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Gadgets Xbox 360 May Also Gain DivX Support
Marcus Yam (Blog) - November 15, 2007 8:09 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 43 comment(s) - last by afkrotch.. on Nov 17 at 7:32 AM
DivX would like to support the Xbox 360, should Microsoft permit

DivX Inc. announced yesterday that its video technology will be soon introduced to the PlayStation 3. While Microsoft has previously said that it “wasn’t a priority” integrating DivX support into the Xbox 360,attitudes in Redmond may be changing in order to compete with Sony’s system.

At a recent earnings call for DivX, CEO Kevin Hell revealed that the company is working with Microsoft in getting DivX support for the Xbox 360. According to a transcript of the conference call recorded by SeekingAlpha, JP Morgan analyst Paul Coster posed the question: “Just a minor point here, but there was a recent Microsoft conference where I believe their media extender now incorporates the DivX codec on it, is that correct? Can you confirm that and does that mean we’re soon going to see Xboxes with DivX on them?”

Hell then replied, “Yes! that, uh, we’re in discussions with Microsoft on that at this point in time, so I can’t go into any great detail on that. Um that is not a certified, that is not a certified or licensed product at this time.”

It appears that the folks at DivX would like to have its technology in the Xbox 360, but due to Microsoft’s restrictions and requirements surrounding anything that runs on its console, and Sony’s comparatively more lax policies, support for the codec will likely hit the PlayStation 3 first.

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Transcode
By OrSin on 11/15/2007 8:31:14 AM , Rating: 2
Right now Transcoding works fine, but getting to skip some of the steps in playback would be nice. I do give it to sony for opening up thier system alot more MS.




RE: Transcode
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 11/15/07, Rating: 0
RE: Transcode
By BMFPitt on 11/15/2007 8:39:17 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
Microsoft would rather foster adoption of its own product, and truthfully Divx isn't a huge improvement over WMV.
The vast majority of videos people have on their PCs won't play natively on the 360. This, to me, is a big problem. Transcoding is a hassle, and hasn't worked for me at all.


RE: Transcode
By probedb on 11/15/2007 9:25:55 AM , Rating: 2
Yep same here. I don't use WMV for anything I encode myself and I don't know anyone else that does either.


RE: Transcode
By GreenyMP on 11/15/07, Rating: 0
RE: Transcode
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 11/15/2007 11:47:56 AM , Rating: 2
I think the flaw in your argument here is that the BDJava is also proprietary. It's based on Java, but it's not the same Java we have been using on computers.


RE: Transcode
By GreenyMP on 11/15/2007 12:09:12 PM , Rating: 2
Well the java part of it is Java SE. The same Java SE that you use for applets, desktop applications, web applications, etc. But it does have extras layered on top that allow you to do other things. But because all of the players are required to support Java SE, you are not forced to use the BDJ extras. You can use regular open source java. If you want the picture in picture stuff you will have to use the BDJ extras.

So yes, but no.


RE: Transcode
By afkrotch on 11/17/2007 7:26:41 AM , Rating: 2
Kind of missed the biggest flaw out of his whole arguement. I'll bold and uppercase it for you.

DIVX IS PROPRIETARY!!!


RE: Transcode
By MGSsancho on 11/15/2007 5:09:11 PM , Rating: 1
download windows media encoder (its stable now), and you can encode to their HD format or VC1.

with sony.... i dunno GP already mentioned it. It would be awesome if there was h264 support... at least they are almost industry standards. like in HD-DVD and BluRay. apple has a h264 encoder...

but back on top, the top brass in most companies are pricks forcing closed formats upon us.


RE: Transcode
By mfed3 on 11/16/2007 2:52:12 AM , Rating: 3
yea this is false, microsoft's hdi is meant to be open and is based on xml in direct opposition to sony and bdj. the authoring tools are freely available to anyone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDi_Interactive_Forma...

you guys forget microsoft is not the same as they used to be, they are very open these days and try to promote standards.

