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Cheap DivX Solution For Your Entertainment Center

Posted by timothy on from the so-lotr-extended-can-fit-on-one dept.

joemite writes "I-O DATA recently announced the release of their LinkPlayer, which can decode DivX files from DVDs, CDs, USB thumb drives, and network file shares. At $249 suggested retail, I know what I'm wishing for this Christmas!" For simpler (no network shares, no thumb drives) and even cheaper set-ups, a few standalone DVD players -- the Philips DVP642 is one -- will play DivX files from recordable CDs andd DVDs.

7 of 275 comments (clear)

  1. But does it support Xvid? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For those of us that prefer a better, open-source codec?

    1. Re:But does it support Xvid? by teko_teko · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yea, I wish there's some kind of video/dvd player that has small harddrive where we can install the latest codecs/plugins to.

  2. Sounds a bit pricey by neo5064 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At $249, that seems to be a bit pricey for a DivX decoder. Although I suppose the money you'd save by stealing the movies off of your favorite P2P network or torrent source would eventually overcome that.

    But what about buying an S-Video cable to hook into the TV, and play it from your computer? Or even better, some cheap DVD encoding software to play it on anyone's system?

  3. I'd rather wish for a chipped Xbox by ttlgDaveh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Because it plays DVDs (region free too), media in almost every format under the sun and games too.
    On the downside the chipping process may be on the wrong side of "legal" depending on where you are, and the majority applications are, as they're compiled using MS's SDK. Other than that it is excellent, much better than any stand-alone appliance I have come across.

  4. DVP642 FFmpeg problems, and PC tv-out issues by tachyonflow · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I bought a Phillips DVP642 DVD player a while back, and was rather disappointed. I've recorded a great deal of content with FFmpeg (with VBR mp3), and very little of it would play well on this box. I ended up getting rid of the box. (And I did upgrade the box to the latest firmware.)

    My main annoyance with PC tv-out's (i.e. the one on my MythTV box) is that they don't provide 1:1 scanline mapping output of the video. In other words, the video card provides you with a framebuffer of arbitrary size (640x480, 800x600, etc.) and maps that into about 400 or so lines of NTSC output. In other words, it destructively scales the image and breaks the ability to show true interlaced content. It's possible to "overscan" the output, but this in no way guarantees a 1:1 scanline mapping. I do have a PVR350, which does have a proper 1:1 scanline mapping, but the last time I tried using it for general video output (i.e. playing MPEG4 files with mplayer), it was not fast enough to keep up. It's incredible for playing back MPEG2 content with the decoder, though.

    If the LinkPlayer works well and has a proper, well-designed TV out, it may be worth looking into.

  5. Nobody mentioned the best bit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Unless I am mis-reading the article the LinkPlayer supports playback of HD-DIVX. I assume the output is also HD (whats a D4 connector?). If so, that is indeed a big deal. None of the other players I am aware of can playback HD content.

  6. What's wrong with laptops? by prostoalex · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What's wrong with attaching a laptop with S-Video output to the TV? I also plug my 5.1 audio-system into the audio jack of the laptop and get the full surround sound. Plays DivX, WMV, RealVideo, MPEG and whatever they come up with.