DIVX (Digital Video Express) is a discontinued

digital video Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data. This is in contrast to analog video, which represents moving visual images in the form of analog signals. Digital video comprises ...

format. Created in part by

Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...

, it was an unsuccessful attempt to create an alternative to

video rental A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game cartridges/discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditi ...

in the United States. The format's poor reception from consumers resulted in major financial losses for Circuit City and is credited with being part of the company's downfall.

Format

DIVX was a rental format variation on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

player in which a customer would buy a DIVX disc (similar to a DVD) for approximately US$4.50, which was watchable for up to 48 hours from its initial viewing. After this period, the disc could be viewed by paying a continuation fee to play it for two more days. Viewers who wanted to watch a disc an unlimited number of times could convert the disc to a "DIVX silver" disc for an additional fee. "DIVX gold" discs that could be played an unlimited number of times on any DIVX player were announced at the time of DIVX's introduction, but no DIVX gold titles were ever released. Each DIVX disc was marked with a unique barcode in the burst cutting area that could be read by the player, and used to track the discs. The status of the discs was monitored through an account over a phone line. DIVX player owners had to set up an account with DIVX to which additional viewing fees could be charged. The player would call an account server over the phone line to charge for viewing fees similar to the way

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

and

Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

systems handle

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

. In addition to the normal

Content Scramble System The Content Scramble System (CSS) is a digital rights management (DRM) and encryption system employed on many commercially produced DVD-Video discs. CSS utilizes a proprietary 40-bit stream cipher algorithm. The system was introduced around ...

(CSS) encryption, DIVX discs used

Triple DES In cryptography, Triple DES (3DES or TDES), officially the Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (TDEA or Triple DEA), is a symmetric-key block cipher, which applies the DES cipher algorithm three times to each data block. The 56-bit key of the Dat ...

encryption and an alternative channel modulation coding scheme, which prevented them from being read in standard DVD players. Most of the discs would be manufactured by United Kingdom-based Nimbus CD International. DIVX players manufactured by

Zenith Electronics Zenith Electronics, LLC, is an American research and development company that develops ATSC and digital rights management technologies. It is owned by the South Korean company LG Electronics. Zenith was previously an American brand of consumer e ...

(who would go bankrupt shortly before the launch of the format), Thomson Consumer Electronics (

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

and ProScan), and Matsushita Electric (Panasonic) started to become available in mid-1998. These players differed from regular DVD players with the addition of a security IC chip (powered by

ARM In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between ...

RISC In electronics and computer science, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer architecture designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a comp ...

and manufactured by VLSI) that controlled the encode/decode of the digital content. Mail systems were included on some players as well. Because of widespread studio support, manufacturers anticipated that demand for the units would be high. Initially, the players were approximately twice as expensive as standard DVD players, but price reductions occurred within months of release.

History

Development and launch

DIVX was introduced on September 8, 1997 (after previously being made under the code name Zoom TV), with the format under development since 1995. The format was a partnership between

and entertainment law firm Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca & Fischer, with the former company investing $100 million into the latter firm. One advertiser attempted to sign with the company, but was unable to do so, which spurred a lawsuit between the two. The product made a quiet showing at the

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

in early January 1998, but won the attention of

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

which on February 20, 1998 signed a deal to release their titles on the format. After multiple delays, the initial trial of the DIVX format was run in the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California and

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

areas starting on June 8, 1998. Initially, only a single Zenith player was available starting at $499, along with 20 to 50 titles. Very few players sold during this time period, with The Good Guys chain alleging that fewer than 10 players were sold during this time period. A nationwide rollout began three months later, on September 21, again with only one Zenith player and 150 titles available in 190 stores in the western U.S. At the format's launch, DIVX was sold primarily through the Circuit City, Good Guys, and Ultimate Electronics retailers. The format was promoted to consumers as an alternative to traditional video rental schemes with the promise of "No returns, no late fees." Though consumers could just discard a DIVX disc after the initial viewing period, several DIVX retailers maintained DIVX recycling bins on their premises. On September 22, 1998, a fourth retailer, Canadian Future Shop, signed a contract with DIVX to stock the format, although only in 23 stores in the U.S. only. Thomson's player, after multiple delays, arrived on October 3, 1998, followed by Panasonic's on December 10. The format made its overall national debut on October 12, 1998. A marketing push began that November for the 1998 holiday season, with more than $1 million going into the campaign. The fortunes of the format would seemingly turn for the better in mid-December 1998, when a shortage of DVD players occurred. In total, 87,000 players were sold during the final quarter of 1998, with 535,000 discs across 300 titles being sold, although fewer than 17,000 accounts for DIVX were created.

