posted on April 25, 2001 12:58:29 PM
Hello Community,
I, have a situation here. Okay awhile back I had saw what I thought was 50 DVDs so I bidded and won the auction, well when the package arrived I was puzzled on what I had just received so I went back and read the site and it was DVD/DIVX well I apparently didn't pay attention to the DIVX part but anyway I don't have the player for these do anybody want them? or can somebody recommend what I could do with them and can somebody tell me exactly what a DIVX is?????????
Thank you all response will be taken into consideration.
posted on April 25, 2001 01:49:39 PMcan somebody recommend what I could do with them and can somebody tell me exactly what a DIVX is?????????
Divx was a failed competitor to DVDs. One of the most significant differences was that Divx players needed to be in contact with a Divx biling system in order to play discs.
It is very important that you know that after June 30, 2001, no Divx disc will be playable. Period. See the Divx Owners Association FAQ at http://www.the-doa.com/Pages/DoaFaq.html
edited to correct UBB
[ edited by JSmith99 on Apr 25, 2001 01:51 PM ]
posted on April 25, 2001 02:05:49 PM
For an opposite, perhaps overly cynical view of Divx to "balance" with the perhaps overly enthusiastic link cited earlier near the top(), see http://www.unik.no/~robert/hifi/dvd/divx.html. Some arguments in both sites seem fascetious, but I do personally tend to believe there were at least some problems in regard to convenience, ease, transfer, privacy, and disposal.
The coalition (made from Circuit City and some law firm, IIRC) that created and administered Divx has pretty much folded, except for continued support until June 30, 2001 [see the prior post].
"Silver" disks, where someone would dial in to upgrade a 48-hour disk to play after that period, were apparently marked as such either at Divx itself or on the customer's individual player. Either way would seem, IMO, to eliminate any form of portability. If "silver" disks will still work after June, they'll have to be made "silver" before June, and I'm still not sure if they could be played on other machines.
Any unopened disk received after June 30 will probably be useless, as Divx won't be around to connect to (for the usual "48 hour" play or for upgrading) after June 30th.
Divx was apparently similarly confusing in different ways when the units being actively sold new. To start DVD, the essential steps were, IMO, buy a player, plug in the power cord and the TV connection, buy/rent a disk, and start it; Divx required these same steps, of course, but also had an extra cord, an account to set up, and a bunch of restrictions and upgrade information to understand. Not exactly for the "blinking 12:00" crowd.
[ Most of the prior paragraphs were heavily edited in light of the prior post, which was posted while I was still writing the original version of this post. ]
I never bought Divx, but stopping into Circuit City while they were pushing it was enough for me to never want to return there again, because I realized how pushy and even condescending the sales tactics were (confirmed by hearing others' experiences there), and I don't appreciate extra sales pressure.
Most in the computer industry considered Divx to be a "closed" standard, whereas DVD was rather more "open" in most ways (except, most distinctly, for the unfathomable regionalizing of DVDs, which prevents people in the U.S. from buying limited release U.K. movies or released TV episodes, for example).
----
What's being done in the name of direct marketing nowadays is crazy.
The above are all just my opinions, except where I cite facts as such.
Oh, I am not dc9a320 anywhere except AW. Any others are not me.
Is eBay is changing from a world bazaar into a bizarre world?
[ edited by dc9a320 on Apr 25, 2001 02:25 PM ]
[ edited by dc9a320 on Apr 25, 2001 02:26 PM ]
posted on April 25, 2001 05:31:13 PM
Sorry didn't read the links, we had the DVD/DIVX player, and you could/can? buy the DIVX and make it a 'DVD' I think? Not true anymore?
At the time I thought the DIVX idea kinda cool, never have to return anything like at the Video store.... just toss it...
Pic3kett I don't know what you can do with them, is it 'legal' to sell DIVX on ebay?
posted on April 26, 2001 07:38:14 AM
Making a Divx disk be more like DVD, in the sense of having more permanent playability, is the "silver" process. Unfortunately, I think they are still Divx disks, have to be played on a Divx player, and may or may not be restricted in use to the player on which they were made "silver" (I just don't know the answer to the last part, but it needs looking into).
Unlike the link JSmith99 cited, I thought I saw on an official site that disks made "silver" before June 30th would be playable after that date (at least on the same machine, maybe on other Divx machines). I don't recall what that site was, however. Regardless, however, they still won't play on regular DVD, non-Divx machines.
