Standalone Divx player???

[VCD GURU]

Does anyone know if there is a Standalone Divx player ?

Or are anyone planning to make one?

Also i miss some info on video editing on this site.

Is there any sites dedicated to video editing out there?

I dont mean cutting & joining clips A bit more advanced than that...

Thanks for reply

Email : willy-andre.iversen@broadpark.no

[Mirror_Image]

www.google.com, your gateway to all you ask

[KingJohn]

Does anyone know if there is a Standalone Divx player ?

They don't sell them anymore, but I expect with the release of DivX 5, they might just make them again

Is there any sites dedicated to video editing out there?
I dont mean cutting & joining clips A bit more advanced than that...

Yes try here > http://forum.vcdhelp.com

[noname]

They don't sell them anymore, but I expect with the release of DivX 5, they might just make them again

I think you're confused on the 2 types of DivX. DivX as in the compressed avi DivX 5 stuff you're talking about is just a file that is not currently compatable with any standalone. DivX as in the movie rental thing died a few years ago, as you mentioned, but is not in any way related to the DivX 5 release. Check the DVD Demystified site for more info. I read somewhere that maybe the avi DivX took its name from the movie rental DivX as sort of a joke. I hope this helps.

[kayenote]

I don't know of any standalone divx players, and I do not believe that any exist. However, if you own a Sega Dreamcast(still available on eBay) you can watch divx with free software from the internet. I have only personally used it once on a friends console. You can find the software here: http://www.dcemulation.com/soft-dcdivx.htm. Simply burn the bin on a cd, burn your movie on another cd, put the first cd in your Dreamcast and reset it. Once the software loads, put in the second cd and it should appear on the list. Now, you can select play and enjoy. Please be aware that the software is still quite 'buggy.' Dcemulation.com has some other great home-brew software for the dreamcast, also. All kinds of emulators are available. Check it out.

[KingJohn]

They don't sell them anymore, but I expect with the release of DivX 5, they might just make them again

I think you're confused on the 2 types of DivX. DivX as in the compressed avi DivX 5 stuff you're talking about is just a file that is not currently compatable with any standalone. DivX as in the movie rental thing died a few years ago, as you mentioned, but is not in any way related to the DivX 5 release. Check the DVD Demystified site for more info. I read somewhere that maybe the avi DivX took its name from the movie rental DivX as sort of a joke. I hope this helps.

I am not confused at all, the movie rental company as you say is not related to the DivX program, but the players could be easily modified to play all forms of DIVX DivX or DivX I know because I have one! and it plays 3.11 alpha as well as the others !

Further more DivX 5, wants the movie companies to use its technology, if it does persuade them, then there just might be "DivX 5 " players, which has nothing too do with the old defunct company.

[chunkmonk2000]

I dont know about a stand alone players, but i know sigma designs have made a follow up to the hollywood plus card and it plays divx (not yet available in the uk) and lets you output to your tv!!!.

I will be buying one when its available in the uk!!!!!

[vcd4me]

ok letminforgodsake, tell us more. is what you imply that I could have my standalone dvd player haked in some way to play a divx file cd.

[next]

I know apex is comming out with a player in june that will play .wmv. not divx but still a serious compression technology.

as far as the circuit city divx rental technology - i'd be really suprised to find out that those machines can play the new divx compression file format. the circuit city divx players (proscan, zenith etc) were nothing more than dvd players with encryption technology built in. there's nothing there to address the new divx compression stuff. as a matter of fact, good luck getting any of those machines to even read a cdr. i have one - a proscan- and it can't read cdr's. my opinion is that the video chips included in those machines did not and will not ever play a divx encoded file.

[KingJohn]

I find this quite funny, how some people just realized the moon is round and not flat after all.

I know apex is comming out with a player in june that will play .wmv. not divx but still a serious compression technology.

Oh so its possible today that players can play those codec's but not possible a while back ?

as far as the circuit city divx rental technology - i'd be really suprised to find out that those machines can play the new divx compression file format. the circuit city divx players (proscan, zenith etc) were nothing more than dvd players with encryption technology built in.