Opposition

Almost immediately after the format's reveal, a movement on the Internet was initiated against DIVX, particularly in home theater forums by existing owners of the then-still nascent DVD format. Broader groups of consumers had environmental concerns with the format, since under the advertised "no returns" model a disc would be discarded as waste once the initial user was done with it, rather than being reused as they were under the traditional rental model. Both companies that created the DVD format (

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

and

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

) also denounced DIVX, as did major studio distributor

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

(who was the first major American studio to distribute DVD) and the

DVD Forum The DVD Forum (initially DVD Consortium) was an industry consortium for DVD specifications from 1995 to 2025. History The founding companies were Hitachi, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Philips, Sony, Thomson, Warner Bros, Toshiba, JVC, ...

(a consortium of developers on the format who standardized DVDs). Titles in the DIVX catalog were released primarily in

pan and scan Pan and scan is a film editing technique used to modify widescreen images for display on a fullscreen screen. It involves cropping the sides of the original widescreen image and panning across it when the shot's focus changes. This cropping c ...

format with limited special features, usually only a trailer (although a few widescreen titles did arrive on the format in early December 1998). This caused many home theater enthusiasts to become concerned that the success of DIVX would significantly diminish the release of films on the DVD format in the films' original aspect ratios and with supplementary material. Some early demos were also noted to have unique instances of artifacting on the discs that were not present on standard DVDs. Many people in various technology and entertainment communities were afraid that there would be DIVX exclusive releases, and that the then-fledgling DVD format would suffer as a result. DreamWorks,

, and

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

, for instance, initially released their films exclusively on the DIVX format (something that DIVX did not originally intend to happen). DIVX featured stronger encryption technology than DVD (

instead of CSS) which many studios stated was a contributing factor in the decision to support DIVX. Others cited the higher price of DIVX-compatible DVD players and rental costs as their reason for opposing the format, with one declaring DIVX as "holding my VCR hostage". One online poll surveyed 786 people on the format, of which nearly 97% disapproved of the format's concept, and another poll in December 1998 reflected 86% disapproval even if the format were free – a testament to the fierce online backlash the format received. As early as December 1997, news outlets were already calling the format a failure for Circuit City. In addition to the hostile Internet response, competitors such as

Hollywood Video Hollywood Entertainment Corp., more commonly known as Hollywood Video, was an American Video rental shop, video rental store chain based in Wilsonville, Oregon. Founded by Mark Wattles in 1988, the chain would quickly expand following the compa ...

ran advertisements touting the benefits of "Open DVD" over DIVX, with one ad in the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

depicting a hand holding a telephone line with the caption: "Don't let anyone feed you the line." The terminology "Open DVD" had been used by DVD supporters and later Sony themselves; in response to DIVX's labeling of DVD as "Basic DVD" and DIVX/DVD players as "DIVX-enhanced". Other retailers, such as

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

, also had their concerns, most of them citing possible customer confusion and cumbersomeness with the two formats.

Pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

companies were also concerned with the format intruding on their business sector, namely with their objective of single-use rentals of a film being offered to the consumer. However, early concerns of alleged or feared constant usage of the phone line proved to be somewhat exaggerated, as all players needed to do was verify its usage twice a month. Despite this, informational-freedom advocates were concerned that the players' "dial-home" ability could be used to spy on people's watching habits, as well as copyright and privacy concerns about its licensing of the media, with some alleging it violated fair-use laws entirely. Allegations of anti-competitive

vaporware In the computer industry, vaporware (or vapourware) is a product, typically computer Computer hardware, hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is late, never actually manufactured, or officially canceled. Use of the w ...

