New DVD player does DivX

[MudShark]

I know its a bit off topic, but some might find it interesting. (I figured this was the best forum for it)

Check out this player
http://www.mtsbs.com/product.asp?dc=divx&3=10

It hase an ethernet port and will play DivX Discs. They also have a version with a HD in it. You can stream from your puter to it also.

Now if you can map the HD, you could, in theory, convert from the TiVo, through your PC, into the player as a divx.


And on another note. The 'other forums' will not allow extraction talk. Now with the new Tivo/DVD recorder, whats the diff? The fact that you can't get rid of the commercials?

[wkozun]

Now if you can map the HD, you could, in theory, convert from the TiVo, through your PC, into the player as a divx.

This is what some of us are doing with players such as the Gateway Connected DVD player. You can also just play MPEG-2 files that are extracted and converted with TyTools. This uses more HD space than Divx but it doesn't require a LONG encoding process nor does it result in a drop in quality.

[lart2150]

or you can spend less then that on a xbox mod it and use xbmc. I can even sream shows right off my tivo :-P

[TheWickedPriest]

There was a story about this player on Slashdot today. Apparently it's built around MPlayer, and they're violating the GPL. Apart from that, it sounds nice, but too expensive for me.

I have a software Divx player that runs on Dreamcast, and the Dreamcast is going for under $30 now, if you can find one.* The player is kinda limited, though.

I agree that ty -> DVD is a better way to go. But Divx still has its place in backing up regular DVDs, because they're often too big to copy to a blank DVD+/-R. The upcoming dual-layer blanks and dual-layer-capable drives should solve that.

* I saw a batch of them in a local store a couple weeks ago; they might still be there, if anyone wants one.

[IWantMyDTV]

There was a story about this player on Slashdot today. Apparently it's built around MPlayer, and they're violating the GPL.
<...>

Acutally that story was regarding KISS using mplayer's source. It had nothing to do with XBMP/C. When the XBMP project was first started they put the mplayer folks into a huff because no one had released source yet. They soon after released source and the projects have been available on sourceforge ever since.

[lart2150]

I have a software Divx player that runs on Dreamcast, and the Dreamcast is going for under $30 now, if you can find one.* The player is kinda limited, though.

I used the divx player for dc it's ok if you only have divx, burn your stuff to cd, have low bitrate, and mp3 audio. the vcd player for dc works nicely but mpeg1 is well mpeg1

[TheWickedPriest]

Acutally that story was regarding KISS using mplayer's source. It had nothing to do with XBMP/C.

Neither did my post. I was referring to the original post in the thread, which is about the KISS player. Sorry if that was ambiguous.

I will say, it sounds like the XBMP project was sleazy as well. There's simply no justification, ever, for releasing binaries of GPL-derived software without source; not on a preliminary basis, not on any basis. It's dumb, and it's illegal.

[borghe]

There is also this player by Polaroid. It's the first name brand mass market player I know of. $150 but from what it sounds like it will play all DivX movies at or below the home theater certification. hopefully I am interpreting that right.. anyway, I should be buying one of these within the next month so I will post more impressions then.

[wkozun]

Why buy the Polaroid player when you can buy the Gateway Connected DVD player for $40-$50 more. The Gateway doesn't play Divx files off of CDs/DVDs but it will play them over your LAN.

It will also play all of your MP3s, WMAs, JPEGs, etc. It can play MPEG-2 video as well - just use TyTools to extract to an mpeg file and you are laughing. No need to add more HD space to your TiVo just had the HD space on your LAN and extract the video to your LAN. You can play it from there. The only downside is that the FF/REW doesn't work nearly as well as it does on the TiVo.

[TheWickedPriest]

Why buy the Polaroid player when you can buy the Gateway Connected DVD player for $40-$50 more.

To save $40-$50?

The Gateway doesn't play Divx files off of CDs/DVDs

Well, there you go... mine are already burned to CDs, so it sounds like the Polaroid player would be more useful to me. Anybody tried it with ty-derived DVDs?

It's odd that the Gateway would play Divx files from the network but not from CD. Are you sure about that?

[borghe]

don't get me wrong, I think that network multimedia appliances like the Gateway Connected DVD player are great for what they are... network multimedia appliances... but the ability to have a player around that doesn't NEED to be connected to a network with a front end installed PC just to play DivX is pretty cool... maybe this is the wrong forum to be touting it on as 99% of the readers here will already have LAN running to their home theaters with Turbonet or the like, but the average Joe who has no LAN running to his home theater, this player is pretty cool...

[wkozun]

To save $40-$50?

Well, there you go... mine are already burned to CDs, so it sounds like the Polaroid player would be more useful to me. Anybody tried it with ty-derived DVDs?

It's odd that the Gateway would play Divx files from the network but not from CD. Are you sure about that?

The decoding of the Divx file is done by the PC server app rather than by the player itself. When the player was first introduced in the summer the only video format it supported was MPEG. A software update in the fall supported Divx (actually AVI but I am not sure what types of AVI) and DVR-MS which is the file type used by XP Media Center Edition for its PVR app.

The advantage of this is that it should be easy for the makers of the software (Digital 5 for these players) to support other types of files as they just need the codec on the PC. You wouldn't need to update the firmware on the player itself. The downside is that you need a PC running Windows and the minimum CPU speed is (I think) 800 MHz.

I would like to seem them offer support for stuff like wmv files as well, especially HD-wmv files although the bitrate might be too high for the player to handle. This would be particularly useful if I build a PC with Snapstream BeyondTV as it will re-encode files to Divx or wmv.

If they (Gateway and Digital 5) wanted to they could probably support the playback of ty files, or even a stream directly from a TiVo running vserver - but I don't know how you would select the file from the player. Maybe a hacker out there will figure out how to make it accept ty files.

And isn't it worth $40-50 to be able to play your MP3 files and view digital photos on your stereo?

[wkozun]

don't get me wrong, I think that network multimedia appliances like the Gateway Connected DVD player are great for what they are... network multimedia appliances... but the ability to have a player around that doesn't NEED to be connected to a network with a front end installed PC just to play DivX is pretty cool... maybe this is the wrong forum to be touting it on as 99% of the readers here will already have LAN running to their home theaters with Turbonet or the like, but the average Joe who has no LAN running to his home theater, this player is pretty cool...

You are right - most people don't have the LAN required, but most of this equipment is built primarily for Wireless LANs and WAPs are getting very cheap, even 802.11g stuff which you would want if you are streaming video.

[TheWickedPriest]

And isn't it worth $40-50 to be able to play your MP3 files and view digital photos on your stereo?

Except, I can already do that with my $35 DVD player.

I'm not trying to give you a hard time. I'm just sayin'.

[wkozun]

Except, I can already do that with my $35 DVD player.

I'm not trying to give you a hard time. I'm just sayin'.

After you burn them to a CD. The geek factor is much higher when you have all of your music online and ready to go at the touch of a button. When I am on the go I listed to music on my iPod. When I am at home I can stream it through my LAN. No more physical media to lose or destroy. Priceless!