Mini Guide: DVD/Divx players
This guide is for people out to buy dvd players/consoles with divx/xvid playback capability.
Since the advent of the divx and xvid format people have been busy compressing and fitting around 5-6 movies on a single dvd-r. However the movie experience wasnt complete while watching on a PC monitors and so were born the hybrid dvd players equipped with special chips that enabled them to play divx,xvid and a lot of other medias. However one can be easily confused with all the options available. I hope this guides enables you to make your buying decision.
PS: I am also including gaming consoles that can provide similar functionality.
Philips DVP 642k: Once a great choice for playing divx and xvids has lost its charm due to lots of problems mainly unit and len failure. The player is equipped with a Ess Vibratto II chipset which sadly only does normal divx and xvid no QPEL and GMC encoded xvids which is a major drawback. Although the player supports almost all kind of dvd-r, +r and dvd-rw and +rw and cd-r and cd-rws as well. Some cheap medias might have problems playing though. Divx subs also supported with the latest firmware. If you are lucky you might still find it in stock. But not recommended unless you dont have a choice.
Price: NA (4500 Rs last heard)
Philips DVP 5500 : This another player from philips lived quite a short life. Its dint have the problems of the dvp642 mainly sudden death and lens failure. However still being based on a vibratto II chipset which did not support the full divx and xvid specs it's not a good buy either. Supports all dvd media formats. The picture quality was good though. Philips have slowly removed this player off the shelf to make way for newer players.
Price: 4750/-
Philips DVP 5100 : Finally philips learnt its lesson the hard way. It finally incorporated the mediatek 1389 chipset in its player and now all the qpel and gmc related issues have been solved. However u need to run your media through mpeg modifier to change the settings if its packed bit stream. Apparently packed bit stream will not play fluidly on it. But changing the settings is not a big deal. Xvid and divx subs supported and most media will work smoothly. This player is definitely recommended.
Price: 4750/-
LG LDA 530: Lol try as i might i couldn't lay my hands on this player though LG people say that it is available in india at major showrooms. MTK 1389 based.
Price: NA
Sony Ps2: Not a divx player by default but there are a few homebrew softwares that will run on players with memory card exploit or easily on a modchipped ps2. However since doesnt have the juice to play divx, xvids with hi bit rate i.e. 1MBps though it handles dvds good.
Price: Varies.
MS Xbox: Install XMBC and make sure you get a xbox with a philips dvd-rom which supports most media. After installing XMBC you will never have any problems playing any kind of media xvid, divx, ogg, ogm, all container ands codecs supported. Also unlike other dvd players the xbox will be easily be able to play future formats after inclusion into the latest xbmc builds. So u wont ever need to run out and get another dvd player since a new version of the codec has come out and has features that the player cannot handle. The p3 700Mhz does good work. Added plus: games
Price: Varies
LG lx-d 5640: a Hi-fi system with mp4 and divx playback. Unofficial supprt for xvid too. No idea about the chipset though most likely should be MTK 1389/EE/GE
Price: NA
Mitashi 555: Based off the mtk 1389 chipset but flawed in execution. Crappy firmware makes this player a not so good chioce. recommended over the 642k though if you don't mind the looks. Flimsy build quality.
Price: 4300/- or lower.
Mitashi 999: Based of the 1389GE/EE chipset and supports everythng under the sun. However build quality and looks are nothing to boast about. Get it only as a 2nd option to the 5100.
Price: 4999/-
Lg, philips, sony have introduced hi-fi players which play dvd, divx, mp4 but i havent chked them out yet. If anyone has done that please post in here so that others may benefit.
This guide is for people out to buy dvd players/consoles with divx/xvid playback capability.
Since the advent of the divx and xvid format people have been busy compressing and fitting around 5-6 movies on a single dvd-r. However the movie experience wasnt complete while watching on a PC monitors and so were born the hybrid dvd players equipped with special chips that enabled them to play divx,xvid and a lot of other medias. However one can be easily confused with all the options available. I hope this guides enables you to make your buying decision.
PS: I am also including gaming consoles that can provide similar functionality.
Philips DVP 642k: Once a great choice for playing divx and xvids has lost its charm due to lots of problems mainly unit and len failure. The player is equipped with a Ess Vibratto II chipset which sadly only does normal divx and xvid no QPEL and GMC encoded xvids which is a major drawback. Although the player supports almost all kind of dvd-r, +r and dvd-rw and +rw and cd-r and cd-rws as well. Some cheap medias might have problems playing though. Divx subs also supported with the latest firmware. If you are lucky you might still find it in stock. But not recommended unless you dont have a choice.
Price: NA (4500 Rs last heard)
Philips DVP 5500 : This another player from philips lived quite a short life. Its dint have the problems of the dvp642 mainly sudden death and lens failure. However still being based on a vibratto II chipset which did not support the full divx and xvid specs it's not a good buy either. Supports all dvd media formats. The picture quality was good though. Philips have slowly removed this player off the shelf to make way for newer players.
Price: 4750/-
Philips DVP 5100 : Finally philips learnt its lesson the hard way. It finally incorporated the mediatek 1389 chipset in its player and now all the qpel and gmc related issues have been solved. However u need to run your media through mpeg modifier to change the settings if its packed bit stream. Apparently packed bit stream will not play fluidly on it. But changing the settings is not a big deal. Xvid and divx subs supported and most media will work smoothly. This player is definitely recommended.
Price: 4750/-
LG LDA 530: Lol try as i might i couldn't lay my hands on this player though LG people say that it is available in india at major showrooms. MTK 1389 based.
Price: NA
Sony Ps2: Not a divx player by default but there are a few homebrew softwares that will run on players with memory card exploit or easily on a modchipped ps2. However since doesnt have the juice to play divx, xvids with hi bit rate i.e. 1MBps though it handles dvds good.
Price: Varies.
MS Xbox: Install XMBC and make sure you get a xbox with a philips dvd-rom which supports most media. After installing XMBC you will never have any problems playing any kind of media xvid, divx, ogg, ogm, all container ands codecs supported. Also unlike other dvd players the xbox will be easily be able to play future formats after inclusion into the latest xbmc builds. So u wont ever need to run out and get another dvd player since a new version of the codec has come out and has features that the player cannot handle. The p3 700Mhz does good work. Added plus: games
Price: Varies
LG lx-d 5640: a Hi-fi system with mp4 and divx playback. Unofficial supprt for xvid too. No idea about the chipset though most likely should be MTK 1389/EE/GE
Price: NA
Mitashi 555: Based off the mtk 1389 chipset but flawed in execution. Crappy firmware makes this player a not so good chioce. recommended over the 642k though if you don't mind the looks. Flimsy build quality.
Price: 4300/- or lower.
Mitashi 999: Based of the 1389GE/EE chipset and supports everythng under the sun. However build quality and looks are nothing to boast about. Get it only as a 2nd option to the 5100.
Price: 4999/-
Lg, philips, sony have introduced hi-fi players which play dvd, divx, mp4 but i havent chked them out yet. If anyone has done that please post in here so that others may benefit.
