Comments

Laurence wrote on 9/22/2007, 8:59 AM
There are very few DVD players that will play back an HD DivX file. Maybe two or three total. Of those that do, most top out at 720p resolution and are quite expensive.
MPM wrote on 9/22/2007, 9:12 AM
AFAIK the place to look for specifics would be the DivX site... They added what they bill as official HD support just the other day in their latest version. The problems with DivX in my experience is the HD part is hard to process for display, meaning many PCs will not be able to do it and maintain audio sync for anything above 720p. Some new graphics cards now have HD decoding support in hardware -- I've seen AVC mentioned but not sure what if anything does DivX.

For set top boxes DivX support is far from universal, and the level of support varies by brand and model. For the players that support it today, generally all they need is the DivX file on a disc. Bear in mind that with their long equivalent to GOPs there is no real ffwd etc. like on a regular DVD. OTOH DivX is pushing for their own sort of DVD format complete with menus and subs -- if it catches on that might increase it's popularity as an alternative.
CClub wrote on 9/22/2007, 10:04 AM
Thanks for the clarification. I guess I had wrong information... perhaps I was hearing about their SD files on a disc that had broader support and not HD.
Laurence wrote on 9/22/2007, 10:41 AM
DivX is kind of cool in SD because you can download a file, copy it to a data DVD and immediately play it on a DivX compatible DVD player. It is also a great way to archive SD movies. If you look on the Stage 6 site, there are some pretty good looking HD projects as well, but there are only a handful of set top players that will play them. About a year ago I was really excited about DivX, and so was the Stock Market, but since then much has changed and I don't think DivX will ever live up to it's former potential.
MPM wrote on 9/22/2007, 11:25 AM
RE: Players the whole thing is kind of interesting....

A couple of years back there was a lot of DivX/Xvid support, but it was on cheap no-name players and often not documented. The big name folks were selling products with a terribly reduced feature set and compatibility. The popularity of these cheap players IMHO contributed a lot to DivX popularity, but, with the market today things have changed...

The big name companies now seem to be sourcing their electronics from the same folks that made the 1st, cheap chipsets. And the quality of DivX/Xvid playback now seems tied to how a model is priced. Playback and features on the cheap no-name players is lower that it was a couple of years ago. Had I only known, I would have bought enough of the $20 players to last me several years!

"I don't think DivX will ever live up to it's former potential."

Everything's too fragmented at the moment for any one format to come out on top IMHO. You've got the i-phone stuff, and probably sometime in the near future a competitor -- you can buy a player for ~$30 but as yet the only video it'll play well is the included demo. You've got wmv, but everyone hates MS so much that universal acceptance is not going to happen. You've got the Chinese deal that went to sh** with On2, but don't know what's going to surface, if anything, from their HD DVD alternative.

You've got the PSP, which is popular for that segment. Flash is good for web folk. Nero Digital has Recode. DivX suffers from a lack of folks with their web player installed, but has maybe the easiest encoder GUIs out there. IF they can swing more deals with ATI & Nvidia, & more bundling with software like they have with Roxio it'd help.
4eyes wrote on 9/22/2007, 7:53 PM
Thanks for the clarification. I guess I had wrong information... perhaps I was hearing about their SD files on a disc that had broader support and not HD.Not exactly the wrong information, as posted above go to the Divx website & follow the links to their HighDef Divx players. I did and purchased an "AVeL LinkPlayer2" (component output) at one of my local stores for $249.00, it plays back via a network, dvd reader or usb media formatted as FAT32.
It plays full mpeg2@25MBS Transport stream, Program stream needs to be encoded down to approx 18MBS Variable.
I encode the HD-Divx at 8MBS constant bit-rate with mpeg3 audio. They are pretty nice to watch at 1080i or 720p, even 480p/480i/s-video/composite. I was using this device all the time before buying a PS3. The device also plays HD-WMV video which when you create them properly are very impressive for the low bit rates.
You need to be careful though, because many dvd players that advertise divx cannot playback HD-Divx, only standard defintion.

I'm not to sure about the companies support that makes these units now though, they did come out with some firmware updates that caused problems. I updated the firmware once and thats' it.

I can make HD-Divx video, fielded upper_field_first and this player plays them nice. The motion is the same as watching the original tape, no de-interlacing (didn't think this was possible with hd-divx).

I think my player has been discontinued and replaced with other players. There seems to be more of these players available outside the US and in the PAL countries.