, you would have to add an IEEE-1394 port to the player and pay those royalties as well.

Ironically, that may change - one of the touted features of BD recorders is direct recording of a DV stream. See http://www.blu-raydisc.com/Assets/Downloadablefile/BD-RE_Part3_V2.1_WhitePaper-18192.pdf

If they intend to be able to record them, they sure as heck will be able to play them back. However, to use some of your own material on them, they need to be organized according to the approved BD structure. This may necessitate direct realtime recording of everything, as opposed to copying/burning existing DV elements on a PC.

Scott

[edDV]

It could be the player manufacturers are waiting for patents to expire or maybe royalty negotiations are tied to affordable Blu-Ray recorder launch.

[Cornucopia]

Yeah, I don't see them as being explicitly available in current models.

Scott