I had the same problem with Windows XP Pro RC-1.
Needless to say on my other installations of NT and 2K they played fine.
Do not confuse the first generation of DivX CODECs (the ones really being a hacked version of Microsoft's MPEG-4). There are 2 variations available: the 3.11 alpha version, and the VKI version (sometimes referred to as 3.22). I am talking about this version, the original DivX.
I know that for some time there has been an Open DivX under development so that it is no longer based on MS's CODEC. But the last time I checked their site (I admit that was a couple of months ago) the new generation CODEC could not play movies encoded with the original one.
So be cautious.
I am talking about the original DivX.
Here is how I addressed the issue and I believe what I found out is very interesting.
The clips were playing upside down. I knew there was nothing wrong with them and the CODEC so the problem had to be somewhere else in the new DirectShow subsystem (if you have ever used the Filter Graph Editor then you know what I am talking about - if you haven't, learn how to use it, it is very easy and proves to be very helpful).
Anyway, I wanted to see if the new DShow had a problem with the specific clips. Knowing Microsoft, I parsed the clips through the AVIFourCCChanger to change the CODEC on their header from DivX to MPEG-4 (after all they are exactly the same CODEC and files encoded with one of them can be played by the other and vice-versa). And then...
The clip played just fine. Now correct if I am wrong, but that does not mean that Microsoft has deliberately sabotaged the playback of DivX in XP?
Then I went on and tried something else. Since I was convinced there was special treatment for DivX, there had to be a way to trick the DirectShow subsystem.
I tried a couple of things and came down to this.
If you rename the DivX CODECs to something else, and change the relevant registry settings accordingly, the clips play back fine.
Here's how to do it:
Decompress the DivX distribution file and open the INF file with a text editor.
We can name the DLLs as we want, there is no restriction on that, however for our convenience, it is better if we replace 4-letter groups with 4 letters and 3-letter groups with 3 letters.
So I did a search and replace:
replaced DivX with Jedi
and
DIV with JED
CAUTION:
There are only two values YOU MUST NOT REPLACE:
Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32
vidc.DIV3
and
vidc.DIV4
These have to remain as they are because they tell DShow which decoder to use when it encounters one of these 2 FourCCs in an AVI file.
There is only one drawback in this solution.
Mysteriously, in Filter Graph Editor, the DivX - MPEG-4 Video DeCompressor filter is not shown but rather a generic AVI DeCompressor filter. That means that you cannot get to the properties page of the filter to alter playback values.
If someone has a better solution to this problem, I would like to hear about it.
And, once more, I am talking about the original DivX, not the new OpenDivX. I will check it out in the following days and post back.
PS: The above registry places and values are valid only for NT-Class operating systems (NT/2K/XP). For the others, these values reside somewhere in the WIN.INI or SYSTEM.INI file (I do not remember). If you are still stuck with 9x trash, go the NT-Class way. It is reliable, stable, responsive, multitasking.
