What advantage does Divx have over Microsoft's MPEG4?

[catback]

Hi,

I recently came across a web page that listed all the various compression codecs. Included were Divx3 and 4 as well as Microsoft's own MPEG4 codec.

What exactly are the advantages of Divx3/4 over the Microsoft version?

Thanks.

[cofferscuffs]

MPEG4V3:

- tied to Windows Media Encoder thingys
- not unlocked
- cannot convert in other programs with reverse-enginering (i.e. VirtualDub 1.3c)
- it's shit quality

DivX 3.11alpha:

- it's a hack so it's illegal
+ better at distrubuting bitrate
+ it's MPEG4V3 unlocked
+ used in SBC DivX encoding

DivX 4

+ it's legal, as it was built from scratch
+ on-going development so it can get better
- 'cheated' people in opendivx
- atm doesn't offer any difference over DivX 3.11alpha

I'm sure there is loads more on this... but these are the most evident to my mind atm :p.

[LotionBoy]

MPG4v2, which Nandub supports, is basically the same thing as Divx. And it's legal. Something to look into if you want the quality of Nandub without legal issues.

LotionBoy