Divx/Xvid

Hi guys....I have a question...but first some background info.....

My current DVD player (the son-in-law's old 'un , after mine died)
has the Divx logo and plays .divx files. I have been converting
other file types to divx for burning , but recently when I was
burning some converted files I accidently included an AVI file ,
and to my surprise it played back fine.
The AVI file had the video codec XVID MPEG-4.

So my question is :- will any DVD player (with the divx logo)
play XVID files ?
Coz I need a new player soon.

Sorry about being long-winded....this old buffer is still learning...lol

Thanks

Grey

P.S. My player is a Pioneer DV-575A , if that is relevant.

In the main most devices capable of DivX decoding will have no problems decoding Xvid as Xvid is just MPEG-4 ASP.

There is one caveat though. Xvid supports some advanced features that DivX doesn't. Although these features aren't used so much, and newer players are more likely to allow for these anyway, there is always a chance you'll get something that throws a fit with something it doesn't recognise

Personally I'm holding on for the Blu-Ray market to mature a bit further and waiting to see if Matroska becomes the replacement DivX sticker on the must have players

I used to use the Xvid codec to create .mp4 files.
I now use the x264 codec. It makes smaller .mp4 files but takes a lot longer to process.

Most players will play a file, regardless of the codec used, as long as you have the decoder for that codec.

I use Divx 6.9 pro, Xvid, and H264 codecs which depending on the package used to encode your video, will automatically put the Divx, Mp4 or Mkv tags on them. You can usually change this option when encoding to just have them all as Avi's, as I do. It makes no difference on play back as the player automatically recognises which codec to use.

By the way, the new Divx Plus player, will now decode and play Mkv files, as they have built the H264, X264 decoders into it.

The rule of thumb is, that if you have the codec installed, then your player will usually play it. If not, just search for the codec and install it.

Thanks guys for the replies....I think there is more information there than my current understanding.
If I can try to summarize then perhaps you can tell me if I am on the right track ?

The file tag (on compressed files) is not as important as the contents of the file... i.e. what codec was used
to create those contents. And it will be the same codec that will be needed to successfully play those contents.

On my PC I have a Divx plus player as well as VLAN (oh and an FLV player for the odd file VLAN doesn't like) so pretty
much covered for most codecs , and can always download a missing codec if the need arose.

But for a new DVD player with divx logo I should be ok for the XVID file I mentioned ( the AVI tag being irrelevant).

The mkv files I assume are the HDef ones ? Great for my PC but I have no blue-ray player/PS3 for playing on my TV.

Thanks
Grey

You have pretty much understood everything.

The one thing I neglected to cover, (Partly because I didn't understand you were on about a Divx compatible DVD Player). was that if you burn a disc off, which is a just a copy of the video files, then it depends on what version of Divx your player has installed.

But you could use a piece of software, such as ConvertXtoDVD that would enable you to burn a DVD compatible disc of any video, even Mkv's that would play on any DVD Player, regardless of them being HD.

Thanks Ace for the confirmation in paragraph 1

I don't really understand para 2......I have Divx Plus (both Converter and Player are Ver 8) but what version of divx they
create , I dunno , but the converted files tried so far on my ancient Pioneer DVD player have played fine.

The software ConvertXtoDVD seems to go against the idea of encode with one particular codec and decode with the same one ?
Does it use some universal codec that all players will have ? Sounds useful bit of kit tho....will have a look....Thanks

Grey

Grey, I have ConvertXtoDVD & its really good, any downloaded vid (from the forum say) I convert using it & all play fine on any dvd player I use (3 in total) also no probs with friends players either. You can also create your own menus with a variety of backgrounds/layouts. Quite straightforward to use really. Highly recommended.

Just an update on my ways of playing vids of the xvid/divx and more

(14-05-2010 02:01 )Red Wrote:  Personally I'm holding on for the Blu-Ray market to mature a bit further and waiting to see if Matroska becomes the replacement DivX sticker on the must have players

I recently bought a Samsung BD-C5500 (£120 at my local Curry's) .
This is a very basic Blu-ray player but it will play
AVI.....DivX or Xvid
MP4.... AVC/AAC
MKV.... AVC/AAC
either via the disc tray or
via USB stick in front aperture.
It means I have no conversions to do at all....just download...then
burn to disc or USB stick.....then play

Hope the info is useful.

For more details see....

http://www.avforums.com/forums/blu-ray-p...hread.html

Grey