, as well as concerns within the software industry prompted David Dranove of

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and Neil Gandal of

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

and

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, to conduct an empirical study designed to measure the effect of the DIVX announcement on the

market. This study suggests that the DIVX announcement slowed the adoption of DVD technology. According to Dranove and Gandal, the study suggests that the "general antitrust concern about vaporware seems justified".

Demise

Right after the launch of the format, Circuit City announced that despite a gain of 4.1% in net profit, huge expenses of launching that format (among other issues) massively undercut that profit. As early as September 1998, Circuit City was looking for partners to share their losses from the format's launch. Retailers such as

Blockbuster Video Blockbuster may refer to: Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a former video rental chain * Blockbuster (Bend, Oregon), remaining store Arts and entertainment * Blockbuster (entertainment) a very successful movie * Blockbuster (DC Comics ...

did not carry the format at all. The format's credibility suffered another blow when suspicions were raised about the nature of apparently independent pro-DIVX websites. Circuit City denied any involvement in creating these sites, one of which closed shortly after tech journalists tried to contact its webmaster. DIVX and Thomson Consumer Electronics teamed up in January 1999 to create another format made for high-definition video using existing DVD technology, predating the development of both

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and

HD DVD HD DVD (short for High Density Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video.

by many years. The market share for DIVX players was 23% in January 1999, and by that March, around 419 titles were available in the DIVX format. However, sales for the format quickly fell off after the 1998 holiday season, with all three third-party retailers pulling out of DIVX sales by that point. In May, studio support for DIVX would start to be phased out with Paramount refusing to convert their titles to "Silver" discs (and then later stopping DIVX releases entirely), and Disney increasing their DVD activity. By the format's first anniversary, the future of the format was very grim - with only five DIVX-compatible players (and no DIVX-compatible computer drives), 478 titles, and only Circuit City selling DIVX discs. The format was discontinued on June 16, 1999, because of the costs of introducing the format, as well as its very limited acceptance by the general public and retailers. At the end of the format's life, Circuit City announced a $114 million after-tax loss, and Variety estimated the total loss on the scheme was around $337 million. Over the next two years, the DIVX system was phased out. Customers could still view all their DIVX discs and were given a $100 refund for every player that was purchased before June 16, 1999. All discs that were unsold at the end of the summer of 1999 were destroyed. The program officially cut off access to accounts on July 7, 2001. The player's Security Module, which had an internal Real-Time Clock, ceased to allow DIVX functions after 30 days without a connection to the central system. Unsold players were liquidated in online auctions, but not before being modified to remove the DIVX Security Module. As a result, certain player models demonstrated lockups when DIVX menus were accessed. On the company website to announce discontinuation of the product on June 16, 1999, it stated: "All DIVX-featured DVD players are fully functional DVD players and will continue to operate as such. All DIVX discs, including those previously purchased by consumers and those remaining in retailer inventories, can be viewed on registered players anytime between now and June 30, 2001. Subsequent viewings also will be available during that period. Discs can no longer be upgraded to unlimited viewing, known as DIVX Silver. Customers who have converted discs to DIVX Silver can continue viewing the discs until June 30, 2001, or can receive a full refund of the conversion price at their request". This meant no DIVX discs could play any content after June 30, 2001, rendering the medium worthless. DIVX appeared as a "dishonorable mention" alongside ''

PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online-only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tec ...

'''s list of "25 Worst Tech Products of All Time" in 2006.

Hardware

A total of four DIVX players were released in 1998: * Zenith DVX2100 (June 8, 1998) * RCA RC-5230Z (October 3, 1998) * Proscan PS8680Z (November 24, 1998) * Panasonic DVD-X410 (December 10, 1998) Several DIVX players from other manufacturers were announced for the year 1999, but cancelled. This includes

Harman Kardon Harman/Kardon is a brand of US-based Harman International Industries. Harman Kardon was originally founded in Westbury, New York, in 1953 by business partners Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon. The company is focused on three audio equipment b ...