So your saying the rental disks were not DIVX disks at all, just DVD's with encryption built into them ? or is that DVD-DIVX

there's nothing there to address the new divx compression stuff. as a matter of fact, good luck getting any of those machines to even read a cdr. i have one - a proscan- and it can't read cdr's. my opinion is that the video chips included in those machines did not and will not ever play a divx encoded file.

Let me tell you something now, those machines were "easily" modified to play the Divx "AVI" files, these disks are NOT DVD disks at all..

So you missed out !, Well sorry to have to brake the news to you, but you missed out big time, you have a junk machine I have a player that will play DivX DivX and DIVX on CDR disks.

It cost me £50 for the player from a ham fair, and £25 for a DIY kit of parts, however you seam to be talking about what is available today, not what happened after the company closed. Nobody is saying these players are still available, nobody is saying the company that provided the kit is still selling them, or is even trading anymore.

BUT THOSE WHO DID BUY THEM UP WITH KITS, are still using them today with all the new codec's installed, and a whole not more...

The DivX move is written to a CDR with a nothing else on the disk !

[dbaker6165]

well if you have a Dreamcast you can play "certain" divx files on it (with the special dc software which you have to download). It depends on what type of divx encoding the movie is... I know divx 5 will not work(yet). But in my openion i would stick to vcd and use "kwag's" vcd encoding standard that allows you to put a whole vcd movie on a cd-r .

[KingJohn]

ok letminforgodsake, tell us more. is what you imply that I could have my standalone dvd player haked in some way to play a divx file cd.

Well I wont say what you are asking is not possible, these days with hacked cable, hacked Sky digital. Then I guess I should say it would be possible.

However I don’t know of any method available, These DivX players were sold a while ago to people like me, who bought anything in a box that has switches and a few led's

Quite a lot of these players ended up at electronic fairs, I guess they thought they would fetch more money from those type of people. I bought 2 of them from a Amateur radio rally here in the UK, I bought one for spares, sold as "Not working" and another sold as "Working" the working one cost £50 the other £10.

Sold separately on the same stall was a kit of parts, labeled "DivX Modification". When asks about the modification the guy said, "oh it removed the players security" He said nothing else, and I new nothing else at the time.

Since I already had a VCD player I was on the look out for a DVD player, so though this would be used for that. After the modification it stops the player from playing anything except CDR DivX disks.

[jaw2957]

letmeinforgodsake, I have an old rca player that plays the divx files. It won't read cd-r, but it does play dvd-r's. I am going to try and put huge amounts of divx video on a dvd-r and put it in there. Did you just burn the files, or did you format the disc in anyway. I just want to know so I don't have to waste a dvd-r.

[revjake]

Okay, as a video junkie and Dreamcast fanatic, let me try and clarify a few points here:

A few years back, Circuit City introduced its own proprietary DVD format, called "DIVX." Their DIVX would allow you to get a disc from say, Blockbuster, and then when you played the disc the player would automatically bill your credit card three or four bucks via a modem line hooked into the back of the player. For $20-30, you could "unlock" the DIVX disc, which would allow unlimited playback on *only* your player.

The DIVX players would also play regular DVDs, so I imagine there are a few still around. The format died a horrible, horrible death about a year-and-a-half after its introduction.

More recently, the "divx" (I'm using lowercase for differentiation here) compression format for .avi files has come to the forefront. While the names are the same, the two are *IN NO WAY* the same thing.

DIVX was crippled, locked DVDs in a moneymaking scheme, whereas divx is a compression format, like MPEG, Indeo or Cinepak.

If you burn a divx .avi to a CD-R and place it in a DIVX player, the poor machine won't be able to make heads or tails of it. Ergo, there's no *simple* solution to playing divx on your TV without reencoding to DVD, VCD or SVCD.

Two solutions:

1) (the best) Set up a junk PC, with the absolute minimum requirements to play divx (Pentium II 400, I think, but don't quote me). Put a video card in it with a TV-out, run the sound correctly, and you're set.

2) (much cheaper, with Dreamcasts running around $50 nowadays) You *can* play divxon your Dreamcast, and the newest version even has support for divx 5. You can download it at the DCEmulation DCdivx page.

