'The Orwellian aspects of it concerned people,' Posten said. Divx then bills the viewer's credit card. Each Divx player has an internal modem that dials into Divx headquarters and reports additional viewing. But after that, the customer has to pay $3.25 for additional peeks. The heavily encrypted Divx discs sell for about $5 and allow unlimited viewing for 48 hours. But the creators designed the system so that the viewers would have to pay for each viewing of a movie. But it was the product's potential for invasion of privacy that particularly infuriated DVD partisans.ĭivx devices play back movies much as DVD players and VCRs do. Opponents also complained that Divx would pose an environmental hazard with an increase in disposable plastic junk. 'When Divx came forward and tried to interfere with that, they slighted the early adopters,' Tannehill said.

But the introduction of Divx, uncannily timed to be close to the introduction of DVD, raised fears of a format war like VHS versus Beta - which slowed the growth of the VCR category. DVD players are packed with features such as directors' commentaries and wide-screen viewing options. Until Divx arrived on the scene, DVD had been slated as the successor to the VCR.

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