DIVX is Dead Day 5th Anniversary (1 Viewer)

[Maurice McCone]

hard to believe it is 5 years...but they were interesting times. As a Brit early adopter with a reg1 only Tosh 3006, I and many others this side of the water were anxious that DIVX died as we would never have access to DIVX titles.

Wasn't DIVX touted as 'Open' DVD by Circuit City?

On my many travels to the States at the time, I used to enjoy going into a local CC (Manchester Conn.) and taunt the salesmen with questions about this dud format, Divx baiting was fun !

However, it was a close run thing, and I was very grateful for Steve's site which was the first one I logged on to each day hoping another studio was on board...

 

[Jack Briggs]

The death of DiVX was a day of victory for the consumer -- and for sites like this that wielded enormous influence over the content and hardware providers.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

'Open' DVD was supposed to be a term in contrast to the 'Closed' format of DIVX. DIVX touted itself as a "feature" of DVD. Ha!

- Steve

 

[Jesse Skeen]

They referred to regular DVD as "Basic DVD" also. Anyone know if there were any DIVX titles that sold ZERO copies? Also if anyone has those training tapes and doesn't want them, send 'em my way! I live for that stuff!

 

[Neil Joseph]

Man, I can remember some .... interesting "arguments" on that forum.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

My "Anti-Divx Love Fest" forum was so tame in comparison.

- Steve

 

[Marvin]

..or "cudbucket' (he used to post at Steve's site as well.

 

[Travis Hedger]

To add more to my first post, those were the days.

I used to be a heckler every now and again.

I remember one instance where I went in to get some "facts"

The sales droid stated that NO film from Spieldberg or his production company would EVER be released on DVD. I quickly dissappeared and returned from their DVD racks with a copy of Twister on DVD in my hand. Yup, Amblin Entertainment logo on the back. The sales droid was speechless and couldn't back up his claim any further.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

The demo disc is probably the closest to a "DIVX Gold" title, as you need a DIVX-Enhanced player to play it- on a regular player you just get the "You have attempted..." screen. Hopefully I'll find a cheap but working DIVX player at a flea market someday so I can play it. Don't know if it has to be registered to work with that disc though. Wonder if I could play the bonus material on Amistad too.
I wish someone would put together a book and DVD called "DIVX: The Complete Story." The way this was marketed there's tons of interesting stories just waiting to be heard.
DIVX- The Best Way To Watch Movies At Home!(TM)

 

[Robert Dunnill]

I wrote an article for Tech TV, but that's the extent of it.

If I knew there was money in a book, I'd consider putting one together.

As for the cheap player, you should be able to find one on eBay. It won't play the bonus features on the Amistad disc, though (registration is required).

RD

 

[John Alderson]

I still find it humorous that one of the most widely used codecs for movie piracy was named DivX. It can make discussions confusing, though

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned or thanked Warner Bros. in this thread! They were there for us, gave us hope and a selection of DVD's, and IMO, they really helped our cause.

Supplied us with the only good movies available on DVD when all other companies were either in cahoots with Circus City, paranoid or undecided about the new media.

Same here. Don't know how long this feeling will last.:frowning:

Paul

Edit:
Didn't DIVX only have one movie that was Wide SCREEN?:b

 

[Philip Verdieck]

I did my part. On a few occasions I went into the Houston (610/San Felipe) Circuit Shitty on lunch breaks. Armed with fact sheets about DIVX, and went up to people who were looking at the DIVX machines, to help show them the light...

 

[PeterTHX]

Well, I must be older school because I remember when it was called "Zoom", just before/after DVD itself was launched, Winter CES 1997.

As for Circuit City, well everyone's made a boneheaded mistake. It wasn't their format in the beginning, they made the investment and launched it. Most thought if it succeeded then Blockbuster and the rest would buy into it.

Fortunately it failed. But if Best Buy had been as big at the time you can bet they would have done something similar. The "bonus" disks are annoying as hell. I would LOVE to get my "Trek" sets at Costco.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Best Buy supported DVD from day one. I recall that Best Buy had DVD in all of its stores nationwide even when DVD was officially available only in the seven test market cities. If we're to be doling out Thank Yous then Best Buy deserves one for their part. Warner Bros was the most supportive studio, Best Buy was the most supportive retailer, and Toshiba was the most supportive manufacturer.

 

[Robert Dunnill]

I read in The Wall Street Journal some years back that competition from Circuit City and Divx spurred Best Buy and Toshiba to put a $300 DVD player on the market in time for Christmas 1998, well before experts thought that would be feasible. The Divx competition also spurred video renters to carry DVD, again well before it should have been viable.

RD

 

[Ryan Spaight]

Right, it was actually developed by an entertainment law firm whose name I've blessedly forgotten.

Ryan

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca, Fischer, Gilbert-Lurie & Stiffelman LLP
1801 Century Park West
Los Angeles, California 90067-6406
(Los Angeles Co.)

Telephone: 310-552-3388

Fax: 310-553-7068

 

[Nick]

I picked on Divx disc as a souvernir when they went belly up.
I think I paid 99 cents for it at CC in Manchester, CONN
I try to rip it couple time with different software and still doesn't work.
May be it will worth something on Ebay when I retire.
30 years from now.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I got an RCA DIVX player for 30 bucks at a thrift store a few months ago. It works, but it gives a "read error" message on any DIVX discs I've tried on it (including the instore demo disc), might be because it hasn't been able to call the home base in so long. There's a usage summary on it that shows the player's previous owner watched "There's Something About Mary" one time. It can play audio CDs backwards, sounding just like playing a record or tape backwards, something I've never seen on any other unit before!

I managed to get Circuit City's instore DVD (the one with music videos and trailers they play on most TVs in the store) from the month before they killed off DIVX, and it has these two commercials on it:





The player shown here is the one I have.