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

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

[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.

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

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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