Here's what it can do, a direct cut'n'paste:

Supported Audio/Video Formats
- Audio: MP3 and Layer I + II Audio w/ MAD MP3 decoder
- Video: DivX 3.11, DivX 4.xx, DivX 5.0 + Pro, OpenDivX, XviD, AVI

However, it should be noted that it supports a *maximum* resolution of 496x496 for files, and it tends to choke when the bitrate exceeds 700kbs.

The DCdivx player is *free*, but currently a beta. The Dreamcast hardware is capable of some amazing things (ever played Shenmue?), but I doubt it'll ever be able to handle 700mb full-frame divx .avis straight from the Internet.

The idea of a set-top box that can play DVD, VCD, SVCD, .wmv and divx is attractive, but I don't see it working for divx. Why? Because the codec is continually evolving---if you had a player that supported divx 5, what would it do when divx 6 comes out?

Flash ROM upgrade, maybe?

That being said, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if some East Asian electronics manufacturer was about to drop the divx-compatible bomb on our shores---I'll be first in line to buy one, too!

To find out more about the hellaciously fast-moving Dreamcast emulation and programming scene, check out DCEmulation. For completely unrelated info, but a nice .avi of me getting hit in the face with a banana cream pie, check Stouthouse.org.

[vcd4me]

Thanks revjake, I know you said don't quote you about the 400 mhz. but I think the new card called x-card by sigma said it could use even slower processor.Making a pc basd divx player is a possible solution for me but before I do it I was wondering these two questions: Once the pc based divx machine is complete and buy one of these sigma cards Can I just put a disc(divx)in and sit on my couch and use the remote like a regular dvd player?(really it isn't that hard to throw together -I mean realy who doesn't have an old pc lying around I have three that probably could do this project)Also are there any cheaper cards(remote controlled) out there that could do the same thing?Thanks in advance Ed

[revjake]

Making a quick perusal of Tom's Hardware Guide, there's always the VisionTek Xtasy that might fit the bill at $199.

Seeing as I'm about to go to jail for tax evasion (can't find that LAST DAMNED W-2!), I'm more economy-minded, so I just encode .avis to SVCDs for my DVD player, however---I *do* have an extra box lying around (with TV-out card, no less), but Cyrix M-II 300s just don't handle divx too well...

[vcd4me]

I don't know anything about cyrix processors.Are they any good? the price seems way to cheap are they reliable? I think I might try the x-card it's only $99 and and then download and burn no converting, time is money.Does anybody have any experience making a divx standalone player(pc based)? also, Does anybody else had any experience with this or any other remote controlled card?Thanks Ed

[next]

revjake - thanks, I could not have said it better myself.

One question. Was the DIVX Circuit City rental scheme ever distributed outside the US? I don't think it was. So I'm not sure what these ham fairs in the UK were selling.

The Circuit City DIVX was simply a DVD disk with encryption technology which played on a DVD player that was designed to address the encryption. The disks themselves were DVD's. I know because the file format on these disks were in the DVD vob format - not avi. These DVD-DIVX players sold at the time for about a $100 premium over players that did not contain the encryption technology. As a matter of fact Circuit City offered a $100 rebate to all buyers of the DVD-DIVX players after they killed the program.

[adam]

Divx compatible dvd players aren't that far off. Personally I'd much rather invest the money into a dvd recordable drive and just make dvds but to each his own.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020409/90258_1.html

[revjake]

After some crash research on DIVX history, I don't think that DVIX players were ever sold outside of the US.

You guys should check out some of the sales figures for DIVX during its decline. I'm surprised Circuit City's still in business...

[SatStorm]

Well Blow me down!
I own a Dreamcast and I didn't know about this DiVX player!
Amazing...
It is also a Mame Dreamcast emu there!
Wow....

[revjake]

Don't forget about DCNester!

Seeing as I remember when I had an NES (in ninth grade or so), it's nice to be able to play all the old games again---I've got 2,048 of 'em on a self-booting CD, and the emulation's PERFECT.

There's also a Dreamcast VCD player that works pretty darned well at standard resolutions and bitrates---DCEmulation.com has the info on that, as well.

