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Why you shouldn't even consider buying a pay-per-view DVD (DIVX) player


Unnecessary:

1.    DVD players with the DIVX add on will cost the consumer about
    $100 more unit average cost
2.    There are plenty of rental places and starting this month they
    will offer DVD rentals as low as $1.99 compared to the starting
    price of $4.50 per DIVX encrypted disc
3.    Most people have cable boxes in their home but rarely use that
    Pay-per-view feature 

Less Features:

1.     DIVX discs will not have extra features, trailers, wide screen
    options, extra commentary etc...
2.     Because of the low $4.49 rental/sale price of the discs it
    won't be cost effective to release the discs with these features
    without raising the starting rental price

Confusion:

1.     DIVX is very confusing to many people.   This can only stifle
    the DVD market and could possible kill the format.

Inconvenient:

1.     With DIVX you MUST have a phone line connected to your machine.
    Many people don't have phones near their TV and must figure a way
    to hook up the machine.
2.     With DIVX you must connect every few weeks for them to check what
    you have been watching or all your discs are inaccessible till you do.
3.     With DIVX you have an account you have to follow.  Maybe your kids
    accidentally showed the car scene in Jurassic Park to their friends and
    you now owe $3.25
4.     If anything goes wrong with your hardware you must settle your
    account to make your discs accessible again.   Hopefully they have
    the right info on file for all the discs you paid for unlimited viewing.
5.     Even if you pay for unlimited viewing on a DIVX disc,  it is not
    the same as an Open DVD disc.  You still can't take the disc to a
    friends house with out first asking permission from DIVX.  And if
    you forget to call DIVX your friend will be charged for the viewing.
6.     Computers will never have a DIVX add-on.  If you buy or rent a
    DVD title you can play it on either your computer DVD or your home
    DVD.  Some people will only have a computer DVD with an output to
    their TV because computer DVD's are becoming more standard now.
7.     Believe it or not, some people don't have a phone at all?
    Granted most people do, but even if you move and don't have a phone
    hooked up yet you may be locked out of all your discs.
8.     DIVX in order to gain market share and kill DVD rentals may make
    agreements with certain manufacturers to only offer certain titles in
    the DIVX format.  This will screw over anyone that wants to buy the
    DVD or rent the DVD.  Imagine if Star Wars is released this way.
9.     There is only one company that makes DIVX players in the beginning
    and it is Zenith, which almost went out of business this year.  Not
    a big selection.
10.    Since DIVX came out long after the launch of DVD, there are over
    a thousand less titles offered so far.
11.    What do you do if the DIVX project is stopped?  Everything you
    bought is wasted, unlike an open DVD disc.
  

Anti-Competition:

1.     With DVD rentals there is much competition, like VHS rentals
    to keep prices in check.  Some of the biggest companies like Tower,
    Blockbuster, and Hollywood Video already offer rentals or will be
    offering them by 7/1/98.
2.    With DIVX, the discs everyone can sell, but when you want to
    watch it again you can only do it through DIVX.  Think about that.
    You now have all these encrypted discs and you have no one to protect
    you from them raising the price to re-rent it.  Not even other companies.
3.    If DIVX is successful and some of the biggest rental places and
    most certainly all the small rental places could close down.  This
    will decrease competition in not only the DVD-DIVX market but the
    VHS market.   Most likely it would just kill both formats.
4.    Circuit City spend $100 Million dollars to own a part of the DIVX
    corporation.  Since they are one of the biggest consumer electronic
    companies in the nation, they have power to make the manufacturers
    to just make DVD players with the DIVX add-on.  And if they do that
    you are getting DIVX if you like it or not.
5.    If DVD players were $199 everyone would probably have one.  If DIVX
    succeeds and keeps the costs of these players in the $500+ range it
    will take longer for the DVD format to take off and keep prices of
    the movies and rental high, or kill both formats.
6.    What if the Movie studios don't give DIVX owners the option on
    certain movies to have unlimited viewing and the only way you can
    watch your absolute favorite movie is to pay-per-view it.  Again they
    are in charge here not the consumer if the DIVX format takes off.
7.    What if the DIVX people start to charge a monthly fee to keep up
    with your account and billing?  What will stop them after you have
    bought-rented 20 or so titles?

Little Black Boxes:

1.     Like cable, once the DIVX players hit the market people will
    be trying to make a box to get around the encryption and be able to
    watch the DIVX titles over and over for free.  And they probably
    will succeed if history has taught us anything.
2.     When the big companies start to lose their piece of their pie
    with the DIVX piracy, the only way they can recoup is to raise
    prices on the DIVX media and the re-rentals for the honest customers.
    After all how much of the $4.50 could they be making?


False Viewings and Bill disputes

1.     Ok, DIVX says you watched a movie 3 times?  What if you don't
    think you did?  What if your kids popped in a movie or a guest tried
    out your cool new DVD player and didn't know.  What do you do?
2.     If you have bad credit there is a possibility that the DIVX people
    could cancel your account or not do business with you and you have 
    no other company to unlock you video library and all the titles you
    bought for rent are useless

Big Brother Watching you - Invasion Of Privacy:

1.     With DIVX, not only do they know what movie you are watching they
    will know the time of day you watch it, how often you watch it,
    (if you take it to a friends) where you watch it, by serial number
    they will know where you bought it
2.     What if you like pornography? DIVX won't offer it but they may
    record you're viewing habits on DVD rentals and store it in their
    computers which when hacked may be posted on the net

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Studio/8884/divx.htm