Thinking on buying a DivX player.

[Neville]

... But I have a lot of questions to ask, like:

1) Where can I read reviews and check costs?

2) Will it read ANY DivX or they need to have certain characteristics?

3) What about future formats?

4) What about DivX with two audio streams (dubbed and original), or those with subtitles in SRT format? Will they work?

[Ash]

I don't know much about DIVX but I recommend going to www.divx.com.

I used to have Divx to play downloaded movies but it seemed overly complicated.
I remember that I used it only once and that was to watch Cannibal Holocaust.

Divx.com offers a free player.

Let me know what you decide.

[Neville]

Er... Actually I was speaking of getting a HARDWARE player, so I can watch my videos on the big TV in my living room instead of my 15' PC screen.

About software players for the PC, all you need is the K-Lite Codec Pack from www.free-codecs.com . Full version comes bundled with Media Player Classic, a freeware player that has anything you need to play videos, music or DVDs.

[Ash]

oh....I had no idea that Divx hardware was offered.
When it comes to Divx, there's just too many weird terms that I've either never heard of or have heard of, but don't know the specifics.
Words such as "Codec".
What exactly is a codec anyway?

I consider myself pretty savvy when it comes to electronics but Divx and other similar players' terminology transcends what the average joe knows.

Enlighten me please.

[Neville]

Although people talk about digital video files like MPG, AVI or OGM, calling them generically "DivX", DivX itself is just one of the many formats used. Others are Xvid, Indeo, etc.

To play those files on Windows, you need a software player, like Media Player, plus the necessary libraries, the so-called "codecs". These are offered in separate packages, one per manufacturer, and the user, if he wants to play several video files, often ends up with an embarrasing number of programs installed.

To solve this, there are all-in-one codec packs like the one I mentioned earlier, which offer all the necessary codecs in just one easy to use package.

About the hardware players, as far as I know, they are just usual DVD players that have been slightly altered to play some of the more common DivX formats as well. I don't know much about them, and that's the reason I wrote asking about them.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Neville, if you are looking for a good Divx player, I would recommend:

www.gottadeal.com

They have a bunch of technology deals and there are usually Divx players for around 35.00-50.00 on there with free shipping.

I've been thinking about buying one myself.  I have a DVD-R drive on my PC which does fine for doing....backups.....but it takes forever to convert a divx/avi file into the proper format to burn onto a dvd.

I do not know the answer to your question about dual audio on a Divx, but I would assume that it would play normally.  I do know that .SRT files are supported on most Divx players.  Just google which ever model you are thinking about and you'll find the answer to the .SRT question pretty quickly.

If you do get a Divx player, let us know how it is.  I'm going to have to talk my wife into buying one soon.

[Jim H]

Codec is an acronym for something, I can't remember what though.  Basically, uncompressed video is enormous.  You use some type of compression scheme to vastly reduce the file size (both of the video and audio).  The codecs can decompress these files in real-time as they are played.  For instance, DVD players have a built in MPEG decoder (as DVDs are compressed in the MPEG-2 format - VCDs are in MPEG-1).

My wording is probably a little off there, as I'm not really an expert, but that's the jist of it.

[Neville]

After asking in several different places, I think I'll go for a Silvercrest / Bench KH 6507. It is compact (sice of a PSOne), plays everything but OGG audio fine, which might be supported in future firmware versions. Firmware is the internal player software, and can be upgraded by inserting a new one through CD-ROM.

Only problem is, the only store serving this brand is Lidl, so I'll have to wait until they re-introduce the article again, since they only sell this kind of stuff now and then. I Just subscribed to their newsletter.

[Menard]

Take a look at the Philips DVP642. In addition to playing DivX and raw MPEG 2, it can be hacked with a simple code entered from the remote that will permit it to play DVDs from any region. It also has a built-in PAL/NTSC converter.

[Neville]

I will, but unless it comes in compact size I've got my mind set up, because I have space problems. The model I mentioned also allows this, by using a homebrew firmware.