Is a divx movie the same quality of the original DVD?

[Jzero]

<<

<< Find me a reputable company that would produce an item that in most cases would be used to circumvent copyright laws. >>



IBM, Western Digital, Maxtor.

You want more?

Plextor, Lite-On, Yamaha. >>



Actually, that shows your lack of understanding of the AHRA law which is what even makes it legal for you to create "backup copies."
Additionally, if someone made a set-top DivX box, it would cost $$$ which foils your argument that the magic DivX is free. You could argue that the movies are free....but they aren't now, are they?
Oh yeah, and would you tell me again where you got that metric that there are more installed copies of DivX than DVD players have been sold?
If possible, I'd like to hear how that piece of "data" was compiled as well...

 

[VirusDub]

<< IBM, Western Digital, Maxtor.

You want more?

Plextor, Lite-On, Yamaha. >>

Okay, so you're saying that hard drives were created to facilitate piracy? Right... CD-R drives were originally made for backing up data or making copies of CDs. I doubt the inventors only wanted to make it easy to pirate music and other copyrighted products.

But whatever, you refuse to budge on this, even though you're alone. I hereby withdraw from this "debate". Go ahead and prove yourself right...to yourself.

 

[Pastore]

i would just give up you guys... he wont shut up about something if you keep posting... he is ALWAYS right on everything he says...

 

[voodooguy]

<< CD-R drives were originally made for backing up data or making copies of CDs. I doubt the inventors only wanted to make it easy to pirate music and other copyrighted products. >>



Congratulations, you disproved yourself. Making copies of CDs is also known as piracy. So the inventors of CDR drives intended them to be used for piracy, but did not intend them to be used for piracy.

 

[Pastore]

VOODOOGUY, DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[worth]

<< Making copies of CDs is also known as piracy. >>



This goes along with his other statement from that other thread, which I quote:




<< Anandtech is one lawsuit short of total and complete bankruptcy >>

 

[Jzero]

<< Making copies of CDs is also known as piracy. >>


Nice try, but you know very well the truth in this matter.

 

[JMaster]

Nm

 

[voodooguy]

<<

<< Making copies of CDs is also known as piracy. >>


Nice try, but you know very well the truth in this matter. >>



So what you're saying is that a significant portion of CD copies qualify as fair use, and are therefore legal.

By the same token, a significant portion of DVD copies (aka DivX) qualify as fair use, and are therefore legal.

Hence a set-top DivX box would have a predominantly legal use (enable people to play their fair use DivX movies).

Sure, there might be a few bad apples using these set-top boxes for illegal purposes, but you have the exact same problem with portable mp3 players, and those seem to be selling just fine.

 

[worth]

No, that's not what he is saying. He is saying that

<< Making copies of CDs is also known as piracy. >>

is incorrect.

 

[pulse8]

<< Sure, there might be a few bad apples using these set-top boxes for illegal purposes, but you have the exact same problem with portable mp3 players, and those seem to be selling just fine. >>



That doesn't make sense. In order to make a legal divx, you must own the original DVD. Why would someone buy a set-top DVD player or DVD-ROM, then make it into a divx so they can play it on a set-top box??

 

[Jzero]

<<

<<

<< Making copies of CDs is also known as piracy. >>


Nice try, but you know very well the truth in this matter. >>



So what you're saying is that a significant portion of CD copies qualify as fair use, and are therefore legal.

By the same token, a significant portion of DVD copies (aka DivX) qualify as fair use, and are therefore legal.

Hence a set-top DivX box would have a predominantly legal use (enable people to play their fair use DivX movies).

Sure, there might be a few bad apples using these set-top boxes for illegal purposes, but you have the exact same problem with portable mp3 players, and those seem to be selling just fine. >>



Answer me this, then--of what use would a set-top DivX box be if you have to own the DVD in order to watch it on the DivX box? In fact, since you still need a device capable of READING the DVD in order to encode it to DivX in the fist place....
MP3 players give us the ability to take our MP3s with us anywhere we go.
You could attempt to stake a similar argument, but portable DVD players already exist.

 

[voodooguy]

<< Answer me this, then--of what use would a set-top DivX box be if you have to own the DVD in order to watch it on the DivX box? >>



This is an easy question to answer.

Every time you handle or play the DVD, it is prone to smudges, marks, scratches, overheating in the drive, and other factors that may eventually make the disc unplayable.

Little kids may handle the disc improperly and damage or break it.

It makes sense to buy the DVD, make a backup, then play the backup for everyday purposes and keep the DVD in a safe place.

Many people do this with their audio CD's, PC games or console games. They want to protect their expensive purchase from the elements. They also have the fair use right to do so with DVD's.

 

[Ameesh]

im back, notfred yeah i was thinking of jpeg, my mistake.





where the hell did this thread go? and what kind of drugs does voodooguy do? he would soo fail a class on proofs or induction.

 

[worth]

<< They also have the fair use right to do so with DVD's. >>



voodoo guy, I suggest you read the subject of this thread again.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

on a computer monitor, no divx file comes remotely close in my opinion. Yeah the 2cd divx files look pretty darn good, but you just can't touch DVD's, especially on computer monitors.

