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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."
Who cares about playing games, it's a nice self-contained PC architecture hacker's toy, like the Dreamcast before it! And it just so happens to have the raw processing ability to decode Divx files in real-time!
Excellent work!
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
Jim Harry
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.
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
..would be to release a free media player themselves. This would stop those thinking of getting a mod chip, just to see movies, from doing so. No mod chip = no playing backup software.
That this is what M$ was hoping for..
easy hacks and ability to do this will boost sales it's basically a cheap PC. it won't be to long before we start seeing xbox games on home pc's also.. as much as they seem to hate piracy they set themselves up for this one.
The greatest right given is the right to be wrong...
Why would I buy an X-Box, mod it up, and spend all that money, to watch pirated CD's at low quality? I already have a computer, and most people who would have access to such CD's and modded equipment already do.
I don't see my grandma getting an X-Box for example... people that have fallen behind on technology so far as to not have a computer are more likely to stick to their trusty VCR for pirated movies.
-- If it ain't broke - overclock it more.
SVCD is essentially a DVD MPEG2 file, cut down so that it'll fit on a normal CD. You can normally fit around 45 Minutes worth of SVCD video onto a CD. Ideal for TV shows, admittedly.
Divx on the other hand has much more efficient compression, to the point of being able to fit a full movie onto a single CD.
The convenience of only having to find one file and burn the one CD is what's going to assure Divx has a future.
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
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.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
...XBox developers are going to be the first to move into Microsoft's new headquarters.
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Moderator's essentials
From the zdnet story
Microsoft representatives have said the software giant is investigating legal options to shut down makers of mod chips.
I'm pretty sure Sony tried the same thing, and we all know how well that worked. I love how large corporations try to rule the far corners of the world where US laws don't apply.
-Tolerate my intolerance
A resurgance of sales? Maybe if you're only looking at the Slashdot Community. Although. I seriously doubt the 0.5% of the public market technically savvy enough to implement a mod is going to recreate another buying frenzy. Like most technically interesting, but corporately unsponsored things, this will be the area of a few people willing to take the time and money to mod the box and download all the necessary utilities to use DIVX.
Maybe at $200, having a set-top Divx player would be worth it to some technophiles out there. And of course, every XBox sold is another $100 or so loss for Microsoft :)
Personally, I'd rather spend $200 on a nice DVD player, or a cheap DVD/surround home theatre system.
Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!
As previously discussed? You link to a comment to a mildly related story from a few weeks ago, and try to pass that off as a story. However, it's not just any old comment; it's one you made yourself!
Blowing your own trumpet ahoy! I've never seen this type of thing on the front page before!
The ZDNet article is nice and all, but rehashing some comment you've posted then linking to it is not news.
And, it's written 'DivX'. Ha! I just linked to myself! I'm so cool!
The files need to be resampled at a very low resolution in order for the processor to keep up. With the X Box Divx viewer, we're talking full 640x480 resolution, IIRC.
Check out www.xboxemulation.co.uk to see how far X Box hacking has come.
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
It worked in the UK
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
DivX : Putting the X in X-Box.
Hacking the X-Box is a double edged sword for Microsoft. On the positive, it may drive up sales. On the negative, what happens if your hack goes bad? You drop solder on the board, you pull out the wrong chip and break it, etc. A lot of people will go crying to Redmond demanding a replacement or at the very least- tech support. Microsoft is under no obligations to support hacked hardware and will just end up with many headaches from amateur hacker goof ups.
Now, I know the iBook itself is more expensive, but then again, it is a laptop, and I bought it NOT solely for games and videos. The latter are just a bonus, and for £25, it is well worth it. That said, with a PowerBook, you don't even need to purchase a properitary (s?) AV cable, just use a standard Yellow/Red/White thing :) which you can probably pick up for £5.
Anyway, going a bit off topic... i think divx on xbox is pretty kewl.. but a bit useless for me - apart from the gaming part - but the GC looks better (and smaller!!).
BTW.. does anyone know how to watch divx .mov (quictkime) on PC's.. after converting the AVI to MOV - since QT can't handle avi with mp3 audio? I'd like to watch all my movies on both mac/pc.
Fight Crime - Shoot Back!
the X-Box in the same class as Napster?
/.ers keep moaning about. Seriously, I'm tired of this crap.
This is the kind of BS that
...much confusion in MS as to whether or not this is a good thing.
AFAIK the cost of building the XBox is still more than the $200 they're selling it for. The original idea was to lose money on the hardware and make huge profit on the games. So if people are to buy the XBox but no games, it's a loss for MS (at least $$$). When it's hacked in a way to simply use it as a linux PC without much hastle, you can buy the hardware, theoretically taking money away from MS, and have a relatively powerful cheap PC.
Developers: We can use your help.
