newbie Q about standalone DivX players

[neofit]

Hi.

I am planning on buying a new DVD player with DivX support this week, and I'd like some information as to how they operate. I know some things about encoding and converting but have no idea how these standalone DivX players operate. These will probably be very stupid questions, but I'd rather know these things beforehand than be strongly disappointed after the purchase. Here goes:

You just copy some raw DivX files onto a CD as you do for a PC, put the disk in, the player firmware reads it and displays a list of filenames, you choose one and it plays it?

Does it matter on which support the file(s) have been burnt? I mean does it have to be a CD-R(W), or one can put many files onto a DVD-R and it will play just the same? I suspect that the support doesn't matter, but who knows, maybe there is a restriction on the filesystem or something.
The main reason I'd be buying such a player would be to put many series/shows on a single disk, I don't want to mess with tons of CDs. I've read some threads where people were complaining that some players could not read avi files larger than 2Gb so I assume that DVD+/-Rs should work, but I'd rather make sure.

Is there a way to author the CD/DVD like I am doing with DVDs, for instance make a nice custom menu, put in chapters, etc. Is it just raw AVI playback, or one can use some kind of wrapper with more advanced DVD functionality?

BTW I am planning on buying the H & B DX-3220 player, which allegedly supports "XviD, MPEG-4, DivX (ver.4), DivX (ver.5), DivX (ver.3.11)" at 99€. If anyone has heard some horrible things about it please add a few lines to this thread. It apparently (according to videohelp.com) is not availble in the US (or probably is but under another brand name), so actual hands-on reviews are rare.

Thanks.

[Zhnujm]

Originally posted by neofit
You just copy some raw DivX files onto a CD as you do for a PC, put the disk in, the player firmware reads it and displays a list of filenames, you choose one and it plays it?


Yes. Some also offer a playlist or play one file after another.


Originally posted by neofit
Does it matter on which support the file(s) have been burnt? I mean does it have to be a CD-R(W), or one can put many files onto a DVD-R and it will play just the same? I suspect that the support doesn't matter, but who knows, maybe there is a restriction on the filesystem or something.


DVD is also possible.
ISO Mode is most compatible, some will not play UDF DVDs at all or have problems with them, and until now i dont know a player that support files >2GB.


Originally posted by neofit
Is there a way to author the CD/DVD like I am doing with DVDs, for instance make a nice custom menu, put in chapters, etc. Is it just raw AVI playback, or one can use some kind of wrapper with more advanced DVD functionality?


Not with the current players. :(

[Mr Whippy]

Just make sure your buy one locally, as I've had two H&B DX-3220 arrived faulty & DOA (ordered two, so 100% failure rate):rolleyes:

The transport is quite noisy, you need to get a good one (clicking audible from 15-20' away), perhaps the mech was out.

Tray is a bit rubbish though (as with all slim units like the Neuneo, H&B, Yamada etc)

It's a good player, and worth the asking price just as second DVD-Video player for Divx/MP3 only. It's a DE chipset (checked myself)

It did lock up on several discs though; and requires a hard switch-off/on) with original DVD-Video discs. One Futurama episode halted the video (fine on a 5 year old Sony) and Monsters Inc R1 crashed during boot (again fine on the Sony)

I couldn't get a Divx movie to play on the H&B (works on the Neuneo) 688x384, DivX 5.0 DX50/divx, 24bit, 1820 kb/s, 25 fps, 192 kb/s (96/ch, stereo) CBR AC3 audio, 48Khz.

[SeeMoreDigital]

If I were you I would wait for the new generation of Sigma based chipset players to arrive. It sounds like Kiss will be launching some players soon!


Cheers

[Mr Whippy]

You could wait until quad hi-def physical holographic 3D crystal 200TB record/playback devices come out too:p

IMO if you're going to wait for the next range "in a couple of months" time you'll never buy anything.

The MTK 1389 are pretty good, perhaps the next gen Sigma will be better. But then at that time you'll hear about the MTK 1399, with even better features of the Sigma. And so on.
;)

[SeeMoreDigital]

True... but there's no way I'm buying an stand-alone player that can't spin Mpeg4 encodes larger that 2GB.

Each to their own :D

[neofit]

Thank you folks, that was helpful.