* hd photo was just accepted as the new jpeg standard successor to jpg
* microsoft office open xml ooxml is an open xml implementaion instead of the proprietary .doc
* vc-1 made a fraction of the cost of mpeg2/4 for licensing on hd dvd / blu ray media
* .net source code released to public

give them a chance, they are a new microsoft that is making great products and supporting their customers very well


RE: Transcode
By FITCamaro on 11/15/2007 10:19:51 AM , Rating: 2
I installed TVersity a few days ago to use with my 360. It will transcode my video in realtime but it maxes out my video servers CPU (X2 3800+). It would be nice if it didn't have to do the transcoding. The biggest problem with TVersity I've seen is that when you stop playing a video, it continues to transcode it until its done.

What I'm not sure on yet is if I stop one and want to start another, does it stop transcoding the first and start doing the second? Even if it does, it sucks to have my CPU going full tilt after I've already stopped watching something.


RE: Transcode
By bdewong on 11/15/2007 1:17:29 PM , Rating: 2
I use TVersity myself and found that I, instead, like to encode the videos using Windows Media Encoder so I can FF, REW, stop, and resume.

It seems that if you do stop one movie and start another, TVersity will stop transcoding, remove the file, then start transcoding the next file. Also, I was unable to get the transcoding in realtime on my computer (Core 2 Duo 4400), but that may be to certain settings.

All that said, I would love to have the 360 handle all of the decoding itself. That way I wouldn't have to worry about the bugs of other software like Windows Media Encoder and TVersity.


RE: Transcode
By FITCamaro on 11/15/2007 6:14:44 PM , Rating: 2
Can you not fast forward or rewind when transcoding a divx file? I know I can pause and resume. Stop and resume, no.


RE: Transcode
By bdewong on 11/15/2007 8:47:54 PM , Rating: 2
Nope, can't fast forward or rewind. Supposedly because when transcoding live, it doesn't add in time stamps.


RE: Transcode
By npoe1 on 11/16/2007 3:11:27 PM , Rating: 2
You can fast forward and rewind after the video has been completely encoded and played once.

I can not encode in real time :( and for some reason it doesn’t encode with resolutions higher than 8xx*4xx or something like that. No 720p for me :(


RE: Transcode
By 8steve8 on 11/15/2007 8:39:48 AM , Rating: 3
divx may not be much better than wmv, but it is far more popular...

divx on xbox360 will make it useful as a media extender (for me).

as-is i havnt found a single video in my collection of hundreds that it will play.


RE: Transcode
By Zurtex on 11/15/2007 10:27:51 AM , Rating: 5
Honestly divx is not nearly as popular as it used to be, xvid is far more popular these days. Also divx is really a step back from vc-1 (the wmv-hd profile)

There would be a certain amount of irony if Microsoft allowed divx to run on the 360, given that divx originally came from a hacked version of a Microsoft Mpeg-4 codec.


RE: Transcode
By FITCamaro on 11/15/2007 12:27:54 PM , Rating: 2
From what I read (since I care because all my video is reencoded with xvid after its ripped off a DVD), divx and xvid are the same. So by adding divx support we'll be able to play our xvid videos. Is this not correct?


RE: Transcode
By Alexvrb on 11/15/2007 9:40:38 PM , Rating: 2
Mostly. The encoders are different, but the format they encode to should be essentially the same (MPEG-4 ASP). The main difference is where and how they allocate bits. However, there may be some advanced features of one or the other that are not 100% compatible. Especially since Xvid is open source, some builds of Xvid I've seen floating around are not super fantastic.

What I'm trying to say is that Divx support should allow other MPEG-4 ASP codecs like Xvid to work as well, as long as they don't do things not supported. Oh, and they would have to be in one of the file containers supported (meaning probably no .mkv or .ogm yet).

BTW, why are you still using an MPEG-4 ASP codec? x264 is a free open source H.264 codec (MPEG-4 AVC), and H.264+AAC in an .mp4 container is 1) superior to Divx/Xvid, and 2) natively supported on 360 and PS3. Using something like Staxrip makes encoding a ripped DVD to H.264 simple, and the results are undeniable. I streamed Anchorman (700MB) to my roommate's 360 downstairs, and they thought I'd inserted the actual DVD until the movie was over and I pulled Guitar Hero II out of the tray.


RE: Transcode
By Zurtex on 11/16/2007 12:05:10 PM , Rating: 2
H.264 is fully supported by 360? My understand was that it was partially supported by the 360 (something a