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
I followed the link to the story, then to an xbox hack site, XBOXHACKER, and upon entering that sites FAQ, it said that DivX play wasn't possible, at least not yet. Who's right? the faq's here
We now have confirmed reports from an informed Orange County minister that Ethel is still an active communist.
Yeah, they really choked on original releases. I might actually get MGS2: Substance for it tho.
As it happens, I've been looking into small form factor / silent pcs for playing DivXs, and I can't justify the cost. The K6/500 I'm using now is maxed out, a bit too noisy, and won't play all the movies I have. Plus it won't fit in the armoire. If I can get a $200 box to do what I want (with a modchip, ok), that'll fit in with the other stuff & not have a bunch of fan noise, I'll get it. If I can play games on it that's fine too, but I really don't care about games too much. Maybe my daughter will like it when she's a bit older.
"and versions 3.x and 4.x of DivX, a controversial compression format used to swap videos over the Internet"
Is it just me, or is this very slanted news?
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I sig, therefore I was.
well ill tell you what theyre going to think. theyre going to realize that this is really bad since their main objective is to sell games. they lose money on the Xbox and know it. they only use that as a tool to get in the home owner's living room and gain market share. they know that massive Xbox sales that are not matched with massive game sales will be extremely bad for them.
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[insert funny
I don't see how this is ever going to be a killer app for the X-Box. Unless Electronics Boutique and Toys R Us start selling pre-modded X-Boxes, far less than one percent of X-Box customers will have DivX functionality. The same really applies to all modded systems. With a modded PS2, I can download hundreds of free games. However, PS2s with mod chips are so rare that the international community of people online that are trading PS/PS2 games is, at most, ten thousand people out of the twenty-six million plus PS2 owners in the world.
Sure, this is a killer app for a couple of geeks, but it isn't going to change the X-Box's sales or revolutionize the movie industry.
i'd be happy to clear up the confusion right now: MS won't think its a good thing. they lose money on every box they sell. if people are buying them so they can chip the box to play divx movies, msft isn't making money on game sales. plus, if the box has a chip, the games people actually play will probably be burned copies anyway.
not to mention pressure from the mpaa...
CEO: "What is that toy?"
me: "Sir, it is a new prototype to show customers our marketing ads in standard format. See? You can carry them around like regular CDs, plus they can be made at a very low cost, thus increasing our productivity, lowering our expenses, and making our company look like we are constantly hitting the technology cutting edge while taking care of our customers. And it has been made by Microsoft, it is a Very Reliable thing."
CEO: "Good good. Keep researching."
me: "Yes sir. I'm gonna borrow the TV in the main hall to test it in the server room for the presentation of tomorrow, if You wouldn't mind."
-- There are two kind of sysadmins: Paranoids and Losers. (adapted from D. Bach)
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:
- 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.
- 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: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.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
But, the Xbox can already play a high quality movie format. Plus, that format supports mutli-channel surround sound. Comes on really special discs that look like CDs, but hold anywhere from 10 to 30 times the data. AND, a two hour movie, with tons of extras, languages, and so on, often costs less than a 30 minute music CD.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
. . . Timothy, quit taking lessons from the "Jon Katz" school of journalism. It cheapens you. And for the life of me I can't understand the logic behind "buying an X-box so that Microsoft loses money". Hey, Einsteins, what happens to Microsoft if you buy NO X-boxes? Just a little common sense goes a long way, folks. It's a cool hack. It's not going to affect jack otherwise.
With XBox sales slouching below predicted levels, it would be so terribly ironic if DivX, OSS, and hacking were to come to the rescue and SAVE MICROSOFT's product.
Since the Xbox has USB, why couldn't a USB TV tuner be added to turn the Xbox into a PVR?
A browser and some other bits ported over would turn the Xbox into a decent set top box.
I always thought microsoft was a fine hardware company...
You are joking, right? First, this requires a hardware mod, which Microsoft despises - hey, it's a Microsoft Xbox, packed full of juicy Microsoft intellectual property and trade secrets, right? They'll likely have mods prosecuteds as DMCA violation, because they bypasses DRM mechanisms.
But worse than that, it allows godless heathens to run FREE SOFTWARE on their hardware. Given the foaming-at-the-mouth FUD they vomit forth whenever the GPL is mentioned, expect them to suggest that Evil Pirates will run the notorious hacker OS Linux on it, allowing the viral GPL to spread throughout the whole Interweb, corrupting and assimilating all that it touches. ZDnet will faithfully reproduce pretty much any FUD they produce about this.