JVC JVC (short for Japan Victor Company) is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developin ...

, Pioneer and Kenwood, with the latter cancelling a late 1999 to early 2000 release.

List of films available on DIVX

*'' 101 Dalmatians (1996)'' *'' 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997)'' *''

The Abyss ''The Abyss'' is a 1989 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. When an American submarine sinks in the Caribbean, a US search and recovery tea ...

(1989)'' *'' Air Bud: Golden Receiver (1998)'' *'' Affliction (1997)'' *''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

(1951)'' *''

Alien Resurrection ''Alien Resurrection'' is a 1997 American science fiction horror film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, written by Joss Whedon, and starring Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder. It is the fourth installment of the ''Alien'' franchise, and was fi ...

(1997)'' *'' Amistad (1997)'' *''

Another 48 Hrs. ''Another 48 Hrs.'' is a 1990 American Buddy cop film, buddy cop action comedy film directed by Walter Hill and starring Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, Brion James, Andrew Divoff, and Ed O'Ross. It is the sequel to the 1982 film ''48 Hrs.'' Nolte repr ...

(1990)'' *''

Antz ''Antz'' is a 1998 American animated adventure comedy film directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson from a screenplay written by Todd Alcott and the writing team of Chris and Paul Weitz. It was produced by DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks An ...

(1998)'' *''

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo program, Apollo space program and would have been the third Moon landing. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the landing was abort ...

(1995)'' *''

Armageddon Armageddon ( ; ; ; from ) is the prophesied gathering of armies for a battle during the end times, according to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Armageddon is variously interpreted as either a literal or a ...

(1998)'' *''

Army of Darkness ''Army of Darkness'' is a 1992 American dark fantasy comedy film directed, co-written, and co-edited by Sam Raimi. The film is the third installment in the Evil Dead, ''Evil Dead'' film series and the sequel to ''Evil Dead II'' (1987). Starring ...

(1992)'' *'' At First Sight (1999)'' *'' A Thousand Acres (1997)'' *'' Babe (1995)'' *''

Backdraft A backdraft (North American English), backdraught (British English) or smoke explosion is the abrupt combustion, burning of superheated gases in a fire caused when oxygen rapidly enters a hot, oxygen-depleted environment; for example, when a windo ...

(1991)'' *''

BASEketball ''BASEketball'' is a 1998 American sports comedy film cowritten and directed by David Zucker, starring ''South Park'' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and costarring Yasmine Bleeth, Jenny McCarthy, Robert Vaughn, Ernest Borgnine and Dian ...

(1998)'' *'' Beloved (1998)'' *'' Blown Away (1994)'' *''

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers (formally, The Fabulous Blues Brothers’ Show Band and Revue) are an American blues and soul music, soul revue band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, who met and began collaborating as original cast ...

(1980)'' *'' Born on the Fourth of July (1989)'' *''

Brassed Off ''Brassed Off'' is a 1996 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Mark Herman and starring Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor. The film is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band, following the closure ...

(1996)'' *''

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

(1985)'' *'' The Breakfast Club (1985)'' *''

Brubaker ''Brubaker'' is a 1980 American prison film, prison Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg. It stars Robert Redford as a newly arrived prison warden, Henry Brubaker, who attempts to clean up a corrupt and violent pe ...

(1980)'' *''

Bulworth ''Bulworth'' is a 1998 American political satire black comedy film co-written, co-produced, directed by, and starring Warren Beatty. It co-stars Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, and Isaiah Washington. The ...

(1998)'' *''

The Boxer "The Boxer" is a song written by Paul Simon and recorded by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fifth and final studio album, '' Bridge over Troubled Water'' (1970). Produced by the duo and Roy Halee, it was released as a stan ...

