Stop the Anti-Divx Madness!

Posted by Bear [IP: 208.205.84.2] on November 19, 1998 at 13:20:45:

In Reply to: Stop the Anti-Divx Madness! posted by David on November 19, 1998 at 03:08:02:

: No one complained when you had to plug the DSS into the phone jack for pay-per-view movies, which is all Divx's modem does: Divx is PAY-PER-VIEW, a concept people could handle before there was a disc (oooh, the evil disc).

I've used 4 pay per view 4 times--and only then because of huge promotional discounts ($1.00) I don't find it particularly convenient, and my cable company hasn't found it particularly successful. If it would have been necessary to run a phone line to my system, I wouldn't have bothered with it at all.

:And if you think no one knows what DVDs you're renting, or what DVDs you're buying, you're living in a dream world. The only differences is WHO knows. Who cares?

This is the best point you've made in this thread. Someone has the information about each rental transaction--it's either DIVX national or some national, regional, or local VHS/DVD rental center. I DO care, but there is very little to be done about it. The big brother thing is the least of my DIVX concerns.

: I'm a pediatrician, the near-antithesis of a lawyer. And I never asked you to buy Divx. I never said I'm going to buy Divx. And if you can stop splitting for a second (belief that anything is either all-good or all-bad), you might see that just because I don't want the format killed doesn't mean I'm somehow anti-DVD, and that Divx DOESN'T have to die for DVD to flourish.

DVD is going to flourish anyway because it makes technological and financial sense. DIVX dying early will enhance the speed of DVDs widespread acceptance because DIVX *is* confusing to the general public. If you don't believe this go to several CC stores, listen to the DIVX spiel and note the expression on customer's faces.

If DIVX were by some miracle successful, then the growth in the number of firms who rent DVDs would slow (to support the smaller market.) What's good about that outcome for DVD supporters? It's been convenient for some pro-DIVX people to say that the primary reason many people are against DIVX is because their current players won't play the disks. Well, another couple of million people have either already bought DVD players since DIVX's inception (myself included) or will purchase them within the next year.

I oppose DIVX because it is a dumb scheme that will slow market acceptance of DVD (through FUDD) and decrease the speed at which DVD replaces VHS as king of the rental market. Widespread competition among DVD rental firms ultimately means commodity pricing which clearly benefits consumers. The acceptance of DVD rental as *the* video rental standard would make DVD rental fees of $1/day available across the country--in contrast to DIVX @ over $2/day. You have argued for choice many times in this thread. Given these price points and DVD's technical superiority, the decision consumers will make is obvious. DIVX can do nothing more than delay the benefit of commodity pricing to consumers. That is the only motivation I need to oppose this alliance between CC and those Hollywood shysters.

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