Further, given that PVR opponents seem to have escaped a mainstream press drubbing for describing ad-skipping as theft, expect them to assert that Xbox purchasers have an implied obligation to purchase Microsoft - and only Microsoft - games and add-ons for it, to support the subsidised initial purchase. I'll even predict the phrase, which will be spoken by a flat voiced, dead eyed corporate zombie: "Of course, the Xbox is about having fun, and we want legitimate Xbox purchasers to have fun. But they have to be responsible about it, and support legitimate software development. We think its very important that we educate legitimate Xbox gamers about this, and that we explain why hacking our Xbox and running pirate and viral GPL software kills legitimate developers. And their children, their beautiful golden haired children. Won't someone think of the legitimate software developers' golden haired children!" Er, OK, that last bit might just be implied (or feature as a ZDnet "editorial"), but you get the point. ;-)
And lastly, what do they care about DivX? They are busy touting the DRM benefits of WMF and trying to persuade hardware manufacturers to support WMF alongside MPEG2. They do not want other players in this game. Note that their apologists at ZDnet invite you to infer that DivX is only useful for piracy. Yes, I know that de facto it is heavily used for distributing unlicensed copies, but that's because it's a damn efficient codec with cross platform implementations. If unlicensed copies switch to using WMF (with the DRM turned off) to distribute, will that become a "controversial" format? I think not.
No, I don't see that Microsoft will be in confusion about how to handle this. It's their box, containing their trade secrets, and we should keep our filthy commie hacker hands off of it. The hobbyist market is simply too small to make a difference to their income: in fact, every Xbox purchased by a hacker loses them money. They won't like this. They won't like it at all.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Look up Divx. We will expect a written report in the morning.
i thought ZDNet was afiliated with Micro$oft. is this just another stunt to keep the Xbox in the news?
I want 2D games back.
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).
What may not be obvious to most is that this could be nice first step toward something with great value. First of all a modded xbox will allow the owner to play divx's on DVD-rs something that even DVD players that support VCD won't do. This is useful beyond just pirated DVDs digital home movies benifit too. Also remember the xbox can output 780p and 1080i. The DVD decoder internal to the xbox doesn't support 480p however maybe a hacked software solution will? While the current DivX solution may be small potatoes, the potential is HUGE! Ves
Not onto a CD-R, a CD-RW, the disk is called
a video CD. Qulaity is that of SVHS.
My Sony plays them. I'm burning family home
video to disk.
ok micrsoft are not complete fools
first of all the bios will be updated and so I am guessing will be the OS to support Windows Media
MS has signed a bunch of DVD people to the wmp format and will at some point start to release films now for a studio whats better
DVD
o expensive media due to the newness
o lots of region independant players (so they cant really relase when they want)
o cracked so that people can copy them
WM format
o can use a CDROM and boy are those cheap
o Control over regions
o Control over Copying
o Control
o Total Control
yes if it starts up then soon their will be a crack for wmp formats (search theregister.co.uk for version7)
now the mods will have to be invented for the Xbox as sson as then change the bios
thank god MS didnt use a decent arch and put the whole thing on a chip so we can Bus snoop (-;
regards
john jones
I don't think we're going to see that much of a resurgence of sales from this. The fact is that most of the time you can't fit a whole DivX movie on a single CD. They usually almost-but-not-quite-fit, so you need 2 CDs which is a real pain. I believe it's already possible to convert DivX to MPEG-2 CDs (video CDs) and play them on a normal DVD player. I have a friend who has burned hour-long TV shows to a single VCD from the downloaded DivX (which admittedly was less than half the size of the MPEG-2 version).
Karma police, I've given all I can, it's not enough, I've given all I can, but we're still on the payroll.
i'm sorry, for someone without a computer to buy the xbox video game console just to watch Divx movies which they need a computer to download and burn onto cd's seems a little absurd.
Problem.....that statement assumes there was initially a surgence of sales, which if I remember correctly....
there have been other modification for concole's to play DiVX formatted movies. The most widely known was DCDiVX - http://www.moosegate.com/betaboy/dcdivx/ . A free player for Sega's Dreamcast to play DiVX movies. Well, from firtst hand experience i know this player was buggy as hell and had alot of problems. And as we all know, this didnt help Sega very much, DC is down to 50$ or so, some sales increase that was. Its a cool hack - hope it works - but it wont affect jack.
Shouldn't the linux kit for ps2 allow the possibility of DivX playback?
come on ps2 hackers!
I don't want to buy an Xbox.. but DivX on it sounds mighty tempting..
You think people who don't own computers are going to mod their Xbox (reasonable). Then their friends with computers and broadband will take the time to download and burn DivX ;) movies (unreasonable). Am I not seeing how else someone without a computer will get DivX ;) flicks?
I can see the computer friend doing for the novelty value two or three times, but after that, isn't he/she going to say "Get a Computer" or "Rent it on DVD"? It takes time, more time than it takes to get in a car and drive to the local video store.
