Get Ready For Divx On Xbox

donnacha points to this ZDNet story which says that hackers have built a Divx player for Xbox. "As previously discussed ( Divx - The Real Xbox Killer App), the ability to play reasonably high-quality films, speedily burned onto inexpensive CDR media, is going to make (modded) Xbox ownership a far more attractive proposition. This will take Divx beyond the desktops of those with broadband connections and into the living rooms of those who don't own computers. Expect to see a resurgence of Xbox sales and much confusion in MS as to whether or not this is a good thing."

Comments

Resurgence??

[SpectreGadget]

Expect to see a resurgence of Xbox sales

What? Really think people are going to go out and buy more Xboxes just to hack them and play Divx CD-Rs? Why not just go buy an inexpensive DVD player that plays SVCDs? A lot cheaper.

Over hyped

[PyroMosh]

The person who submited the article is seriously overestimating the importance of this. People without computers don't hack their x-boxen. Trust me on this one. I doubt anyone is going to go out and buy an x-box just because of this. But I do wonder weather MS will think this a Good Thing(TM) or not.

Re:Over hyped

[Anonymous Coward]

"The person who submited the article is seriously overestimating the importance of this. People without computers don't hack their x-boxen."

Says you now.

If the X Box becomes entrenched like the PS and PS2 I predict you will see a whole mod chip industry spring up. I already see PS/PS2 mod chip posters on the telephone poles where I live (Toronto).

Re:Over hyped

[Nindalf]

The ease of the mod is only one half of its potential appeal. The other half is value.

The ability to play Divx on CD-R is just not a big deal. Sure, you'll probably see a few hundred or thousand video-trading geeks setting this up, so they can watch their stuff on the TV. There might even be a few who would buy an Xbox specifically to watch movies on CD. But you're just not going to see this make the difference to hundreds or millions of people.

My reaction on hearing about this was, "So what?" And I even know what Divx is, which is more than you can say for the general population.

Ordinary people don't think, "Hey, I'll go out and spend $300 so I can watch piles of the second-rate bootleg videos you can buy from that creepy kid who never goes outside!"

You should learn the difference between, "Hey, this is exactly what I was looking for!" and "Wow! Everyone is going to want one of these!"

Re:Over hyped

[Wakko Warner]

You completely missed the point.

I'm proud that you can download divx's on your computer.

My mom can't. She doesn't have a computer.

The whole point of this article is that this is supposed to open a whole new world of piracy to everyday people without a computer or knowledge of how to use one.

It won't.

- A.P.

no mass market effect

[colmore]

somehow i doubt it, Tim.

i don't think there are that many people who will be willing to crack open their X-Box just to play pirated movies, especially when VCD enabled DVD players cost about as much as an X-Box.

Saying that an X-Box modchip is going to bring DivX to the masses is like saying the PS1 mod chip brought Japanese-only retail games to the masses. It was cool for a handful of enthusiasts, but it was never a very big thing.

Aside from the hyperbole, this is pretty cool. I'm still happy with my Gamecube, though.

Re:Why would I do that?

[UPSBrian]

I could see it from a convienance stand-point. My computer is set-up in the basement; my X-box is hooked up to a 32" TV with surround sound upstairs. That is far superior set-up than the 17" monitor in my spider infested basement.

or you could...

[numatrix]

So let's see, I can spend $200 on a machine that I probably wouldn't otherwise buy to watch divx movies, or I can buy a $50 dreamcast and use the divx player that's been around for a while on that. Hmm... difficult decision. Not to mention there are already emulators for ALL of your favorite old-school platforms for the dreamcast. -jordan

Re:or you could...

[RaboKrabekian]

Interesting point - unless you've actually tried to use the Dreamcast DivX player. It's a disater - films need to be encoded at very low resolutions, and don't work half the time anyway. A Dreamcast is a great machine to have - great games and very cheap prices, and the afformentioned emulators (especially the NES ones) make it a good investment. But DivX is definitely *not* its forte.

"A resurgence of xbox sales"? WTF?

