On vr, 2007-03-09 at 08:02 +0100, Jakub Misak wrote: > There's incorrect description displayed for the gstreamer-ffmpeg package > (FFmpeg plugin for GSstreamer). It says it can be used for encoding/decoding > the DivX format (or even "play divx"). This is wrong, and in case you don't > know why (most people don't understand what DivX is, there's a lot of > confusion and intentional misinformation about this topic), I'd like to > explain it in more detail. [...] > Now, this common confusion stems from the fact that most people don't > know that DivX is not a format - the DivX codec (which is what most > people call "DivX", along with video encoded with this piece of > software) is a proprietary software product that encodes and decodes > standard MPEG-4 ASP video. That is, video encoded with this codec is > not "DivX video" or "DivX", it is standard MPEG-4 ASP video.
Actually, FFmpeg can also decode "DivX 3.11 ;-)" videos that have been encoded by a hacked version of Microsoft pre-standard MPEG4 codec, which is _not_ (100% identical to) "MPEG-4 ASP video". This codec and its "nickname" predate the commercial DivX company/trademark/codec. > Another confusion is that while the MPEG-4 ASP video must be stored in a > container format (usually AVI or MP4), What you mean by "the MP4 container format" is based on QuickTime (a subset of it is the MPEG-4 standard's container format IIRC). AVI is not a standardised container format for MPEG-4 and in fact, Microsoft dropped MPEG-4 support because they were pissed about losing from Apple--they proposed the WindowsMedia container instead of QuickTime. > So, there is no way the description could be considered correct. FFmeg has > nothing to do with DivX. That's why I would like to ask you to correct it, > because wrong descriptions like that confuse a lot of people, make a lot of > damage (even to FFmpeg itself) and the trademark issue itself is quite clear. I can't see how any company can claim the "DivX" trademark, considering that _at least_ two other video products used the same name before them, and they didn't buy the rights from those people... -- Jan Claeys -- Ubuntu-motu mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-motu
