Comments on: DivX releases new, high-quality video format

Is the technology better than Apple's or Microsoft's? That's what the upstart video company says.

[technewsjunkie]

Divx "used by people swapping Hollywood films online"

The Hollywood filmakers must be thrilled with that.

It's proprietary. Next article please.

[aabcdefghij987654321]

Consumers have already spoken

I thought that divx went out a long time ago. People were not interested in buying the special disks and paying to see the movies every time that they wanted to watch them after they expired. Furthermore, the system is clunky, relying on phone lines and special dvd players with modems. Overall, I think that to continue development of a dead format is a waste of time.

[PCCRomeo]

I like the DiVX format....

I will admit, I've not tried burning a DiVX DVD or anything, but on a PC it's a really good format. I think PC's should come with the codec preinstalled.

[skeptik]

wrong divx

Yeah, it's confusing, but the divx you're referring to - the extremely ill conceived idea back in the 90's is indeed dead.
The divx mentioned in this article shares nothing but a name (not sure why they did that except that divx is xvid spelled backwards) and is a very useful video compression codec - similar in concept to mp3 for audio.
Oh, and it's free.

www.divx.com

[technewsjunkie]

wrong Divx

You are correct. THAT Divx died a long time ago.
This is a codec.

[ledzep75]

What's your problem?

Only a minority of users use Divx for swapping movies online. The rest of us have a right to fair useage. I'm entitled to make a backup copy of my purchased videos. Thank you!

DivX for Home Video...

I've never downloaded a Hollywood film in DivX
format, nor shared one, but I've exchanged many
DivX movies. It started with a birth
announcement for my first son, then continued as
a way to exchange home videos with relatives
(scattered around North America and
Scandinavia). Equating the DivX codec with
piracy is like equating radio waves with
pornography.

DivX had two key advantages over the other
formats: it compressed really well, and it was
the only format the consistently was accessible
to everyone (all versions of Windows, MacOS,
Linux, etc.). No other AVI, WMV, or
QT-compatible codec fit those criteria the way
DivX did (and still does), probably because
neither Apple nor Microsoft want truly
accessible video -- and there they are at odd
with the consumer (hobby filmmakers, anyway).

I also use OpenDivX, and it works admirably as
well (and sometimes noticably better). Of course
I use DV for editing, and MPEG2 for exporting to
DVD, but neither is practical to share clips of
the kids with the in-laws abroad.