DivX 7 Adds Support For Blu-ray Rips (H.264/MKV)

mrspin writes "DivX looks set to continue to be the video format of choice for 'grey' content, with the company announcing that version 7 adds support for H.264 video and, more significantly, the Matroska (MKV) container. Anybody familiar with Blu-ray rips found on BitTorrent sites or other filesharing networks will instantly recognize the MKV file format in combination with the H.264 codec as a popular way to deliver High Definition video on a PC. And now that DivX is throwing its weight behind the Matroska container, MKV support should increasingly find its way on a range of non-PC devices, such as Blu-ray players, HD digital televisions and set-top boxes."

Comments

H.264/HE-AAC support in Flash Player 9

[eldavojohn]

While it wasn't mentioned in the article, it was mentioned in one of the many articles that it links to but DivX is facing Adobe in the marketshare for being the predominant technology streaming H.264. I believe this is Flash being used as a container to stream H.264 instead of the Matroska container.

And now that DivX is throwing its weight behind the Matroska container, MKV support should increasingly find its way on a range of non-PC devices, such as Blu-ray players, HD digital televisions and set-top boxes.

I don't know man, I think both DivX & Adobe have hidden costs even if both like you to view them as "open." I would put my money on Adobe coming through with better player/container support & marketing. On top of that, I don't know of any plans for DRM in Matroska.

So while this is great news for the people who want to put their home videos out there with software that doesn't support DRM (is the average user really going to care though?), I think that the MPAA & porn industry are going to be the deciders here (as they usually are).

My prediction: Flash 9 will become so pervasive that everyone will use that as a container instead of asking their users to download & install a DivX codec.

Re:H.264/HE-AAC support in Flash Player 9

[MightyYar]

I don't understand why you think DivX won't succeed. For years no-name DVD players have almost all supported DivX, and now even my Pioneer unit is DivX 6 certified. It doesn't seem like a stretch that they will support 7.

Personally, I love having 3 or 4 DVDs on a single disk for traveling. Since my portable player supports DivX, I can fit more than a whole season of Dora on a single disk and keep the little one quiet on long trips.

Re:H.264/HE-AAC support in Flash Player 9

[cj1127]

Yeah, it'll never catch on! http://www.youtube.com/

Re:H.264/HE-AAC support in Flash Player 9

[HiVizDiver]

I can fit more than a whole season of Dora on a single disk and keep the little one quiet on long trips

Careful, statements like that will get you ragged on in here about how you're a horrible parent (by people who have never even touched a member of the opposite sex, let alone had kids of their own), and you should be taking your child outside to play - while you're in the car on long trips. ;-)

Re:H.264/HE-AAC support in Flash Player 9

[h4rm0ny]

They will then battle with the radical feminists claiming you subjugated a free womyn by forcing her to have kids.

Sometimes it's hard to have a conversation on Slashdot with the radical feminists leaping in all the time. :)

So, remind me again...

[mr_da3m0n]

Remind me again, how does Matroska + H.264 automagically equals "Blu-ray Rips" and piracy in general?

Isn't that a bit like saying that Bittorrent automatically equals pirated software?

Re:So, remind me again...

[Anonymous Coward]

H.264 gives unequalled compression on CP and terrorist training videos.
I'm not sure about the technical reasons behind this.

Really? Do you need to associate it with piracy?

[PhrostyMcByte]

Come on, was the piracy spin really needed? Youtube uses them, DVD/Bluray players use them, MP3 players use them, heck Windows 7 is even including DivX, H.264 (though not sure if it's through the new DivX codec), and AAC support now. Hate to break it to you, but these codecs are used for a lot more things other than copyright infringement.

Re:I don't understand

[Milvuss]

That's simple : DivX is a video software, not a video format. It always has been. DivX 4-6 is based on one standard format : MPEG-4 Part 2 (aka MPEG-4 Visual, aka MPEG-4 ASP). So they are just updating their software to support the latest standard format, H.264 (aka MPEG-4 part 10, aka MPEG-4 AVC).

The equation video codec = video format is just a bad habit, and most of the time false today with proprietary things like Indeo ou RealVideo less and less used.

Downloading isn't even illegal...

[Langfat]

I know that Slashdot is US-centric, but it should be pointed out that in many other countries it is not illegal to download a copy of content that you already legally own.

I can't be bothered to learn how to properly rip HD content from a blu-ray when there are already experts who can do/have done it for me.

This makes no sense....

[ConallB]

DivX makes an announcement that thier DivX player can now support a format that even Media Player Classic can play with an open source codec?

First off, MKV is a container which can add features to an encoded video stream such as chapters, subtitles, additional audio streams etc.

The corresponding DivX container (Introduced with DivX6) is far inferior with its limited support for audio codecs and its insistence on DivX video encoding profiles.

DivX the codec is simply a MP4 based video/audio encoder.

You can wrap virtually any video or audio format in an MKV container and it should work just fine. I see no reason why DivX encoded movies could not be wrpped in an MKV container!

I have never tried to encode DivX into an MKV container for several reasons:

1. DivX is not the best MP4 Codec out there, XviD is better and freely availiable (It is a fork of the original OpenDivX).
2. DivX started bundling thier codecs with all sorts of crapware some time ago which really tuned me off the codec.
3. x264 is already availiable for high definition encoding.
4. DivX encoding will cost you money with the Pro version.
5. It is bloatware.

Basically DivX are trying to make money by charging inexperienced users for functionality that is already freely availiable.

If you want to watch virtually every availiable format without problems with a choice of video players I suggest the Combined Community Codec Pack (http://www.cccp-project.net/).

Or you can go ahead and pay the ignorance tax that is DivX.

Re:This makes no sense....

[squiggleslash]

You're missing the point. This is about slapping logos on things, so people know what they're getting. Here's how it works.

My DVD player contains decoders for MPEG1 and MPEG2 video, and Dolby Digital. My receiver can also decode DTS. My HD DVD player can - on top of those standards - decode H.264, VC-1, and Dolby TrueHD (and a bunch of other Dolby standards.)

But there are limitations. None of these players can decode an arbitrary MPEG1 stream. If I encode a 1080p24 MPEG1 stream, they'll choke. This is because 1080p24 is not a supported profile. Likewise, the Receiver will probably choke if I find a 1Mbps AC-3 Dolby Digital stream and try to get it to play it.

The purpose of the DVD and HD DVD logos when put on players is to say "This equipment supports these standards", and the purpose of the logos when put on discs is to say "This disc is formatted to this standard."

That's what DivX are selling. They're not selling you what you already have. They're selling you a known quality. They're making it possible to make DVD players that support H.264 video and AC-3 audio, in such a way that you know that IF you create an MKV of a supported bitrate, using a supported resolution, using a supported profile, using the supported codecs, using the supported framerates, you will know that that MKV will work on every player that carries the DivX 7 logo.

Oh, and they're selling the software to player manufacturers, but the player manufacturers have to get it from somewhere...