Sure, there will be a itty bitty niche of kids who will do this, but not enough to push sales of Xbox much higher. The general public tends to purchase items for what they're designed for. If there's an easy mod to add some functionality, they'll do it. What you're talking about here is more than just a simple mod, you have to then add time for downloading and burning. Seeing the movie for free saves you $3 - $4 rental fee, but takes time and frustration if you download a crappy rip or have a bad burn, etc.... It's not an obvious time saver, unlike Napster with MP3s.
Instead/included with this someone really needs to hack together a software DVD player so you don't need to spend more $ right off the bat just to unlock the ability to play DVDs on your XBox!
If i was going to by a console too watch Div-X on.. it would be a PS2 thank you very much! (Especially if price is the ONLY plus factor you can think of!)
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
why not DivX 5 support? even a crappy DivX player for dreamcast i have plays 5 files (very badly when they are at a high resolution i might add) but at least it has the ability.
adventure-today.com
I would not use it to play since I am more than happy with my PS2, but if I could use it to watch my DivX CDs and play music, that would be nice.
;o)
I have a laptop (a PII 400) which is a tad too slow to play DivX but is more than enough for my computer needs (Java programming, word processing and so on...)
Now, if I could also play MAME on it and play my MP3 CDs, that would be swell!!!
And doing all that on the expense of M$ is just the cherry on the cake
Black holes occur when God divides by zero.
Yeah, those people who don't own computers won't hack their Play Stations, right? OH! You mean that's already happened on a massive scale? Damn! (and don't tell me "it's not the same" because it is.)
You need a FREE iPod Nano
I meant, "hundred-thousands or millions."
Anyway, I'm not disputing that some people are interested and more will be. My problem is with the ridiculous "This changes everything!" attitude, and the claim that people without broadband access and CD-R drives will be interested.
It's a small, unimportant thing.
The suggested solution: Convert all of your movies to DIVX, burn burn them to CD and then hacking your Xbox with a mod chip so that you can play them.
My solution: Get a TV-Out card and a Video Sender (transmitter) and hook that to your computer. That way you can play any CODEC, and easily delete the movie afterward if it sucks.
Kind thoughts do not change the world
You freaks scare me.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
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!
'He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.' - Douglas Adams
DivX is certainly not only used for the 'illegal' purpose of 'pirating' movies. Plenty of people use the DivX codec, being free, (somewhat) open source and likely to offer the best quality/size ratio and flexibility for video compression available today.
;-) ) was a cracked rip-off of a MS codec, which has since seen versions 4 and 5 with major improvements along the way. It'd be ironic if MS took the codec back under its wing, after it's soaked up all the open-source goodness the Project Mayo guys put in it.
Check out SKTFM.TV for a good example of what you can achieve with a DV camera and the DivX codec. Plenty of people use DivX as a way of distributing home-made videos, and more people would do it if the software was easier to use and its existance was better known.
To create an official MS media player application supporting playback of DivX movies would be a smart move by Microsoft, especially if accompanied with an easy-to-use, inexpensive DivX encoding package for PCs. This would truly bring home-made digital movies into the mainstream and X-Box sales would likely increase among users who aren't prone to hax0ring or modding.
Since both MS and Sony are attempting to create a complete home entertainment system with their consoles, to replace the VCR, DVD and CD-player, for MS not to do this when it's within their capability seems stupid. It'd definitely give them an edge over the PS2 and would be a good way for them to show off what actual advantages the superior processing power of the X-Box can offer.
And just for fun... DivX 3.11alpha (commonly known as DivX
Don't you mean a "surgence"?
Thanks to DivX, they'll sell 5 more X-Boxes this month.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
...can a PII 400Mhz play divx movies with no probs?
I welcome any good answers.
English is not my first language, so cut me some slack -: Om du kan lasa det har sa kan du Svenska
Where will these computerless, non-techie people obtain their DivX discs for their modded XBoxes from? The Pirated Movie Fairy?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
What about the mods for PlayStation 2? I haven't heard anything on the divx front, but now that linux is up and about on that platform there must be someone working on a divx playstation 2 app. Anyone out there know of anything like this?
I couldn't see any specific mention of a Dreamcast decoder project on that site, so I'm wondering if it's making any use of the graphics hardware at all (e.g. 4:2:0 => RGB conversion). Does anyone know?
Simon
I can see it swaying sales... Slightly. To that person who is looking for a console with an "open source" future, it might just convince them.
"But think: it can be assumed anyone with the ability to burn cds also has the ability to play divxes on their computer."
As to that point, this is a huge market in Asia. You don't need a computer w/a burner to be buying the pirated VDCs and DiVX crap. Again, not sales dynamite, but enough to sway somebody. Of course, it's assuming MS can gain a foothold in Asia as well, since buying VCDs and DiVX on the corner isn't quite as popular in the US.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
Solutions to your problem:
1. make a cable from you TV-out on your PC to your upstairs TV and use a RF-remote to control your movie. Much cheaper. Might even have better quality since the xbox player has some quality problems.
