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Anti-DIVX article
Zane sent us an article from Best Buy that basically sums
up all the problems with
Circuit City's DivX Specs.
Its actually a fairly complete article covering most of the
major flaws of the format. Its interesting watching
Best Buy & Circuit City duke it out too.
The article does exaggerate a few points, such as the fact that you don't actually have to ever plug in a divx-crippled player. If you buy it, and only play DVDs on it, the POS never actually has to touch a phone line. But the minute you insert a divx-crippled disc, it always has to, or it won't ever work. Doesn't matter, because divx still blows chunks... You lose SO much over true DVD, and you have to have "the man" watching what you watch all the time. Too 1984 for me, thanks...
What kind of idiot buys a divx anyway???
Alex Bischoff
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Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
Disney backed Divx because they thought they could make even more money off the people addicted to their films.
This backfired when Warner sold MILLIONS in DVD product while Disney sold "Thousands" in Divx product. People didn't by into their pay-per-view (screw-per-view) scheme like they had hoped, even with little Jimmy crying about not being able to watch the Lion King 15 times a day.
If you can read this message, your threshold is too low.
But my real problem with the article was how it exagerrated the problems. If you sell your player, you call them up and they transfer it. No big deal.
Um, yes, but if I sell my DVD player, I don't have to call anyone at all.
If you want to watch your movie somewhere else, i'm sure you can just call them up or push a few buttons on your remote, and it'll work at your friend's house.
"I'm sure". No indeed, if you want to watch a movie at your friend's house, they'll get charged for the next viewing. If you have upgraded the movie to "Silver" then you have to call Divx up and change the ownership of the movie to your friend. Then I guess you have to change it back later.
And complaining that "Not a lot of movies are out for Divx" is like complaining that Linux doesn't have any applications.
Actually it's almost entirely unlike complaining that Linux doesn't have any applications, mainly because that statement about Linux isn't true, while it is true about Divx.
The entire divx concept is pure crap. I can rent DVDs at any of several Hollywood video and Blockbuster outlets in my town, as well as one of the local smaller chains, and I can buy them at any number of places, even including Wal-Mart if I so choose! I could only get DivX at... Circuit City. I pay less for a 3-day rental of a DVD than I would for a first viewing of a DivX film. If I buy a DVD, it's mine and I can watch it wherever and whenever I want -- and the cost of most DVD movies is no greater than the cost of buying a DivX and upgrading it to silver. I don't have to call anyone in Virginia to transfer title of the thing if I watch it at a friend's house -- and if I rent a DVD and decide it's so cool I have to take it to my friends' house the next day and watch it there, I don't have to pay anyone a second time. No one in Virginia gets to send me spam or know my viewing habits.
Finally, I have two DVD players -- one a standalone DVD player in my living room, the other a PC with a DVD-ROM drive whose output is hooked up to a TV in my bedroom. Can't watch DivX on the PC, can I? And if I owned two DivX players, one for upstairs and one for down, I'd have to pay twice to see my own movies.
No thanks.
...for DVD vs. DIVX that I've seen. It says it exactly like it is without a LOT of marketroid BS- amazing that it's coming from a corporation.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
...you are backing a crappy technology when your competitor can write an article like this and not set off anyone's BS detectors. Well written and had almost none of the expected "us vs them" that corporate comparisions usually have. I wonder if the people responsible for selling Circuit City on DIVX still work there? I'd imagine that heads have rolled by now. Wait I think I see one now...
"Dogs and cats, living together...it's mass hysteria!"
This is not a defense of Divx, but...
My father-in-law was thinking about buying one because he lives in very rural America. He wanted to be able to go into town, buy 10 or 20 divx movies, then watch them at his leisure. There are no video stores where he lives, so he felt this was a decent compromise.
I told him that www.reel.com rents movies by mail. He bought a DVD.
However, this is one case where a divx *might* be useful.
-dan
--Be human.
Get a DVD as a gift that just isn't what you thought it would be and you can pass it along to someone else after a preview. Pass along a Divix and they have to buy it again. It wasn't entirely clear, and I haven't seen anything to this effect, but does anyone know if a Divix disk can be unlocked on one player and then the "Silver" option purchased for another player in the future? What would the ramifications be if your player were destroyed (struck by lighning, the kids put a PBJ sandwich in it, whatever) and you had to replace it? Would you have to "repurchase" the movies or just spend hours on the phone getting it all sorted out?
Yep, sounds like what I want in an entertainment system, more hassle.
--Kit
Former Inmate, VA Linux Sanitarium
The Circut City connection is why Divx will ultimately fail. It's a bizarre plan to push a new "standard" that's available through only one retail outlet.
Especially since (the article mentioned) that Circuit City has raised the price of their DVD players to make Divx seem more competititve. So, they are basically losing sales in order to push this crap.
Customer - "Why is this DVD player $100 more expensive than at Best Buy?"
Circuit City Salesman - "Because we have Divx which is better"
Customer - "Huh?"
--
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
I recall when you used to go to a video rental
place and rent movies for a few bucks. then
after watching them, you'de return them. If you
happened to rent one and it was fubard, you'de
just go back to the store and they'd give you a
new copy. If you liked the film enough, you'de
buy it. all the same format; rented or bought.
wait a second. they rent out DVD at my local
video store. what good is DIVX.
could you imagine walking into your video store
and renting a tape with them telling you you
could keep it (smile) but you'de have to let
your VCR call their system with your CC# to
watch it again (frown).
-Z
I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going.
Oddly enough for something written by a competitor, my BS detectors did not go off. Nothing they say is untrue, or even particularly spun. A few points are repeated a few times (but considering the target audience, that's a necessity).
Also, I am surprised at the humor in it (especially towards the end):
DVD: If you put in the wrong DVD disc, hit yourself in the forehead and put in the correct one.
I went into my friendly neighborhood Circuit City the other day (comparison shopping to replace my dying TV) and was immediately assaulted by a CC drone.
He proceeded to throw FUD, BS, and outright lies at me trying to get me to buy into Divx (I'd rather be forced to watch my DVDs on a 14-inch monitor).
I wouldn't be the least surprised if Micro$haft and CC/Divx were in cahoots. Anyone know where you could get info like that? Has M$ dumped money into CC/Divx? Or have they just given FUD classes to CC drones?
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To understand recursion, one must first understand recursion.