Does anyone know if there's going to be a divx codec for QT? I'd really like to see that happen.....

What is the Divx codec?

Are you refering to the failed DVD-Video format from Circuit City and partners?

If not, please point us to a website explaining what the divx codec is.

look at http://divx.ctw.cc/

DIVX playback requires authentication and a service fee (essentially renting the movie each time you want to watch it).

I could be wrong, but I don't think the codec has anything to do with it. Since the DIVX partnership is out of business, there is no place to get an authorization to view the movie.

DIVX uses a very good encryption model. So no, you won't be able to read DIVX discs on your computer.

I believe in this case, he is talking about the DiVX format that is based on the MPEG-4 codec. It will allow you to put an entire DVD movie on your hard drive and take up around 650MB! I've been looking for the codec also, but so far I have turned up nothing. What I find odd is that the MPEG-4 codec is based on QT technology. Go figure.

The DIVX discs that Circuit City sold did go under, and to my knowledge no computer platform ever supported it.

I hope this helps.

Yes, divx is a codec for compressing video down while not loosing too much quality. It is hacked from mpeg 4 and used by kids to trade movies at colleges and the like. It is starting to replace vcds and asf, as the choice for bootleg video.

One more thing. Check out <a href="http://205.134.182.35/releases.php3?section=divx">isonews</a> to see just how many movies are avaliable around the net.

ehhh, bzzzzz, wrong!

Ahhh, Microsoft, causing confusion as planned. DiVX is a cool little hack. It compresses video with the MPG-4 codec from Microsoft, NOT the MPEG-4 Standard CODEC.
The audio in a DiVX video is just mp3.
Therefore, if you open a DiVX compressed .avi in quicktime, you will be able to hear the audio, but not see the video since Quicktime doesn't support the Microsoft MPG-4 spec. I remember reading that MS has been developing this codec to be "open", whatever that means to MS - so perhaps we'll see Quicktime support of it in the future?? Anyone know?
Frankly, as much as I don't like MS, their MPG-4 codec is *QUITE* impressive. Output the video to a TV or even watch it on your monitor and you have something which is virtually indistinguishable from VHS broadcast quality video.

On a related note, does anyone know if Quicktime yet supports the true MPEG-4 codec?

SmilyMatt is right, it's a cool little hack. "They" used the divx compression to form an mpeg-4 compression, and NOT similar to the MS asf "mpeg4" compression. So people (only pc users , so far...) are ripping dvd's with this compression, I've seen it, and the quality is very, very good, and it only takes up a max. of 700 mb(it depends on how much you compress it ofcourse). And it's just as good as tv/video on your computer. But what I don't get is why Quicktime doesn't have a mpeg 4 codec at all. Especially if the source is based on Quicktime. But the div-x codec is supposed to be an open sourc, someone tols me that if you are a good c++/asm (for speed) programmer (don't ask me what asm means, I don't know), You shoul be able to write the divx codec for quicktime yourself. So.....anyone?

Thanks for the help by the way, I'm sure alot more people will be grateful if the codec hits our macs..

Insight.

[This message has been edited by Insight (edited 04-14-2000).]

I actually e-mailed a large number of people in the programming world a few weeks ago concerning whether or not the DivX codec truly is open-sourced, so far, I haven't received any useful reply. If anyone has any further info, I'd love to get my hands on the code and write a cross-platform plugin for quicktime to utilize this codec. If any of you have seen it, the quality of a 550MB DivX encoded movie is nothing short of phenomenal. The person apparently doing the programming on the DivX codec right now goes by Gej, if anyone is successful in tracking him down, i'm sure the Mac and Linux communities would be happy to find some info on the source code and possible ports

You can get the same compression ratio with Sorenson compression which is compatible with Quicktime. Sorenson is what allows those fantastic fullscreen streaming movie trailers to be created at Apple's website. It is so good you can compress a 420 x 340 video which doesn't look grainy even at 1024 x 768 to the point that 200 minutes will fit on 600 MB. Since Sorenson is being widely used for the trailers now, I suggest learning how to compress using Sorenson instead of using an unsupported DiVX format which has been discontinued. Visit http://www.apple.com/quicktime to see the trailers I've been talking about.
One word of caution, Sorenson is processor intensive, and requires at least a G3 processor (includes iMacs and iBooks) to display without jumping.

[This message has been edited by abrody (edited 04-14-2000).]

asm = asembly language
that's pretty much the native language the procesor actually understands (but you write it using mnemonics and not 1s and 0s... Hand written asembly language is FAST

it is well known among programmers that every hour of your life devoted to writing in assembly language will shorten your lifespan by at least one month.

Ok, Mr.e@home, I'll try and find the source for you, I suggest others do the same if their interested...thanks

Thanks everyone for your interest. Ok, to clarify a few things.