2. Move your TV to the basement. (NOT good for your back
3. Move your PC to the living room.
4. Build a mini PC and play ALL you dvd's wma & mp3's AND play all your PC games. This might be a little more expensive, but if you already have a 32 inch TV you do not want to save 100$ and get a not yet finished player.
He's right. There's no way that people are going to get excited about this -- for most people, renting a DVD is much simpler than getting ahold of a DivX CD. (Especially if they don't have a computer!!)
Also, don't be surprised if this community of modders gets a big fat DMCA lawsuit. This is EXACTLY the kind of activity that the DMCA was created to make illegal. (It's a crappy law, for sure, but there it is...)
> This will take Divx beyond the desktops of those with broadband connections and into the living rooms of those who don't own computers.
Give me a break. For the most part, anyone savvy enough to be able to install a mod chip into an X-Box probably already has a PC. Do you think the average Best Buy shopper is going to install one of these? Most people I know with X-Boxes don't even know how to solder, and even if they did, they would be too afraid to do it on their new $200 console. Only those who are savvy, already have a spare computer and just want a cheap DivX player, and those with the intestinal fortitude will do the Mod chip (which is still a lot of people, of course, but not my parents).
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!
If a pion (n-) collides with a proton in the woods & noone is there to hear it, does lamdba decay into the source pa
Umm, how about, install modchip, install DivX decoder/hack to memory (temporary) or Hard drive (permanent) or memory pack and go? it can't be too hard to manipulate the XBox for somebody with skillz. Hell, you could do game emulators the same way ala DC.
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The beauty of the xbox is that is can output to a HDTV in 1080i. Now, when I whip out that beautiful LoTR DivX DVD rip, I can watch it in high resolution on my tv rather than having to make a vcd out of it to wach with my dvd player. I _will_ be modding my xbox for this, even if the damned chip cost $150 and hade 85 solder points. Many people spend tons of cash to get a HTPC (home theater pc) connected to their tvs and amps. The xbox may become the killer app for this once people can get it to talk to a file server.
So the key to Microsoft's succeess in the Console market is Movie Piracy?? That's great news!! Now, if someone can just come up with a hack that allows the XboX to play mp3 CD's, we'll be all set.
Yessiree Bob! Microsoft, in direct legal confrontation with the RIAA, MPAA, Disney and Sony, all at the same time? JOY!
In the REDmond corner, the Divine Right to Innovate; and in the BLUE corner, Content Protection; in a steel-cage fight to the finish!
Man, this will be better than the early Tyson fights.. Yeah..
"When the whales fight, the shirmp are in big trouble" - Korean proverb.
The REAL jabber has the user id: 13196
What you do today will cost you a day of your life
Hell, I would go so far as to say that if any "Creepy Kids" tried to establish a system like this, he would end up in jail LONG before he could even sell 50 such kits. Most Joe P Consumers are law abiding citizens, and I would venture to say that at least 1 will alert the cops to a setup like this if he heard it. If he approached 300 people, maybe would sell 50 units, but end up in jail from 1 calling the cops, not good odds.
RonB
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
As interesting as this is, it is ridiculous to think that anyone who is downloading and burning DivX files doesn't have a computer, or is even able to install hacked software into their Xbox. The whole idea of going into the living room is to make things easy, and solutions in the living room that rely upon a hacker mentality will never be more than a geek toy. As for MS, they certainly will NOT like this in any case, as they are very anti-piracy, and don't want to lose control of their platform (even thought the likeliness of this happening is low/nil). If you believe the XBox Live online service will be a big success, any games that want an online component are going to be forced to run on MS's servers, so they can control things and get their nickel (more likely dollar ;) Will there be a way to hack your online game/app? Yes... Will MS allow you to get away w/ it for long if you are successful? No...
This will take Divx beyond the desktops of those with broadband connections and into the living rooms of those who don't own computers.
Um, how may I ask are people without computers going to get the Divx movies to begin with and put them on a CDR? I think this is just a novelty thing allowing people who don't have method of getting their computer to their bigscreen TV a chance to at least watch somewhat decent quality movies IF they bother getting DIVX movies and IF they have a CDR and IF they have an X-Box.
- gtaluvit (prnc. GOT-tuh-LUV-it)
Regardless of format, illegal supply chains, both formal and informal, exist for content, whether that be games, music or films.
I am suggesting that the chains that currently make it possible for you to buy videos and VCDs will increasingly gear their customers towards Divx, both in the interests of simplifying and speeding their production process, lowering their costs, expanding their market and introducing a wider range of products to the same customers (games and music).
I also have no doubt that $100 DVD players with Divx capability will soon start entering the market and that many people will choose to buy a Divx of, say, Spiderman at the "disposable" cost of $3 rather than buy a higher-quality pirate DVD for $8. Divx pirates will also be more widely available, as CD burners will remain considerably cheaper that DVD burners for quite some time.