(1997)'' *''

A Bug's Life ''A Bug's Life'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a 1998 American animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter from a screenplay written by Andrew Stanton, Donald McEnery, and Bob Shaw, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, and Joe Ran ...

(1998)'' *'' The Chamber (1996)'' *''

Chairman of the Board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

(1998)'' *''

Chasing Amy ''Chasing Amy'' is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams and Jason Lee. The third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series, the film is about a male comic a ...

(1997)'' *'' A Civil Action (1998)'' *''

Coming to America ''Coming to America'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy film directed by John Landis, based on a story originally created by Eddie Murphy, written by David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein, and starring Murphy (in various roles), Arsenio ...

(1988) *''

Con Air ''Con Air'' is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by Simon West and starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich in the lead roles. Written by Scott Rosenberg and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the film centers on a pr ...

(1997)'' *''

Conan the Destroyer ''Conan the Destroyer'' is a 1984 American epic sword-and-sorcery film directed by Richard Fleischer from a screenplay by Stanley Mann and a story by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway. Based on the character Conan the Barbarian created by Robert ...

(1984)'' *''

Cop Land ''Cop Land'' is a 1997 American crime drama film written and directed by James Mangold. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro, with Peter Berg, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Michael Rapaport, Annabell ...

(1997)'' *'' Courage Under Fire (1996)'' *'' Crimson Tide (1995)'' *''

The Crow ''The Crow'' is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fianc� ...

(1994)'' *'' The Crow: City of Angels (1996)'' *''

Dante's Peak ''Dante's Peak'' is a 1997 American disaster film directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Leslie Bohem, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, and Charles Hallahan. The film is set in the fictional town of Dante's Peak where the inhabitant ...

(1997)'' *''

Daylight Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunlig ...

(1996)'' *'' The Day of the Jackal (1973)'' *''

Death Becomes Her ''Death Becomes Her'' is a 1992 American satirical surrealistic black comedy fantasy film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis and written by David Koepp and Martin Donovan. The film stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, a ...

(1992)'' *'' Deep Impact (1998)'' *'' Deep Rising (1998)'' *''

Die Hard With a Vengeance ''Die Hard with a Vengeance'' is a 1995 American action film directed and produced by John McTiernan, from a screenplay written by Jonathan Hensleigh, and starring Bruce Willis as John McClane. It is the third installment in the ''Die Hard'' f ...

(1995)'' *'' Dirty Work (1998)'' *'' Disturbing Behavior (1998)'' *'' Dragnet (1987)'' *''

The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is a British-Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist o ...

(1997)'' *''

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novelist. In the 1950s, Wood directed several B movie, low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult c ...

(1994)'' *'' The Eiger Sanction (1975)'' *'' Enemy of the State (1998)'' *''

The End of Violence ''The End of Violence'' is a 1997 American drama film by the German director Wim Wenders. The film's cast includes Bill Pullman, Andie MacDowell, Gabriel Byrne, Traci Lind, Rosalind Chao, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Udo Kier, and Loren Dean, among ...

(1997)'' *'' Escape from L.A. (1996)'' *'' Ever After (1998)'' *'' Evita (1996)'' *'' Father of the Bride Part II (1995)'' *''

Fled ''Fled'' is a 1996 American Buddy film, buddy action comedy film directed by Kevin Hooks. It stars Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin as two prisoners chained together who flee during an escape attempt gone bad. Plot An interrogator prepa ...

(1996)'' *''

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions, which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the R ...

(1994)'' *'' For Richer or Poorer (1997)'' *''

The Full Monty ''The Full Monty'' is a 1997 comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film is set ...

(1997)'' *'' Gang Related (1997)'' *''

George of the Jungle ''George of the Jungle'' is an American animated television series produced and created by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who also created '' The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends''. The character George was inspired by the story of ...

(1997)'' *''

GoldenEye ''GoldenEye'' is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent James Bond (lit ...

(1995)'' *''

The Ghost and the Darkness ''The Ghost and the Darkness'' is a 1996 American historical adventure film directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. The screenplay, written by William Goldman, is a fictionalized account of the Tsavo man-eater ...