1.the Div/X we are referring to in this forum is *not* the defunct deficient DVD rental format introduced by Circuit City and then quickly discontinued. It has Circuit City's divx has absolutely nothing to do with Div/X, it's just that whoever named this codec was an idiot :-)

2. Sorenson is an excellent codec, but before you start saying its better (its good, but size for size, you can't beat Div/X) take a look at full screen Sorenson for any movie type material, quicktime trailers included. The X-Men and Lord of The Rings full screen trailers were cool, and definetly looked better than anything else offered by M$oft or Real, but Sorenson being a primarily interframe compressor, quality still suffers. A Div/X file encoded at the same file size would be almost DVD quality, with minimal if any artifacts (a prevalent problem in Sorenson)

3. Div/X really isn't a unique codec at all, for the most part it's just M$oft's confusingly named MPEG-4 video codec (confusing because MPEG-4 is Quicktime 4 file format with minor changes, and M$oft does its best to convince the world that it invented the format) with MP3 audio compression. Nothing incredibly special, its just that as is, Mediaplayer's MPEG-4 codec doesn't support many different audio codecs, mainly just IMA. Probably an even more efficient codec would couple MPEG-4 with Qdesign 2 for audio (although we would all need a G4 500 in order to play the files)

Hope that this clears up some of the misconceptions. If anyone is further interested in learning about codecs or even which ones work and don't, visit <a href="http://codeccentral.com">Codec Central</a> and <a href="http://terran.com">Terran Interactive </a> makers of Media Cleaner 4 and by far the most authoratative how-to site for streaming and compressed video out there.

mr.e@home.com

[This message has been edited by mr.e@home.com (edited 04-17-2000).]

Update:

Ok, the more digging I do, the less encouraged I am. For the most part Div/X is not even a unique codec, just Window's Media's MPEG-4 codec with an identifier changed so that it can be placed inside an .AVI wrapper.
Once apple gets its act together and begins to support MPEG 4 (a format based on quicktime 4 to begin with, and unfortunately still a work in progress) doing the same thing entirely cross platform is no problem. If anyone can figure out a way to incorporate the MPEG-4 extensions already included with the latest beta of Windows Media Player for mac with quicktime, we could have something equally as functional in no time flat.

Just letting you know I'm still looking..I have a carracho server devoted to solving this problem, I'll let you know if something comes up. it's been a little quiet lately though

The Microsoft MPEG-4 codec for Macintosh is included in:
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/med...acrelnotes.asp

As already mentioned, it's part of WinMediaPlayer6.3Beta2 for Macintosh, I don't know if Quicktime can make use of the codec but I'll know soon. MPEG4 is a CODEC, a compression technology NOT a platform. It's aimed at realtime webcasting where compression and decompression take equal length of time. It's also closely based on H.263 (The standard) or I(for Indeo)263 tele-conferencing standard. Personally, I can't believe you think it's superior to Sorenson but maybe my glasses need cleaning. They're aimed at two different markets, one is towards live-streaming, the other towards hi-quality download and then watch(Sorenson).

PS - VHS Broadcast Quality is an oxymoron:

VHS - Between 220 and 240 lines(analog) horizontal resolution

Broadcast - 500+ lines horizontal rez although some would say that 700+ is true broadcast ie: uncompressed D1 at 720x576 with overscan so onscreen is about 700.



[This message has been edited by Feathers (edited 04-19-2000).]

Yes de beta2 supports MPEG4, but it doesn't support the so called "divx" codec, it doesn't play when I try to open it. I that's what I'm looking for, a quicktime codec which supports this

What kind of timeframe do you all think we're looking at before this codec comes to the mac? I've seen the quality on my neighbor's computer (University Dorm) and its outstanding. 600-700 megs a movie, fits perfectly on a CD.

Believe it or not I've already started to collect movies encoded this way just because I'm so impressed.

This same neighbor might just work on porting it to mac over the summer as a pet project, I sincerely hope so.

If anyone has any news at all, post it here, I've got this thread linked to on my desktop and check it daily.

Thanks

Still looking for the source. Anyone have any luck please e-mail me at mr.e@home.com

Just keeping this thread alive..

Anyone that might have any info... post it here!

Ok latest newsflash: A friend of mine just told me that he recently played a divx encoded movie with Quictime(!) on his PC, just after he updated to 4.1.2. Strange , eh? I believe him; he's trustworthy. I'm at work right now so I can't check if this works on my mac, but I had to let you know, maybe someone can try it sooner than I can. I hope this is going to be solved soon, I'm going nuts here.

I don't doubt it, all though I haven't had a chance to test it. I believe its because Quicktime on the PC is utilizing the installed codecs from Windows Media Player, much the same way that the Indeo codec is utilized across the board by all Macintosh media players, although its only installed once. So, I don't think its a big deal. QT 4.1.2 still doesn't play DiVx on Mac. And until somebody gets the source code, it won't

Well it didn't work (figures), but you never knew ofcourse, and yes I'm still looking for the source, too. Jeez, someone on this board has got to know were to get it.

http://go.to/flaskmpeg

I suggest someone just use the FLASK MPEG open source to figure it out. I know it can encode into DIVX. Perhaps someone could port that to the mac. Worth a try.

According to to Go2Mac.com, Gej is working on a mac port, but I don't believe it, there's no info on either the http://divx.ctw.cc site, or the delphi message board, http://www.delphi.com/dvddigest/start/. Anyway, concerning Flask. Flask is open source, and it does DivX compression, but it still needs the DivX codec to do that. So, porting Flask! to mac is a must (i'm working on it very very slowly, and will need help), but a mac port of the DivX codec is still mandatory. And...after 5 weeks of trying, getting ahold of Gej is still like trying to find Jimmy Hoffa. :-(
Any info, let me know. mr.e@home.com
I should get a website up to handle this whole issue in the next 48 hours, http://divx.flashingyellow.com