Unopened disks received after June 30th almost certainly won't work at all, because there won't be any Divx authority to connect to for either the 48 hour period or for upgrading to "silver."
These are the questions that Divx owners or those looking to buy Divx disks on eBay would need to find answers to. Sorry I don't have many answers myself.
posted on April 26, 2001 07:49:41 AM
Forget it, I was wrong on the possible playability of "silver" disks after June 30th. I thought I saw an official statement somewhere that people could make their disks "silver" and keep playing them even after the Divx authority shuts down, but a Google search (http://www.google.com/search?q=divx+%22june+30%22+2001+silver) turns up site after site stating in no uncertain terms that "silver" disks won't work after June 30, 2001 either.
So Divx won't just be dead, but buried as well.
However, we may end up seeing old Divx disks sold as if they're regular DVDs, on eBay. Apparently, this has already been happening, but it is bound to increase after June 30th.
posted on April 26, 2001 10:49:32 AM
Thanks. We made a couple DIVX's into 'silver' and do not have the DIVX player any longer. So what your saying is they won't play on a new DVD player?
(I guess I could go find out for myself duh )
posted on April 26, 2001 10:51:43 AMThanks. We made a couple DIVX's into 'silver' and do not have the DIVX player any longer. So what your saying is they won't play on a new DVD player?
They will only work on a player capable of playing Divx discs ... which most DVDs cannot. And unfortunately, after the end of June 2001, they will not be playable at all.
posted on April 26, 2001 01:11:51 PM
Divx disks will be worth nothing except as shiny coasters after June 30, 2001. Anyone selling a Divx disk on eBay after then would either be ignorant or a scammer, trying to get money on something worth essentially nothing after that point.
One word of caution before anyone tosses their collection of disks. Divx players could also play regular DVD disks. Two different kinds of disks: DVD, and Divx.
So if you owned a Divx player, you may have also bought some regular, unrestricted DVDs, in addition to your restrictive and soon-to-be-useless Divx disks. The Divx disks can be tossed (or used as frisbees or Christmas tree decorations); but do NOT throw out regular DVD disks, as they will still be quite playable after June 30, 2001, and thus worth something.
Also, a Divx player can still be used to play DVDs, but again, it won't be able to play Divx disks, because there won't be any Divx authority to connect to. So the Divx players won't be worthless, because they'll still have regular DVD capacity, they just can't use the Divx aspect anymore.
In summary:
Divx disks: worthless after June 30, 2001
Divx players: Divx aspect useless after June 30, but can still play DVDs
DVD disks: unaffected
DVD players: unaffected
[ edited by dc9a320 on Apr 26, 2001 01:13 PM ]
Divx disks: worthless after June 30, 2001
Divx players: Divx aspect useless after June 30, but can still play DVDs
DVD disks: unaffected
DVD players: unaffected
...
VCD disks: about the same as DIVX (mostly crap bootlegs)
posted on April 26, 2001 06:44:48 PM
DIVX was advertised to replace the video rental market. Because of this, video stores (including most major chains) avoided them like the plague. After all, would you support a format that set out to destroy your very existence? The resulting boycott of sorts worked very well - destroying the format. DVD then came out and was enbraced by the rental industry.
posted on April 27, 2001 12:49:29 AMDivx was advertised to replace the video rental market ... DVD then came out and was enbraced by the rental industry.
You have the timeframe backwards. DVDs were first released in 1996. Divx didn't come out until 1998.
DVD was already established when Circut City began peddling Divx.
Divx was out before DVD - it was picked up by Circuit City after it had been around for awhile. Circuit City was supposed to save it and began heavy promotions. They pumped millions into it.
I am a former video rental store owner and watched this battle in the trades. I still follow this industry closely and will return to the rentals before the end of the year.
posted on April 27, 2001 02:16:45 PM
Sorry Mrs. Santa, I don't know where you got that information or why you think that DVD came out after Divx failed (which is what you said), but that's not even close to accurate. DVD was released first, Divx followed, died, and DVD remains. Let's look at some independent information:
posted on April 27, 2001 06:50:25 PM
You can download DIVX/AVI/MOV movies from BEARSHARE for free and burn them on a CD. Then they can be played on your computer forever.
posted on April 27, 2001 07:05:02 PM
Just so that there's no confusion, DivX is also the name of a video compression scheme that allows entire movies to fit into small amounts of storage space, like on a recordable CD. That DivX has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the old, dying (dead?) pay-per-view Divx.
Two completely separate things with the same name.
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Sniping works up a thirst"