[MacDV] Re: AVI Conversion?

[Ron Woodland]

My point is that DivX (or DIVx, who cares) is a rip-off of MPEG-4 
before the standard was finalized.  Those who did that and now use it 
are doing the same frustrating thing that Microsoft is trying to do 
with its "Microsoft MPEG-4 V1/2/3 VKI Codec" -- embrace, extend, 
fragment, and make the standard their proprietary product.  Why can't 
we all just get along?  Why do we have to suffer through fragmentation 
of every standard that is attempted?  DivX doesn't improve on MPEG-4, 
it just confuses and fragments the market and causes playback 
compatibility problems that spawned this discussion thread.

Ron Woodland



On Wednesday, July 30, 2003, at 03:37  PM, David Thrasher wrote:

> I'm not altogether sure that the DivX codec in and of itself is 
> illegal. I know it's being used a lot to make illegal copies of movies 
> for filesharing but I've never heard anything about it being illegal 
> or related directly to MPEG.
>
> What I seem to recall is that it was the codec that was to be used for 
> those DivX DVDs (same name, different animal) where the idea was that 
> you would buy the disks really cheap and be able to play them for a 
> limited time. Your player would be connected to a phone line to 
> facilitate you buying more time to play it. The idea went over with 
> the public like a lead balloon and Divx the DVD disappeared fast. As I 
> understood it, the codec was abandoned and has been floating around 
> ever since being improved by others. I don't know if my information is 
> 100% accurate but it's what I seem to recall.
>
> I've seen varying quality of DivX files from those I've been shown and 
> it appears that it depends on how it is done (bit rate, etc.) but the 
> best is DVD quality and looks very good with a amazingly small file 
> size. The only for sure illegal thing about DivX that I am aware of is 
> how it is being used. I can conceive of there being people out there 
> using it legitimately for their own movies. The MPAA I'm sure can't 
> even imagine that possibility. MP3 is a legitimate format too, but 
> because of how it is being used, I'm sure there are a lot of people 
> who think it too is illegal.
>
> -Dave
>
>> It may be that it's in DIVx, the illegal bastard rip-off of >MPEG-4 
>> that won't die.  The MPEG standards group should sue over >DIVx.  But 
>> there is a DIVx codec you can download for QuickTime.