Xbox 360 Lacks DivX Support, So What?
Andru Edwards at GearLive.com is steamed because Xbox 360 doesn't support DivX. He's trying to cite all the people who have made movies in DivX format as a justification for the support. To that I say, 'feh'.
If you actually backup your videos in DivX format to save space, you're making a colossal mistake. Straight MP4 is a better way to go, you'll get cleaner compression and it follows the rules of AAC audio combined with some flavor of MPEG-4 video instead of the wonky MP3 audio used by the DivX encoder. You get a neatly compressed file that doesn't suck. I'm oversimplifying, but dump the DivX encoding for god sake.
DivX and the open source flavor XviD are primarily pirating formats. However, DivX isn't even the real issue and I'm not convinced the version of the story he cites, from Major Nelson's podcast, is the full story.
Xbox needs to support MP3 specifically because Microsoft bundles an MP3 encoder with Windows Media Player. Microsoft is already paying licensing fees for MP3 for inclusion in WMP, so it's trivial to add it to another SKU.
There are in fact many customers who have purchased legit MP3 downloads back when eMusic offered an all-you-can-eat service. I know I paid for and downloaded thousands of songs when eMusic was still cool. I have never spent money on a DivX file (although I have spent money on DivX Pro).
The real story is probably more like DivX competes with Windows Media, so they won't support it and/or DivX wanted money for putting the support into every Xbox and Microsoft didn't want/need to pay for it. Same goes for QuickTime and Real. The cost of supporting all those formats would drive up the cost of each Xbox sold. QuickTime is likely all politics because playing Fairplay files on an Xbox might cut into Apple's market share of iPod and/or help Apple.
At the end of the day, how many more Xboxes would be sold because of DivX support? It's not like they are collecting dust on the shelves.
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Jake
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Comments
Anyone whos a fan of the xbox, xbox 360 or divx please read and sign this petition to get Divx Support on the 360.
http://new.petitiononline.com/Divx4360/petition.html
I think it is bullcrap you are talking about the costs. Microsoft could have left the possibility to auto-install the codec on the x360 .. but even that lacks. So every new type or format you cannot play it with the xbox .. so after 1 year it will be totally useless or all media has to be converted to the right format. Tell that to all torrent-users. ..
WEll... i bought x360 few days ago and i am not satisfied at all because it lack so many things (not going to name them all)
Bas: Supporting DivX or XviD doesn't solve the problem of too many formats. There are still too many formats with or without DivX support. What we need is some standardization across the industry. MP4 looks like the most likely standard at the moment, considering the portable device support from cell phones to the PSP to iPod video. WMV is supported on a wider range of devices than DivX, although DivX and XviD have been wildly popular with file sharing. The best solution would be to get software makers to agree on a common standard the same way the consortiums around DVD and VHS battled it out over a consistent distribution format.
Quote: 'WMV is supported on a wider range of devices than DivX,'
Totally BS! DivX is the most dominant format in the world and if you haven't noticed, they sold more than 40 million DivX Certified Devices in the world in 2004 alone (DVD Players, Portable DVD players, Digital Cameras, etc...) No one comes even closer, not even Microsoft. You can check all the devices that are certified from here:
http://www.divx.com/corporate/solutions/certification/products.php
DivX has been doing a great job in making an ecosystem where all users can use their files everywhere at any time... it is the competition like some of you mentioned that doesn't let them continue in doing a good job for video enthousiasts. BTW, DivX later version will support MP3 surround for an even better audio quality. Yeahhh AAC is good, but what about a format that is supported in most multimedia devices?! that is why MP3 is a good source.
Quote: 'DivX and the open source flavor XviD are primarily pirating formats.'
The company DivX is not, it is the users who do whatever they want with their content. They have a technology that can do that and much more and like any other one such as Microsoft's encoder, quicktime, etc...
==> Anyways, seems like some of you don't know what you are talking about. Make sure you know what you say before you write anything ;)
Go Xbox with DivX. It will happen soon enough as the HD is build on WinCE with remote allocation. I wouldn't be surprised if someone comes with a tool to implement the DivX Decoder within the next few months.
here is a non-mod solution :
http://www.brains-N-brawn.com/mceDivX360/
when Vista MCE comes out, it can be improved
Cheers,
casey
Anyone whos a fan of the xbox, xbox 360 or divx please read and sign this petition to get Divx Support on the 360.
http://new.petitiononline.com/Divx4360/petition.html
Posted by: Mat1983 at December 21, 2005 05:51 PM