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.
Interesting to see how the argument has basically divided /. into two camps. I have to agree with Wakko here. People go on a great deal about how cheap the X-Box is, but after you buy it and the DVD add-on and, say, install Linux on it or whatever, you end up with a very limited computer (albeit with a meaty graphics subsystem).
For perhaps half the price of an equivalent general-purpose computer that you don't need to stick a soldering iron into before you can get it going. Half the price would be significant if we were talking about thousands of dollars. But we're not. We're talking about a three or four hundred dollars. A couple of X-Box games' worth.
X-Box isn't the killer app for a home theatre system, a DVD player is. Nobody who does not own a computer will give much of a shit about DivXes until there's a nice easy way for non-computer-owners to create them, and possibly not even then. People here talking about DivX being "everywhere" and how non-computer-literate people will be able to copy them from their friends are show just how insular their world is. There is a *huge* number of people out there who do not have the connections or the inclication to get this stuff going, and I don't believe the pirates have the critical mass necessary to make this thing of any interest.
I wonder just how people summise these 'amazing events' into such bizarre outcomes?
How the hell could MS be happy? Lets do some math (is there anyone here that does it anymore?) MS make NO money on the HW, in fact they LOSE money on the HW. So, since you wont be buying software (which is where they make their money) they will be paying for you to play with their HW. Yeah, thats good sound economic sense.
Ripping your Xbox open, stoving in modchips will somehow drive up sales of Xbox. Does Slashdot have such a large opinion of itself to assume everyone here will buy one and do this? Are you guys crazy? Why would I rip open something I bought to convert to something I (and a huge number of ppl) JUST DONT NEED. FFS VHS STILL ISNT DEAD YET!
Does anyone actually read these damn news items anymore? I keep getting the feeling Im at a fatbabies forum trying to figure out who Eiger is.
Nuh-uh. DVD standard is 720x480. SVCD is 480x480 (at least for NTSC). The allowed bitrate ranges are different, too. (And, of course, SVCD is free of all that CSS nonsense.)
You can't just copy off 700MB of MPEG-2 from a DVD; it has to be re-encoded. The formats are quite different.
If you burn DVD-format video to a CD, it's called a "cDVD". SVCDs are entirely different.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
"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."
Am I missing something? How do these people get Divx movies burned onto a CD without a computer? Can you get them at Best Buy?
If you meant your supposed to score burned Divx movies from friends. Well, have fun with that..
It's great that the XBox will be able to do this, but it's hardly a break-through for those without computers.
Stupider like a fox! - H.S.
In itself, this is not going to send MS sales through the roof. It's not going to create a massive hype that gamers will flock to the stores in droves. DivX simply won't do that. It's mainly an internet traded format, and people who have internet have computers and monitors. Sure, it'd be nice to watch a DivX in your living room, but most people are going to say big deal before going through the hassle of modding their Xbox for that capability. Targeting VCD playback capability would have done more for sales, especially in Asia. It is has a huge market in both legal and pirate sales. It's a widly accepted format and it's a physical medium anyone can obtain without having to burn it themselves (ie; that person without a PC and/or burner)
Be that as it may, here's The Big Deal(TM): This and other exploits prove beyond a shadow of a doubt the Xbox can and will be cracked. I don't care what you think about MS, you're looking at a small, $300 PC that you'll eventially be able to do anything with. Scream and hollar all you want, but that's a good deal.
Stay with me now, because you might find this a tad intersting. Eventially word will get out that this machine can be cracked at will. HD mods? Linux? MP3 (or WMA in this case) jukeboxes? Pirated movies? No probs. No matter how much MS says they don't like this, it's a totally win/win situation for them and their Ultimate Xbox Goal; Control of the livingroom. Question: Would you be more willing to buy the new (more powerful) Xbox 2, knowing that it can probably be eventially easily hacked like the original? Just maybe. Oh, did we mention that MS has learned a few lessons by incorporating some of the hacks as native support, making it more useful to you? "Hey, now I don't have to go through any trouble to get ______ capabilities." Would you be more willing to buy it? They do it all the time in their other products. Whether by accident or design, MS really has the capability to subvert alot of unwitting consumers with the Box.
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More people (even if it's only those with computers who download DivX movies) will buy the consoles, and therefore more games will be sold. I for one, will.
Of course people will undoubtedly play pirate games on modded XBoxes but unless Microsoft actually do lose money on each XBox sold, they will still generate revenue from sales of hardware.
Pirating games on the XBox (although damaging financially) is not the same as pirating games on a PC, because the software manufacturer has not necessarily received any income from the sale of hardware.
Also, since most mainstream users will not mod their XBox, I cannot see there being a massive dip in sales of games, due to piracy.