[seinman]

I have a Dreamcast and a friend of mine gave me a CD he got off ebay called "Dream VCD player" or something along those lines. when i try to use it, the picture looks horribly blocky and choppy (MAYBE 10 frames per second) and the audio is several seconds off. Is there REALLY a vcd player for DC that actually works, or is this all fluff just to say "oh, well it CAN do it, just not well"?????

[revjake]

A buddy of mine has a Dreamcast VCD player, and he's happy with it---the picture and sound are, well, VCDish.

I can't really comment on my personal experience, since my DVD player handles such things, and I just use the Dreamcast for Worms World Party and NES stuff.

[cuervo]

a few days ago there was a news release that DiVXNetworx had signed a partnership agreement with someone like Mitsubishi to develop a standalone DiVX5 player. Just wait a few. Check it out: http://www.divxnetworks.com/press/pr.php

[KingJohn]

a few days ago there was a news release that DiVXNetworx had signed a partnership agreement with someone like Mitsubishi to develop a standalone DiVX5 player. Just wait a few. Check it out: http://www.divxnetworks.com/press/pr.php

I did say it would not be long before there was a DivX5 player, but nobody listens.

I also said that the DivX player I have was going to be a circuit city DIVX player, the reason they can play divX AVI's is because they are a better than the normal DVD player, with modification they can play just about anything. In fact if there was room to get a vinyl record in there it would probable play that also

So please don't post any more "Rubbish" on what they can and cannot play it is obvious you do not know what you are talking about, reading snippets from web pages will not tell you what they were used for., I am not the only person who has one of these players, playing DivX AVI movies, so you don't have one ?, so what !! You missed out big time !!

And as for the rally's, they have items from all over the world, the organizers and stall owners by "Anything" from "Any" country, if they think they can sell it.

Nevertheless, earlier this year, Circuit City claimed that almost 90,000 Divx-enhanced DVD players were sold in the first three months of national availability, with 60,000 sold during December of 1998.

That is a lot of DivX players on the junk market...

My player..
Panasonic X410
This player is a mid-range unit, based on the famous A110. It is DD and DTS- compatible, and has both Toslink and co-ax digital audio outputs. Anamorphic downconversion is good, as are layer changes. Software compatibility is excellent (it was the only model of the 110 family to not have problems with Warner's top-selling Matrix disc), although not quite as good as the Proscan.


------------------------------------

Also, at the beginning of the year, Thomson Electronics announced that it was developing a high-end version of Divx, which it was demonstrating at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Circuit City also announced then that Kenwood had signed on as a manufacturing partner. In addition to Thomson, Panasonic and Zenith manufacture Divx-enhanced DVD players.

OLD NEWS

Basics
Q: What is Divx?
A: Divx is a home video system, based on DVD, with a heavy emphasis on rental. It consists of three parts: a central billing system, similar to that used by pay-per-view satellite; specially-formatted DVD-V discs, of which there were two physical types, rental and Gold (never offered to the public); and special DVD players with the ability to decode Divx discs, built-in modems for communicating with the central billing system, and menus for purchasing Divx products online. Playback of Divx rental discs requires the support of the Divx central billing system, which was scheduled to be shut down on June 30, 2001. All Divx accounts were set to expire on July 7, 2001, after which players were directed to communicate with the billing system for final decommissioning. For more information, go here.

Q: Is there some way I can play Divx discs indefinitely after the billing system shuts down?
A: Not that I am aware of.
Q: Is Divx dead?
A: Yes - all Divx accounts were apparently set to expire on July 7, 2001, which required registered players to dial in to the billing systems for updating, which took the form of final decommissioning.
Q: What do I need to play Divx discs?
A: You need a registered Divx-compatible DVD player, and these are all gone, making playback of Divx discs impossible (apart from a few players that were "unlocked" prior to the Divx shutdown).