[mcc]

Why do you think this will be a huge thing for x-box sales? Just because the xbox is a PC doesn't mean it's the only thing that could do that. It would be absolutely no harder to create a divx player for playstation, or dreamcast, or just about anything else. OK, so no one bothered. Someone could, and probably will if it turns out there's a demand for this kind of thing. Keep in mind, of course, that the nonexistence of a playstation etc version of this might mean that no one thought it was worth the bother, not that no one could or that Sony stopped them.

I mean-- OK. Let me start over. First off, this is a nifty hack, and second off i'm glad people are making steps toward unlocking the stupid "copy protection" controls that keep any really independent development from happening on the xbox.

But i just don't see this being something revolutionary. I know people for whom this would be useful, and i know people who would use it. But think: it can be assumed anyone with the ability to burn cds also has the ability to play divxes on their computer. So, lets look at their options:

1. Buy an inexpensive computer->tv tuner/converter cable thingy from Radio Shack that would allow you to use a tv as the monitor for your computer. Watch divxes on your tv using whatever program it is that runs divxes fullscreen now.
2. Buy a several-hundred-dollar Xbox, go through a complicated, possibly expensive transaction in which your xbox is modded and your warranty is broken. Hook that up to your tv. Then, every time you want to watch a divx, you have to burn it to a CD-- which costs money-- and transfer it to your xbox.

I don't think so. This will probably raise publicity and possibly interest by people in the xbox (though i can't imagine it would be much), and this will probably be something really neat for people who own xboxes already. But i can't realistically imagine this becoming something people would buy an xbox for.

That being said, i think this is the funniest line i've ever seen on zdnet:

The developer, who identified himself only by his hacker name, "d7o3g4q," said in an email..

Whatever. Wake me up when they get linux running on it.

P.S. : I hate divx. I wish MPEG4 didn't have these stupid licensing terms. Grr.

Microsoft Larger Scale Ambitions

[donnacha]

This comment in a discussion last month pointed to Microsoft's apparently unnoticed but reasonably obvious larger scale ambitions and suggest that they will be willing to spend a great deal more on winning this fight than Sony and Nintendo not because they have more money but because they are playing for far higher stakes.

The most important thing to realize is that their primary objective is to establish the Xbox as a sort of hardware (and therefore competition-free) incarnation of MSN Messenger, positioning it as a communications device with a far, far more mainstream audience than just gamers. This is the motivation behind their massive global investment in Cable companies and their apparently insane over-investment in hosting capability.

Modding will hurt game sales, no doubt about it, but it will, especially with this new Divx capability, greatly accelerate the machines market penetration. MS are secretly delighted to exchange their short-term earnings on content to further their progress towards becoming the world's chat-room / paid dating service / whatever else comes with total control of the largest network on the planet (and don't forget that a $199 price will get them into a lot more homes that even the cheapest Dell machine - think India, think China).

Re:This is why I got an X Box

[Anonymous Coward]

"If I could pay $30 bucks to get ..."

funny. 10 million units paying 30, 300 mil. or more realisticly 1000 geeks interested in playing stolen movies. that's not the kind of bandwagon ms jumps on. dvd kit sells for 50 and guess what, *thats* for general public. wake up and smell the roses...

Re:This is why I got an X Box

[PepsiProgrammer]

Having the Xbox sell more while not selling games causes microsoft to lose money. The consoles are sold at a loss.

This is a Big Deal because...

[nherc]

A bunch of the highly modded comments make this out to be old news or not very important ("my dreamcast can play divx").

To clear things up, two major exciting point:

1. The cracked XBox Bios is floating around the net along with wiring diagrams for the XBox motherboard. Therefore, anyone with a EEPROM programmer or even some PC motherboards can flash a old bios chip and wire it up themselves for essentially free. With this hack you can then run homebrew and unsigned software from ANY media the XBox reads AND the ethernet connection. Oh, and the XBox even has a hard drive for some more advanced apps.