Perhaps if Microsoft were sensible, they'd sell a pre-modified version of the XBox (which could support third party software/etc like mod chips) with a substantial price hike. At least, that way, they would make more money back from hardware sales.
That the hardware is being sold at a loss for the most part. Microsoft rely's on the consumer to purchase games to offset the retail of the machines. I cant be sure that MS is going to be too happy about this application of the X-Box without any cash coming to them. Sure they will sell more machines, but will they sell more software, possibly? Hey its not like they could stop it even if they wanted too. Its out there in public domain now.. people will use it with or without the MPAA's or Microsofts permission..
Harder.. Better.. Faster.. Stronger
When the Xbox is truly as hackable as the dreamcast (as any pc hardware set), then it will most certainly gain more attention with causal hackers and hardware enthusiasts. However, being able to watch some obscure (to most people) video format, which requires either a computer and/or knowledgeable friends with tech-savy/hacker tendencies, is NOT going cause a surge in sales or interest for the xbox in any circles other than those who were already interested in hacking their PCs, consoles, calculators and toasters.
Sorry, interesting news, but hardly worth a discussion of the ramifications of this _minor_ xbox hack.
The people selling the modchip should bring out a transister radio kit or some other innane PCB kit (a inverter kit, a 'build your own' vibrator kit, etc) that utilises a couple of the transisters built into the modchip. & then design the website arround these inane PCB kits. As well as selling the inane PCB kits they could also sell 'spareparts', including the chips by themselves.
:)
Then on the site they could mention 'BTW this chip does have the ability to make the XBox compatible to X86 code that the XBox wasn't designed to run, We don't recommend using these chips in this way as they weren't designed for this use & therefore can't guarantee the results', & then link to some Geocities fansite that provides the instructions & everything one needs for Xbox installation.
Remember how Kazaa won their court case because their software had other uses other than just downloading copyrighten software/music.
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.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
DivX on dreamcast works quite well, requires no hardware modification and is generally of decent quality. Without re-encoding any of my DivX movies, I've been able to watch them on the TV and I've been happy with the results. My total expense? Nothing but a $50 Dreamcast, a CDR, and a few seconds of bandwith to download the software. A similar setup on the Xbox would require alot more money, and while it might make the quality a tiny bit better, I think it'd probably be an unnoticeable difference anyways. Instead of supporting M$, which everybody here seems to hate with a vigor bordering on insanity, why not support the OPENSOURCE developers who are making dreamcast software.
Just a thought...
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.
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.
You'll have to pry my pipe from my cold, dead fingers!
...If I were the trolling beotch you obviously are, I'd be confused too, fan boy.
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Does DivX as implemented on the X-Box support 5.1 channel surround?
To be perfectly honest, any DIVX movie you are going to fit on a CD is trash. I've come across a couple of ~800MB DIVX movies where the quality was tolerable for casual viewing of movies without much in the way of visuals, but if I want to watch a movie with interesting visuals or invite friends over there's no sense in using a DIVX CD.
The quality of a 700 meg DIVX is just utter crap when compared to DVD or even VHS. This is especially compounded when it's of the filmed-with-a-camcorder-in-the-theater variety.
A) If the movie isn't in the theaters yet, I don't want to waste my first viewing on a crappy DIVX.
B) If the movie isn't on DVD yet, but I saw it in theaters, I probably won't be itching to watch it again since I saw it recently.
C) If the movie isn't worth seeing in theaters, I can wait for the DVD.
D) If the movie is out on DVD the only reason to use DIVX is if you are socially corrupt and don't feel like paying. Note that if you can afford an XBox and a CD burner, you can affor a DVD player.
I have a feeling that the market for this "technology" is for people who A) want to show their friends how l33t they are because they saw Spiderman before it came out in the theaters and D) people who don't think they need to compensate members of their community before they take advantage of their work. That's a few percent of adolescent males, a tiny sliver of the XBox's total market.
-Erik
- Its smaller in size than the Shuttle SS40.
- It uses an x86 CPU that runs cooler and using less electricity than Transmeta's Crusoe!
- The 533mhz x86 CPU runs your favorite PC operating systems and software: Linux, BSD, Windows, and it is powerful enough to play DivX movies, DVD movies, Quake 3, etc...
- The CPU doesn't need active cooling (no fans), and the powersupply is tiny and also doesn't require active cooling (absolutely no fans). This means that the entire computer is absolutely silent! Perfect for an inexpensive homemade DivX/MP3 player!
- The motherboard comes with a built in 3D video card good enough to play Quake 3 at playable framerates. It also has integrated CPU, sound, ethernet, and TV-Outs!
- Just add one 256MB PC100 SDRAM stick and one 40GB Barracuda ATA IV harddrive (its power efficient and noiseless). Install your favorite OS, and you are ready to go for less than the price of a modded X-Box!
