Divx codec - Mac - adware/spyware?

(AndyD) #1

I finally found a divx codec for Mac OSX and downloaded it only to find that the user licence mentions that banners will be downloaded and various information sent back to Divx. I don’t like the sound of that just to play and encode little animations.

Does this occur on other platforms? Is this the only way to get and install the codec for encoding divx?

Given that I generally seem to be able to play divx files, is there some chance I can already encode it too but just don’t know it? No divx codec shows up in Blender’s avi codec options.

(BrianH) #2

You found it an downloaded it? It’s easy to find, just goto divx.com. There are no banners that download (as far as I know). I own DivX Pro on OSX and never seen any banners.

(DwarvenFury) #3

You could use VLC to play your DivX files, I believe. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ Nice program, open source, what more could you want? :smiley: :wink:

DwarvenFury

EDIT: Oops…encoder… :expressionless: smacks forehead…well…maybe someone’ll find it useful anways… %| :wink: Maybe I was just thinking ahead to the fact that he’ll need a good DivX player to watch 'em in after he encodes 'em… :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

(JellyWerker) #4

perhaps something to encode them with fury :stuck_out_tongue:

(lirmont) #5

http://homepage.mac.com/major4/

First page on google for “mac divx encoder”. :smiley:

Later,
–lir

(AndyD) #6

First I tried versiontracker and softpaedia - usually good sources for utilities (that’s where accidentally I found blender!). But they only had the pro codec.

My googles (I think I was looking for “divx coded os x”) turned up all sorts of useless links. One “free download centre” had me click through 3 different pages and at the end it offered me an .exe file to download - for a Mac!!! It was from there that I navigated back to Divx’s home page (I’d been there before but must have ended up on the DivxPro page instead of the free download page)

Here’s what the licence agreement says:

BANNERS: This sooftware will download banners from our servers and display them within the GUI of the software. A message will be sent from the software to our servers indicating that an ad has been served. etc…

SOFTWARE INSTALLATION: When the software is installed an installation ID will be sent to our servers. This installation ID will be used only to track installs compared to downloads and will not be prsonally identifiable.

I don’t usually read these agreements but for some reason I read this one. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. But I wonder what happens if you don’t have net access on the user’s computer?

(AndyD) #7

http://homepage.mac.com/major4/

First page on google for “mac divx encoder”.

I’ve downloaded ffmpeg from this site but cannot seem to get the necessary bits and pieces it needs to make it work. It won’t accept my existing mplayer and mencoder and I’m unable to download “ffmpegXbinaries20050814.zip” successfully from anywhere (I’ve tried 3 sources). The 7Mb download starts then stops after just 24Kb.

I did download mpeg2enc from the suggested location but it seems that either it has to be compiled (and that it may not even compile or may not function unless I first download and compile a bunch of other stuff). It also offers a non-compile binary which I downloaded but which doesn’t seem acceptable to ffmpeg :frowning:

At this stage there seems little point downloading a new mplayer since it seems apparent ffmpeg will still be of no use to me unless I can get these other components working.

Is it this difficult for Windows users too?

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(lirmont) #8

Nope, everything gets handed to us in a nice installer format.

Anyway, you said that the first one had banners, etc. This is common on windows software (realplayer, anyone?) that you don’t have to pay for. Here’s a link straight from the DivX site, though: http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/

You might find this interesting (read depressing): http://www.divx.com/divx/create/divxpro/mac/faqs/

Fear not! Apparently the beta version for Mac has an encoder (I couldn’t find the beta version on the site, though):
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/2732/Mac+Users+Join+The+DivX+Encoding+Party

This might help you (it talks about what is in the DivX bundle):
http://forums.divx.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/421101651/m/522105432

But maybe this is what you’re really looking for:
http://labs.divx.com/archives/000061.html

I hope something in all of this helps you,
–lir

(AndyD) #9

Thanks for all those links. I’ll check it all out.

In the meantime, I’ve had some luck with ffmpegX though I’ve also had a lot of early failures. I’ll persevere with it and see if the problem is me or the software (early signs suggest a bit of each, perhaps more of me).

All I want is to make MPEG1 with sound :frowning: That format’s been around “forever” so I really didn’t expect it to be this hard. Divx is an option I’m looking at due to its popularity here.