2. The guys who hacked the XBMedia Player together finally figured out how to read media from the ethernet connection. So essentially you pay $200 for a MP3, Divx, DVD, etc.,. player (plus it plays some pretty cool games too) that will play files over your network from your PC media server. You'll soon also see web browsers, instant messengers, etc.,. as well. I think this would be pretty sweet hooked up to every TV/stereo I own.

Thanks MS!

Not the big deal, but a forerunner...

[fzammett]

I don't think the ability to play DivX on my XBox is too big a deal, but the door a MOD chip opens up is...

DVD burners are coming down in price even faster than CD writers did it seems. Couple this with some new software that will almost certainly be available in the near future, in addition to a modded XBox, now you have the ability to copy games, which is something I'm sure MS *IS* concerned with.

More importantly though, as soon as I can run the popular emulators on my machine (read: MAME, mostly), then the geek population will have a reason to buy an XBox.

Then there of course is putting Linux on it, which I know is being worked on, and although I'm not aware of it, I'm sure it's doable already. That further adds to the geek factor, which is certainly important.

For me, buying an XBox was not a great move... I own about 10 games, only maybe 3 of which I play with any regularity. Yes, I have a list of about 30 that are coming this year that I look forward to, but it was with other things in mind that I bought it... emulators, a full OS (Linux or Windows or something else, I'm not particular), access to my network so I can surf the web properly in my living room, things like that.

But then again, I'm a geek, I can mod the thing myself and I can take the time and effort that might be involved to install Linux and MAME and whatever else I want. Will the average consumer? Certainly not.

My point? Ah, never really had one I guess. Simply that the DivX thing doesn't especially thrill me, but I *AM* excited about a MOD chip because I know there will be cool stuff coming as a result of it. That's all!

Analogous to Playstation Mods

[Oishii]

In Australia, the modding of playstation (one)s was a HUGE thing about a year ago. Why? Because then you could play copied games. And yes, neighbourhood kids with a little savvy made quite a decent income out of being an "all stop shop". Mod-chipping was usually a $25AUD fee. ($US15)

Come in, get your PS modded, buy a pirated game or three from my extensive copy library. Build your own collection, yes siree, at just $7 (AU) per disc, you too can have a game collection the envy of your friends.

So, these same gameplaying Xbox owners, what do you think they'll say when the neighbourhood kid starts offering (1) a mod, (2) pirated Xbox games and (3) the latest release movies - especially in countries where hollywood delays the release date FAR behind the US one.

I think there's a large market, provided the cost is right.

Yes, you're very wrong.

[Wakko Warner]

There's no mass market for pirated content nowadays.

Nobody purchases stuff they can steal for free.

There will be no pirate Divx market. Most (or even a significant number of) people will not base their purchasing decisions on whether or not their DVD player can handle pirated content. They do not do this now, either.

Please, stop smoking crack.

Thank you.

- A.P.

No, YOU'RE wrong. And so's your Momma.

[donnacha]

There's no mass market for pirated content nowadays.

Have you ever been to South East Asia? Or Europe? Or the Russian Federation? Or South America? Or anywhere outside the US?

And, in any case, we're not talking about a mass market in the traditional sense; the whole point is that the ease with which hundreds of thousands of individuals, even in America, will be able, individually, to use their $500 low-spec computers to make money by churning out 20 CDs an hour at a cost of 25c each, and sell them on to their friends for a couple of bucks each.

Most (or even a significant number of) people will not base their purchasing decisions on whether or not their DVD player can handle pirated content. They do not do this now, either.

Rubbish. The majority of the world's DVD owners will NEVER, not even ONCE, buy a legitimate, licensed CD. The majority of DVD owners now reside in 2nd World countries like China, India and S. E. Asia. Part of their decision to commit to a major, circa $50 purchase (local as opposed to US prices) is the guaranteed availability of cheap, pirated content.

Please, stop smoking crack.

You'll have to pry my pipe from my cold, dead fingers!

Re:This is why I got an X Box

[issachar]

downloaded TV shows. Yes, this is also copyright infringement, but unlike DVD's or CD's, sometimes I just can't get the show any other way. The number of times the stupid CRTC rules have resulted in me recording the wrong channel and missing a show are too many to count.

.