1) Getting Started & Layout

Getting started

To start using DivX Player after installation, you can either double-click on the desktop shortcut (these are generally created automatically during installation -- if you haven’t removed them you can use these shortcuts as an easy reference) or find the application under the Start menu > Programs > DivX folder.

Layout

DivX Player opens displaying the central media pane by default and the controls panes on each side. You'll see the menus at the top, the Media Library on the left, the burning engine on the right and playback controls on the bottom.

At the top of the left pane are two view buttons. Clicking either of these buttons changes the central screen display between Media Library (on the left) and Media View (on the right). The central pane will open to the Media View first, where you will eventually see your video play. If you change this to display the Media Library, you will see a list of all the video files stored in DivX Player’s Media Library.

Below the two view buttons is the Media Library pane, giving you options to manage the videos you see in your Media Library view.

This includes an “All Videos” section for files that have been added to the library—both DivX Video-on-Demand downloads and files imported from your hard drive. There's also the Download Manager, showing downloaded files, their download progress and status.



At the bottom are the names of any Playlists you have created for your Media Library files.

The right-hand pane is the burning queue and engine. Get more information on how to burn files in the “How To” section of this guide.

The bottom-center pane shows (from left to right) the basic playback controls, including the Play, Stop, Fast-Forward and Rewind buttons. This section also contains a scrolling bar showing the playback progress of the video and can be dragged to skip backwards or forwards; buttons for entering Full Screen mode, selecting audio and subtitle tracks, menus and chapters, opening the DFX Audio Enhancer control window, the volume control bar, and the ‘Open file’ button. Also, you’ll see a small blue pane that shows the total length and time elapsed of the selected video.

2) Video Display Modes & Menus

A few words on your Video Display modes…

If you want to minimize your distractions and see only the central media pane, you can close the exterior panels by clicking on the arrow tabs extending from the left and right panes. Click the arrow again to open the pane back up. Or, to hide the entire GUI and show only the media pane you can choose the sleek, minimalistic ‘Compact Mode’ by either right-clicking on your media pane and choosing Video Display > Compact Mode or using the shortcut Alt + C. If you want to see your video in all its glory, check out the ‘Full Screen Mode’ using the right-click menu, the keyboard shortcut (Alt + Return) or the bottom button for Full Screen Mode. You can exit Full Screen Mode by repeating the same action again or by pressing the 'Esc' key.



Menus

Here is a basic breakdown of each option in the three drop-down menus at the top-left of DivX Player. Most of them are self-explanatory. More complex functions are covered in detail in the “How To” section, so this is simply a summary of the drop-down menu functions.

File:

• Open: Find and select a file on your computer for playback
• Open URL…: There’s no need to download it to your computer first; just paste the video file URL and download while you watch. (More on how to do this later…)
• Open Recent File: See a list or go back to the videos your watched last
• Import File(s) to Library: Add one or more videos to the Media Library (to select multiple, hold down the Ctrl key as you select each file)
• Import Folder to Library: Same as ‘Import File’, but for an entire folder of videos at once
• Create New Playlist: Make an empty playlist to which you can later add videos from the Media Library
• Exit: You guessed it. As in, “Close the window and shut down the program.”

Tools:

• User Account: Create or log in to your account to watch DivX VOD content on your PC
• Device Manager: Register a DivX Certified device (e.g. DVD player) to play DivX VOD content on a compatible DVD player, mobile phone, etc
• Audio Enhancer:  Opens the DFX Audio Enhancer, which enriches the playback quality of your videos’ soundtracks
• Preferences: From the general to the specific; more info on this in “Right-click options” below

Help:

• DivX Player Help: Links to the DivX Support site to ask a question or search FAQs
• Keyboard Shortcuts: In case you don’t want to look them up in this guide later ;-)
• DivX Player Version History:  Links to a webpage logging the changes to eac  of the past versions
• Forgotten Password...: In case you can’t remember your password to log in to your account
• DivX Author--Create DivX Movies:  Online info about our video authoring program
• About the DivX Player: Get details about your DivX Player version and currently selected video file

Right-click options

You can access important settings for the application by right- clicking your mouse over the media pane. A menu will appear with options leading to other menus for tuning and tweaking settings and defaults to your heart’s content. Some of these are accessible from other locations or shortcuts, so if the name causes you a little déjà vu, you’ll know why.