The Eden makes a good router, thin client, or MAME console gaming system too (add playstation to USB controller adapter). Bring that over to a fellow console gamer's house!It works perfectly. We burned a Jenna Jameson VCD, threw it on the home DVD player, and watched some quality porn. Sounds like these guys solved a problem that never existed.
I have never promoted piracy, I simply understand how and why it happens. I also don't allow the content industry to whip me into a frenzy about content "theft" because I understand stand that, throughout the ages, piracy has always played an important part in building the mass audiences upon which markets are later built.
Sometimes I worry about the way in which analysis of certain trends is mistaken for advocacy.
Well, I also appreciate the consideration you've put into your comments, but I'm flabberghasted that anyone would even vaguely think I was trolling; the parameters of acceptable discussion on /. seem to be narrowing quite rapidly, something that I've noticed quite a bit over the last year or so.
I'm not saying that we should embrace this, I'm just going out on a limb and predicting that this is what will happen. I could be wrong but I think that, by thinking in a detailed way about how the various elements (a substantial amount of people in every community interested in shiny new content for as little money as possible, a lesser but sufficient number of technically-inclined computer owners willing to maked money from that desire and, now, the introduction of a low-cost, brand-name unit that brings together music, games and films) it's possible to see the direction in which things are going. All that I've said today and in my original post which inspired the article submission is that, over the next year, there's going to be an explosion of piracy that will thrust the question of Intellectual Property very much to the fore of mainstream political debate.
Let's just wait and see if I'm right. If I am, you can all call me Nostrodamus. If I'm wrong and the introduction of Divx capability doesn't make any real impact, well, I'm sure you'll all be too polite to mention my flawed reasoning.
(puts on 'It's Funny, Laugh' hat)
So, how much did MS pay you guys to put those words, 'expect to see a resurgence of X-Box sales' in there? :D
I must say I kinda like contemplating the cruddy thing as it breathes its last FUD-laden breaths and strangles on its own pathetic lack of video bus bandwidth, and you had to spoil my fun with all this talk of resurgence.
For the guy who's read the article and is getting swayed- DON'T DO IT MAN! It's more proprietary than a Compaq! Steady now, back away from the credit card- there you go!
Another soul saved :D now go and get some sort of real PC if that's what floats your boat. Consider supporting the people who AREN'T trying to have you shut down :)
First of all, DivX quality is inferior to any other codec I have seen.
;-)
Second, I guess most of you are low payed or school-kids. Personally, a full-priced DVD cost me less than what I earn in 10min at work. Why bother getting a crappy quality movie, played on a machine designed to play games? That is beyond my imagination.
I use my Pioneer 300 disc DVD player to watch movies. I use my Pioneer 300 disc CD-player to listen to HIGH quality CD's with music. I scrapped my lousy VCR due to inferior quality years ago. I record video on my Sony Digital Camcorder and I use my DVD burner to create DVD of my home-movies. I use my PC's to computing and programming and surfing Internet on my private T-1. I use my PS2 to play games.
My only gripe is, I would love to get a game controller like the ones used for PS2, for my Portable PC so I can play some games in my hotel room when I'm out travelling.
Good luck in your mod'ing... Most of you will ruin the motherboards anyway because you are incompetent with a soldering iron
If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
This just in with a new mod the xbox can now be used as a bon...umm?
water pipe.
So kids we can now all sit around smoking or "supporting terrorism" with are new bong Xbox while watching a divx of Rambo III
sure, they'll hit the same lawsuits and such that the first mp3 players hit, but I'd pay a premium for an APEX player that could play DivX, and the legitimate market for people who want to author their own home movies without a DVD burner would be pretty good as well.
I'm thinking that projectmayo.org would be happy to allow use of the codec for a minimum rate.
The process did not work very well with the playstation and I'd imagine it wouldn't work very well with the Dreamcast, either. Besides, swapping the CD to me seems kind of "cheezy" and "ghetto": I'd much rather just pop in the DivX CD and press "play" on the remote.
First off, it's not the hot swap trick you think it is. With the PlayStation, you were tricking the PS into authenticating a disc, then getting it to boot a seconds disc after the auth. With a Dreamcast, the boot disc loads up all the software necessary, then stops the drive. You put in another disc - taking as much time as you want - and the drive spins up again with the new disc in the drive. It's just liek games on teh Dramcast or Playstation that use multiple discs. The software expects it, and nothing is all that difficult about it (from the end-user's perspective.)
Second, I am almost positive there is a way to make DVDivX CDs with a movie burned on the same disc - in other words, a movie that starts as soon as the player finishes loading, no disc swapping. It's much more difficult to burn such a disc than it is a normal ISO9660/Joliet disc with only the DivX file on it, btu it is doable. For a person who wanted to trade DC images instead of the DivH files, the same ease-of-distribution could be attained.
± 29 dB