(1996)'' *'' G.I. Jane (1997)'' *''

Good Will Hunting ''Good Will Hunting'' is a 1997 American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It stars Robin Williams, Damon, Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård and Minnie Driver. The film tells the story of janitor Will Hunt ...

(1997)'' *'' Hackers (1995)'' *''

Happy Gilmore ''Happy Gilmore'' is a 1996 American sports comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, produced by Robert Simonds, and starring Adam Sandler in the title role, with Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen and Carl Weathers. The film follows the namesak ...

(1996)'' *'' Half-Baked (1998)'' *'' Halloween: H20 (1998)'' *'' Hard Rain (1998)'' *'' Highlander: The Final Dimension (1994)'' *''

Holy Man ''Holy Man'' is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Herek, written by Tom Schulman, and starring Eddie Murphy, Jeff Goldblum, Kelly Preston, Robert Loggia and Jon Cryer. The film was a commercial failure and re ...

(1998)'' *'' Hope Floats (1998)'' *'' The Horse Whisperer (1998)'' *''

Houseguest ''Houseguest'' is a 1995 American comedy film starring Sinbad and Phil Hartman and directed by Randall Miller, released to theaters in the United States on January 6, 1995. Plot Kevin Franklin is an inner city Pittsburgh native. Raised in an o ...

(1995)'' *''

The Hunt for Red October ''The Hunt for Red October'' is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984, by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutt ...

(1990)'' *'' The Impostors (1998)'' *''

Invasion of the Body Snatchers ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' is a 1956 American science-fiction horror film produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Don Siegel, and starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. The black-and-white film was shot in 2.00:1 Superscope and in t ...

(1978)'' *'' The Jackal (1997)'' *'' Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998)'' *''

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of the British weekly anthology Comic book, comic ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977). He is the magazi ...

(1995)'' *'' Kissing a Fool (1998)'' *'' Kiss the Girls (1997)'' *''

Liar Liar ''Liar Liar'' is a 1997 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur. It stars Jim Carrey as a lawyer who built his entire career on lying but finds himself cursed to speak only the truth fo ...

(1997)'' *'' A Life Less Ordinary (1997)'' *'' The Madness of King George (1994)'' *'' Mafia! (1998)'' *'' The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)'' *'' Mercury Rising (1998)'' *'' Mr. Magoo (1997)'' *'' Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)'' *'' MouseHunt (1997)'' *''

Mulholland Falls ''Mulholland Falls'' is a 1996 American neo-noir Crime film, crime Thriller (genre), thriller film directed by Lee Tamahori, written by Pete Dexter, and starring an ensemble cast featuring Nick Nolte, Jennifer Connelly, Chazz Palminteri, Michae ...

(1996)'' *'' Nothing to Lose (1997)'' *''

The Object of My Affection ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

(1998)'' *'' One True Thing (1998)'' *'' Oscar and Lucinda (1997)'' *'' Paulie (1998)'' *''

Paths of Glory ''Paths of Glory'' is a 1957 American anti-war film directed by Stanley Kubrick, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson. It is adapted from the 1935 novel of the same name by Humphrey Cobb, which in turn was ...

(1957)'' *''

Patriot Games ''Patriot Games'' is a thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and published in July 1987. '' Without Remorse'', released six years later, is an indirect prequel, and it is chronologically the first book featuring Jack Ryan, the main character ...

(1992)'' *'' Patch Adams (1998)'' *'' The Peacemaker (1997)'' *'' Phantoms (1998)'' *''

Phenomenon A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...

(1996)'' *'' Private Parts (1997)'' *''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...

(1994)'' *''

Rain Man ''Rain Man'' is a 1988 American road movie, road comedy-Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive and selfish wikt:wheeler-dealer, wheeler-dea ...