Video Display:

• Normal: Watch the video in the default DivX Player window
• Compact: Watch the video with a simplified window 
• Full Screen: Fill your monitor with video playback; no skin, no controls, nada
• Set Aspect Ratio: Choose 4:3, 16:9, set a “Custom” ratio or “Free” ratio to best suit your video’s resolution or your monitor, or just because you can
• Change Video Size: Zoom your video in or out without changing your Video Display mode

Preferences

Here you will see the subcategories to access, enable and disable basic available playback functions, file and application settings in DivX Player. If you already have a video chosen for playback in DivX Player, only the Preferences that are applicable to that file will be available; all others will be grayed-out. If you do not have any video clip selected for playback in DivX Player, all options will be available.

• General: Manage the global settings for the DivX Player application 
• Default Media Folder: The folder where your downloaded video files will be saved 
• General Preferences: Enable or disable banner ads, and change application window settings 
• Startup and File Opening: Select what you prefer to see first when you open the program 
• Media Library: Manage the library settings for DivX Player 
• Media Library Settings: Default settings for downloading and importing files 
• Default View: Choose your preferred view for the media pane on startup 
• When Importing Files: Designate whether to play the files from their stored location or make a copy to the DivX Player Media Library
• Playback:• Manage your playback settings 
• Playback Options: Loop your video, turn off screen savers or disable the DivX interactive menus (more on this later)
• Default Playback View: Normal, Full screen or Compact 
• Language:• Manage audio and subtitle track settings 
• Audio Settings: Set default language for your soundtracks 
• Subtitle Settings: Set default language for your subtitles 
• External Subtitles: Enable file detection and choose more subtitle display preferences 
• Video: Manage image and decoder settings 
• Playback Quality: Adjust post-processing, sharpening and deblocking settings for a smoother picture 
• Image Settings: Set brightness, contrast, saturation and intensity to personalize your playback 
• Advanced: Manage advanced settings for the DivX Player application 
• Restore Player Defaults: Restore all the settings you just changed back to their default values
• Video Output: Use the default ‘Best Available’ renderer to decode your video, or switch to Direct 3D, Direct Draw, GDI or OpenGL; select a Deinterlacing Method for video files that are interlaced.

3) File Info & Keyboard Shortcuts

File information

Selecting ‘File Information’ lets you look up some basic information about your video file such as its location on your hard drive or metadata. Choosing this option opens a small window displaying the file name, location, video tracks with codec, resolution and frame rate, and audio or subtitle tracks and their respective details. This can be useful if you want to check program compatibility or change any playback preferences to best suit the video file.

Tracks, Menus, Chapters:

• Audio Tracks: Turn off audio, see and select available audio track(s), or access the audio settings
• Subtitle Tracks: Turn off subtitles, see and select available subtitle track(s), or access subtitle settings
• Menus: Access menus for root, title, chapters, audio or subtitles, where available. Or go straight to the main feature (i.e. your video)
• Chapters: If your file has chapter points, you can see and select them here.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcuts are displayed in the right-click menu next to the respective action (when available) or they can be accessed through the Help menu. Here is a cheat sheet of keyboard shortcuts available in DivX Player:

• Play/Pause: [SPACE BAR]
• Compact Mode: [Alt] > [C]
• Rewind: [Ctrl] > [<-]
• Full screen Mode: [Alt] > [Enter]
• Fast Forward: [Ctrl] > [->]
• Normal Size: [Alt] > [1]
• Stop: [Ctrl] > [SPACE BAR]
• Half Size: [Alt] > [2]
• Open a File: [Ctrl] > [O]
• Double Size: [Alt] > [3]
• Preferences: [Ctrl] > [P]
• Exit: [Alt] > [F4]
• Main Menu: [M]