9 ms·

I think you're confusing DivX the codec and DIVX the disc media platform. Afaict these aren't related. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DivX https://en.m.wikip

by nly 3y ago

I think you're confusing DivX the codec and DIVX the disc media platform. Afaict these aren't related. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DivX https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DivX

_aavaa_ 3y ago
How in the world were they both able to use that name?
- pavlov 3y ago
  DIVX the physical disc distribution company was a famous flop. DivX the video codec started out as an unlicensed hacked version of Microsoft’s MPEG-4 v3 codec binary. Since it wasn’t a commercial product and was legally dubious, the author called it DivX ;-) with the smiley in the name. When it became unexpectedly popular during the dot-com boom time, someone of course set up a DivX company that dropped the smiley, eventually rewrote the codec, and presumably acquired the trademark from the defunct DIVX (or just took it over if the registration expired, I don’t know).
  - chasd00 3y ago
    > and presumably acquired the trademark from the defunct DIVX (or just took it over if the registration expired, I don’t know). and then, iirc, this is where xvid come into being. I think it was the same codec just re-written and given back to the opensource world, hence the reason for naming it "divx" spelled backwards.
nntwozz 3y ago
Let's not forget to add Xvid to this circus, having X in your name was all the rage back in the early 2000s. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xvid https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xvid
- doubled112 3y ago
  That's just DivX backward.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- zerocrates 3y ago
  The MPEG-4 Visual space was kind of a mess.
- joenot443 3y ago
  What a throwback! Only now am I realizing that Xvid is the OSS counterpart to Divx. This is one part of 2000s tech I'm happy to have mostly forgotten about.
- wlesieutre 3y ago
  Compared to 2024, when of course nobody would throw away an enormous amount of existing brand awareness to have an X for their product name
- ta1243 3y ago
  I prefer extortion, the X makes it sound cool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG6vgzAswgE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG6vgzAswgE
- devonkim 3y ago
  Xtreme marketing was absolutely going on back then - remember the Mountain Dew ad campaigns? Yeah....
doubled112 3y ago
To make the waters murkier, there were also DVD players with DivX (MPEG4) codec support. You could encode a CD sized video file, burn it, and watch it.
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago
  I definitely watched _Hackers_ on my PS2 on a burned CD-R. The quality was not great
johnhenry 3y ago
They are somewhat related... the codec's title styling included a winking smiley face emoji -- "DivX ;-)" -- as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the failed video disk technology.
Gormo 3y ago
They're not related directly, but the codec was specifically named in reference to the media format.

by nly 3y ago

I think you're confusing DivX the codec and DIVX the disc media platform. Afaict these aren't related. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DivX https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DivX

_aavaa_ 3y ago

How in the world were they both able to use that name?

pavlov 3y ago
DIVX the physical disc distribution company was a famous flop. DivX the video codec started out as an unlicensed hacked version of Microsoft’s MPEG-4 v3 codec binary. Since it wasn’t a commercial product and was legally dubious, the author called it DivX ;-) with the smiley in the name. When it became unexpectedly popular during the dot-com boom time, someone of course set up a DivX company that dropped the smiley, eventually rewrote the codec, and presumably acquired the trademark from the defunct DIVX (or just took it over if the registration expired, I don’t know).
- chasd00 3y ago
  > and presumably acquired the trademark from the defunct DIVX (or just took it over if the registration expired, I don’t know). and then, iirc, this is where xvid come into being. I think it was the same codec just re-written and given back to the opensource world, hence the reason for naming it "divx" spelled backwards.

nntwozz 3y ago

Let's not forget to add Xvid to this circus, having X in your name was all the rage back in the early 2000s. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xvid https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xvid

doubled112 3y ago
That's just DivX backward.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
zerocrates 3y ago
The MPEG-4 Visual space was kind of a mess.
joenot443 3y ago
What a throwback! Only now am I realizing that Xvid is the OSS counterpart to Divx. This is one part of 2000s tech I'm happy to have mostly forgotten about.
wlesieutre 3y ago
Compared to 2024, when of course nobody would throw away an enormous amount of existing brand awareness to have an X for their product name
ta1243 3y ago
I prefer extortion, the X makes it sound cool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG6vgzAswgE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG6vgzAswgE
devonkim 3y ago
Xtreme marketing was absolutely going on back then - remember the Mountain Dew ad campaigns? Yeah....

doubled112 3y ago

To make the waters murkier, there were also DVD players with DivX (MPEG4) codec support. You could encode a CD sized video file, burn it, and watch it.

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago
I definitely watched _Hackers_ on my PS2 on a burned CD-R. The quality was not great

johnhenry 3y ago

They are somewhat related... the codec's title styling included a winking smiley face emoji -- "DivX ;-)" -- as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the failed video disk technology.

Gormo 3y ago

They're not related directly, but the codec was specifically named in reference to the media format.