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Playing HiDef Divx movie files

post #1 of 10
8/19/08 at 7:28am
Thread Starter 
Ok,

I totally understand why you can't record hi def onto standard def dvd recorders, and why regular dvd players (even upconverting) ones can't play high def discs. And I've asked the question in different ways, but have never gotten a response that was even related to my question, so here goes.

If you have a divx capable dvd player (or recorder, in my case) and it is an upscaling unit with HDMI out, if you create high definition files in divx format, and burn them to standard dvds, (without creating the video_ts folder structure), will that upscaling dvd player play that file back in high definition? The player doesn't try to down scale the file back to 480i and then try to rescale it back to 720p or 1080 does it? I have a tv tuner card for my pc that will record in HD, I can receive HD broadcast signals OTA, so can't I just convert the file to divx encoded HD, and burn those files to dvd and it play in HD?

Previous posters have responded, "DVD recorders can't record in hi def!", but that isn't my question. Please help!!!!
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post #2 of 10
8/19/08 at 7:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by c5vetman View Post

Ok,

I totally understand why you can't record hi def onto standard def dvd recorders, and why regular dvd players (even upconverting) ones can't play high def discs. And I've asked the question in different ways, but have never gotten a response that was even related to my question, so here goes.

If you have a divx capable dvd player (or recorder, in my case) and it is an upscaling unit with HDMI out, if you create high definition files in divx format, and burn them to standard dvds, (without creating the video_ts folder structure), will that upscaling dvd player play that file back in high definition? The player doesn't try to down scale the file back to 480i and then try to rescale it back to 720p or 1080 does it? I have a tv tuner card for my pc that will record in HD, I can receive HD broadcast signals OTA, so can't I just convert the file to divx encoded HD, and burn those files to dvd and it play in HD?

Previous posters have responded, "DVD recorders can't record in hi def!", but that isn't my question. Please help!!!!

Very few SD-DVD players can read HD sources of any sort. See http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers?...Submit2=Search for some DivxHD exceptions. Note the other checkbox options at the top.

A PC might be the best option for HD media files.

-Bill
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post #3 of 10
8/19/08 at 7:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by c5vetman View Post

Ok,

I totally understand why you can't record hi def onto standard def dvd recorders, and why regular dvd players (even upconverting) ones can't play high def discs. And I've asked the question in different ways, but have never gotten a response that was even related to my question, so here goes.

If you have a divx capable dvd player (or recorder, in my case) and it is an upscaling unit with HDMI out, if you create high definition files in divx format, and burn them to standard dvds, (without creating the video_ts folder structure), will that upscaling dvd player play that file back in high definition? The player doesn't try to down scale the file back to 480i and then try to rescale it back to 720p or 1080 does it? I have a tv tuner card for my pc that will record in HD, I can receive HD broadcast signals OTA, so can't I just convert the file to divx encoded HD, and burn those files to dvd and it play in HD?

Previous posters have responded, "DVD recorders can't record in hi def!", but that isn't my question. Please help!!!!

I don't know of any upscaling DVD players/recorders that can play back HD divx files. The reason is that higher resolution divx needs more processing power to decode. Arguably, the required processing power is even higher than that required for a genuine HD-DVD/Blu-ray player. I believe the reason is because divx has a higher compression ratio than the MPEG-2 used for HD-DVD/Blu-ray. Higher compression ratio generally means more compute power is necessary to decode. The hardware/software required to do basic upscaling from 480i to 1080p is much cheaper than that required to decode compressed HD content.
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post #4 of 10
8/19/08 at 7:59am
Thread Starter 
Thank you guys for posting a response that is both reasonable and pertinent. I had not thought about the processing power required for the decompression.

So you believe that my only option is really just putting a line out of my laptop directly to my plasma?

If this is indeed the case, will the standard def divx file still be a much higher quality playback than if I just made a standard dvd? I have noticed that the playback of shows that I recorded off of the HD stations was a much higher quality than the exact same show recorded off of the SD station with the same recorder. I experimented by changing between SD and HD broadcasts of the same football game during a recording once, and there was a huge, definite, improvement, though not HD.
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post #5 of 10
8/19/08 at 8:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by c5vetman View Post

So you believe that my only option is really just putting a line out of my laptop directly to my plasma?

It's probably your best option. Computers are vastly more flexible than standalone players, although the latter are awfully convenient if they serve your needs.

Quote:


If this is indeed the case, will the standard def divx file still be a much higher quality playback than if I just made a standard dvd?

I would expect them to be the same. If you are seeing a difference between SD and SD broadcasts converted to SD resolutions, it must a difference in the quality of the source signals, which can be a real effect. But I don't know the details of recorders.

-Bill
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post #6 of 10
8/19/08 at 8:22am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by wmcclain View Post

I would expect them to be the same. If you are seeing a difference between SD and SD broadcasts converted to SD resolutions, it must a difference in the quality of the source signals, which can be a real effect. But I don't know the details of recorders.

-Bill

Yeah, I think that even though the HD signal is down converted to SD, it is still a higher quality file. Just like they say, garbage in, garbage out, it may be good stuff in, decent stuff out. Don't know how it works, but it definitely looked better, same game, one in HD, one in SD, same recording, I just switched the input (I have a tunerless recorder, so it let me just change channels in the middle of the recording).
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post #7 of 10
8/19/08 at 2:01pm
AverLinkPlayer2 can play DivX HD up to 720p officially. In my case, it can play some 1080p DivX HD clip fine. However, it's hard to find one now aday. Any DVD player uses Sigma Design chip EM8620L or later will play DivX HD and WMV HD. Hope this will help you some how.

David.
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post #8 of 10
8/20/08 at 6:43pm
PC or PS3 can play DivX HD up to 1080p. Avel Link is buggy, hard to find, uses Sigma chipset (questionable PQ), and poorly supported.
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post #9 of 10
8/21/08 at 1:19pm
Thread Starter 
Well, I think I've given up, and plan on just using my laptop to playback the HD shows I record through my pc tuner. It looks pretty good. My upconverting DVD player plays back higher resolution divx, but not HD divx, but it's at 575 as opposed to 480, so that's better than nothing, I guess.
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post #10 of 10
8/21/08 at 2:41pm
You might want to search for "Popcorn Hour" - this is a networked media player that supports various higher definition video files.

I don't own one - so I can't comment on how well it works. From what I've read, it sounds like a neat idea.

Roo
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