Activation and Use
Q: How do I register a player?
A: You can't - the Divx phaseout is complete as of June 30, 2001.
Q: I have an unregistered Divx player - is there anything I can do to get it to play Divx discs?
A: No.
Q: I just bought a bunch of discs on eBay, and I don't have a Divx-compatible player - what can I do to play them?
A: At the moment, it looks like like all they'll be good for is collectibles.
Q: I'm told the players couldn't be used outside of the U.S. - is that true?
A: No - they could also be used in Canada.
Q: Does Divx require a dedicated phone line?
A: No - Divx players will transparently share a line with other phone devices.
Q: Did the player have to be constantly connected to the phone line?
A: No, although it had to be connected on a periodic basis to allow the player to exchange billing information with the central billing system.
Q: Did the player call the billing system every time a disc was played?
A: No - it called twice a month. Between communications with the billing system, transactions were queued up in the player's memory.
Q: What would happen if I accidentally put in a disc? Would I be charged?
A: No - the player would prompt you to start a viewing period for the disc, which you could cancel.
Q: What about unauthorized users, like the babysitter, running up charges on my account?
A: You could set up a 4-digit password on your player to prevent unauthorized use.

Divx Facts
Q: What happens to Divx discs after they're played? Do they self-destruct or get erased?
A: No physical changes occur to the disc after it is played. The player records in its memory that a viewing period was started for the disc, and eventually uploads that information to the billing system, which determines whether or not to charge the account the player was registered to.
Q: Is it true Divx discs are all pan&scan?
A: No - many are widescreen, and some are even anamorphic.
Q: Is Divx image quality similar to that of Open DVD?
A: Yes, although just like Open DVD, the quality of some titles is better than others.
Q: Can Divx titles have extras?
A: Yes. One that does is Amistad - it has a making-of featurette that is free to view.
Q: Is it true that all Divx discs are single layer, even the longer ones?
A: No - longer Divx titles, like The Abyss, come on dual layer discs.
Q: If I start a viewing period for a disc on one player, can I use the disc on another player without getting charged for another viewing period?
A: Yes, provided the second player is registered to the same account as the player on which the first viewing period was started, and the playback is within the first viewing period.
Q: If I am playing a title, and part way through the viewing period expires, will the system stop playing the disc?
A: No - it will allow you to finish, provided you don't pause the player for longer than 60 seconds.

Miscellaneous
Q: Why are so many titles released on Divx not yet available on Open DVD?
A: The best explanation I've heard for this is as follows: the studios participating in Divx each made a list of titles available for release on the format. Which of those titles were actually released on Divx was decided by Divx itself, but the studios retained control over the DVD releases. Often, Divx would release titles that did not fit into the studios' marketing plans for DVD at the time, or had been upstaged by newer movies. Hence, the title would be digitally available only on Divx. And, since many of those titles had only a brief window of favor with the public that has long since elapsed, there is little value to the studios now in releasing them to DVD, so don't expect them anytime soon.

[revjake]

Now this is interesting...

note: For future use, i propose that "DIVX-DVD" refer to the now-defunct Circuit City DIVX format, "DIVX-AVI" refer to the current compression technology.

Just to clarify here, Letmein, you're saying that you bought a Circuit City DIVX-DVD player, then bought and installed a mod chip-type kit that now allows it to play DIVX-AVI from CDRs?

If that's the case, then I see no real reason why a standard DVD player couldn't be modded in much the same way.

Don't take this the wrong way (just speculatin' on a hypothesis here), but you aren't burning those DIVX-AVIs in NERO to "Video CD" or "Super Video CD" and playing them on your DIVX-DVD deck, are you? That'd be a dirty, dirty trick to pull on us.

Again, if you indeed have a mod kit that allows a set-top box to play DIVX-AVI, I'm quite interested in the matter, and you're a lucky person indeed.

[cuervo]

letmeinforgodsake...

no wonder no one listens to you, you're full of misinformation. before you get insulting, I suggest you tell that brain of yours to wake up to reality. there are others who live on this planet who are smarter than you...duh. go research what DivX is...it's NOT some failed attempt by circuit city to rip people off.

[Tazzofemarr]

I found one ...well sorta/kinda.
check the off topic forum :D

[KingJohn]

letmeinforgodsake...

no wonder no one listens to you, you're full of misinformation. before you get insulting, I suggest you tell that brain of yours to wake up to reality. there are others who live on this planet who are smarter than you...duh. go research what DivX is...it's NOT some failed attempt by circuit city to rip people off.

I don't come here to argue with people who don't want to learn, especially when they think they know it all.

Topic is closed as far as I am concerned...