 

[Jzero]

<<

<< Answer me this, then--of what use would a set-top DivX box be if you have to own the DVD in order to watch it on the DivX box? >>



This is an easy question to answer.

Every time you handle or play the DVD, it is prone to smudges, marks, scratches, overheating in the drive, and other factors that may eventually make the disc unplayable.

Little kids may handle the disc improperly and damage or break it.

It makes sense to buy the DVD, make a backup, then play the backup for everyday purposes and keep the DVD in a safe place.

Many people do this with their audio CD's, PC games or console games. They want to protect their expensive purchase from the elements. They also have the fair use right to do so with DVD's. >>


I'll give you that one, but buying a piece of equipment that would cost as much as (likely more since it will need to have either a HD or both a DVD reader AND a burner of some sort) just in case your dog chews up a $20 DVD doesn't seem like a terribly good investment.

 

[goog40]

Even 2CD divx releases are clearly not DVD quality. If you think so, you might want to get your eyes checked or upgrade your 14" monitor

 

[voodooguy]

<< I'll give you that one, but buying a piece of equipment that would cost as much as (likely more since it will need to have either a HD or both a DVD reader AND a burner of some sort) just in case your dog chews up a $20 DVD doesn't seem like a terribly good investment. >>



You're confusing a DivX MAKER with a DivX PLAYER.

All it needs is an MPEG 4 decoder chip, maybe some Flash RAM for added features, a CD-ROM drive, an mp3 decoder chip, and a power supply.

Easily achievable for under $150 in a sufficently large production run. Probably even cheaper. I am erring on the side of caution and adding middleman markup.

You make the DivX on your computer, then play it on the DivX set-top.

 

[Ameesh]

<<

<<

<< Answer me this, then--of what use would a set-top DivX box be if you have to own the DVD in order to watch it on the DivX box? >>



This is an easy question to answer.

Every time you handle or play the DVD, it is prone to smudges, marks, scratches, overheating in the drive, and other factors that may eventually make the disc unplayable.

Little kids may handle the disc improperly and damage or break it.

It makes sense to buy the DVD, make a backup, then play the backup for everyday purposes and keep the DVD in a safe place.

Many people do this with their audio CD's, PC games or console games. They want to protect their expensive purchase from the elements. They also have the fair use right to do so with DVD's. >>


I'll give you that one, but buying a piece of equipment that would cost as much as (likely more since it will need to have either a HD or both a DVD reader AND a burner of some sort) just in case your dog chews up a $20 DVD doesn't seem like a terribly good investment. >>






they should buy a 400 dvd changer so only the robot inside handles the discs

 

[peto]

Personally, I don't think the idea of a set-top DivX (not the orignal, now defunct kind ) player is a bad idea if it still used DVD disks and decoded MPEG-2 as well as DivX. Part of the reason the quality of a DivX rip isn't as good as the original is because you're ripping a lossy format to be recompressed to a lossy format. For example, take a JPEG convert it to bmp then to JPEG again and so on. You'll see the artifacts building up because you're not compressing the original. I think DivX coupled with the massive storage of DVD can yield great things like long movies using single density, more movies including 6.1 DTS sound, or more extras. As for all you pirates out there, think about ripping a dvd to DivX at a very high bitrate and being able to burn it to a single density DVD-R and playing it on a set-top box while still including all it's 5.1 glory. So don't be so quick to scream blasphemy at a different idea.

 

[pulse8]

Don't give him that one. People make backup copies of their CDs onto CDs. Why would someone take a DVD, strip it of 5.1 sound, play it on a DIFFERENT machine and have less quality video just to avoid scratches on the DVD? Now, when DVD burners become cheap like CDs, people will do the same with their DVDs and preserve the quality and features.

Peto, the problem with divx is it wasn't developed for optimum visual quality overall, it was developed for optimum quality in a very small file size. You have to take a quality hit in order to reach that size. Make divx a new standard in home video would not only be stupid, it'd be a step backwards. The next big thing will not be a new compression method that makes the movies smaller, but larger format media which will allow the quality to increase by lowering the amount of compression needed.

 

[Jzero]

<< Don't give him that one. People make backup copies of their CDs onto CDs. Why would someone take a DVD, strip it of 5.1 sound, play it on a DIFFERENT machine and have less quality video just to avoid scratches on the DVD? Now, when DVD burners become cheap like CDs, people will do the same with their DVDs and preserve the quality and features. >>

Yeh you're right.
In fact, I dunno why I even bother giving VoodooGuy the time of day....
Oh well.

 

[voodooguy]

<< Don't give him that one. >>



He gave it, he can't take it back.

This isn't a high school popularity contest, kids. It's not about dissing each other. This is supposed to be a debate.

Once you grant a point, you have to stick with it.

 

[Atlantean]

Divx is more like video tape quality, though it depends on how good the dvd rip is, because some are a little better than vhs but that is usually only for shorter movies.