(1988) '' *'' Rapid Fire (1992)'' *'' Rising Sun (1993)'' *'' The River (1984)'' *'' The Rock (1996)'' *'' RocketMan (1997)'' *'' Rollerball (1975)'' *'' Ronin (1998)'' *'' Scream (1996)'' *''

Scream 2 ''Scream 2'' is a 1997 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jamie Kennedy, Laurie Metcalf, Jerry O'Connell, Jada P ...

(1997)'' *''

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibs ...

(1994)'' * ''

Simon Birch ''Simon Birch'' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film loosely based on the 1989 novel '' A Prayer for Owen Meany'' by John Irving and written for the screen and directed by Mark Steven Johnson in his directorial debut. The film stars Ian Micha ...

(1998)'' *'' Six Days Seven Nights (1998)'' *'' Sling Blade (1996)'' *'' Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)'' *'' Small Soldiers (1998)'' *''

Sneakers Sneakers (American English, US) or trainers (British English, UK), also known by a #Names, wide variety of other names, are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but are also widely used for everyday casual ...

(1992)'' *'' Species II (1998)'' *''

Speed In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. Intro ...

(1994)'' *'' Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)'' *''

Spy Hard ''Spy Hard'' is a 1996 American Spy film, spy parody film starring Leslie Nielsen (who also executive produced) and Nicollette Sheridan, parodying James Bond and other action films. The introduction to the film is sung by comedy artist "Weird A ...

(1996)'' *''

Street Fighter is a Media mix, Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom. Street Fighter 1, The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by List of Street Fighter video games, six other ma ...

(1994)'' *'' Star Trek: First Contact (1996)'' *''

Star Trek Generations ''Star Trek Generations'' is a 1994 American science fiction film and the seventh film in the Star Trek (film series), ''Star Trek'' film series. Malcolm McDowell joins cast members from the 1960s television show ''Star Trek: The Original Ser ...

(1994)'' *'' Strange Days (1995)'' *''

Supercop ''Police Story 3: Supercop'' (), released as ''Supercop'' in the United States and also known as ''Jackie Chan's Supercop'', is a 1992 Hong Kong action film directed by Stanley Tong. It is the third installment in the ''Police Story'' serie ...

(1992)'' *'' That Thing You Do! (1996)'' *''

There's Something About Mary ''There's Something About Mary'' is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ed Decter and John J. Strauss. The film features Cameron Diaz as the title character, while Ben S ...

(1998)'' *'' The Thin Red Line (1998)'' *'' The Thing (1982)'' *''

Tomorrow Never Dies ''Tomorrow Never Dies'' is a 1997 spy film, the eighteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode from a screenplay ...

(1997)'' *'' Twelve Monkeys (1995)'' *''

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

(1998)'' *''

Ulee's Gold ''Ulee's Gold'' is a 1997 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Victor Nuñez and starring Peter Fonda. Co-stars include Patricia Richardson, Christine Dunford, Tom Wood (actor), Tom Wood, Jessica Biel, J. Kennet ...

(1997)'' *''

Volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

(1997)'' *'' Waking Ned Devine (1998)'' *''

A Walk in the Clouds ''A Walk in the Clouds'' is a 1995 period romantic drama film directed by Alfonso Arau and starring Keanu Reeves, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Giancarlo Giannini, Angélica Aragón, Evangelina Elizondo, Debra Messing and Anthony Quinn. An in ...

(1995)'' *''

WarGames ''WarGames'' is a 1983 American techno-thriller film directed by John Badham, written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes, and starring Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood and Ally Sheedy. Broderick plays David Lightman, a ...

(1983)'' *'' Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)'' *''

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Wing commander is immediately se ...

(1999)'' *''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...

(1998)'' *'' Young Frankenstein (1974)''

References

External links

Divx Owners Association
Archived on April 17, 2008.
Official Website
Archived on May 8, 1999. {{DEFAULTSORT:Divx (Digital Video Express) Circuit City Audiovisual introductions in 1997 Discontinued media formats Digital rights management Video storage DVD Audiovisual ephemera

Format

History

Development and launch

Opposition

Demise

Hardware

List of films available on DIVX

See also

References

External links