III. How To
Here you will find basic step-by-step instructions on how to use DivX Player 7 for Windows.
1) Playback Controls
Playback controls & features
The basic playback controls for opening and watching your videos in DivX Player allow you to pause, fast-forward, and rewind or stop playing your video at any time.
In the Normal Mode Video Display, the playback controls are located below the media view where your video plays. In Full Screen Mode, you can show the playback controls in a small pop-up window by clicking anywhere on the playback screen. In Compact Mode the playback controls do not display but you can use Keyboard Shortcuts to control playback.
You can choose to play your video in DivX Player two ways. The first is to locate the file on your computer and choose to open it with DivX Player. If DivX Player is your default program for your DivX files, double-clicking the file name will automatically open DivX Player and begin playing the video. If not, you can right-click the file name; select "Open with…" and choose DivX Player from the list. If DivX Player is already open, you can simply drag and drop the file from its location to the DivX Player GUI.
The second way to play your video in DivX Player is to open the program first, either through the desktop shortcut or your Start menu. Then go to the File menu and select Open, or click the ‘open’ icon in the playback controls bar (to the right of the volume control slider). An Open box will open for you to find your file on your computer. Select the file, click 'OK', and then select Play to watch the video.
New and improved: Trickplay
New to DivX Player 7 is a feature called Trickplay that gives you a faster, more frame-accurate ability to seek during playback of your videos.
Previously, after fast-forwarding or rewinding with the seek bar during playback, your video may have stalled or choppily transitioned to the nearest key frame in the video rather than the exact point where you stopped seeking. This sluggish interruption of your viewing experience has become nearly undetectable in DivX Player 7.
High Definition H.264 and AAC (.mkv) playback
With DivX 7 comes new technology that enables playback of DivX Plus HD videos. DivX Plus HD is a new DivX video profile for MKV files containing high definition H.264 video and surround sound AAC audio. This means even better HD video playback in DivX Player and other DirectShow-based media players (for example, Windows Media Player and Real Player).
For more information on H.264 and why it has been added to DivX 7, take a look at our “What is H.264?” FAQ. Or, for some history and more technical details on how DivX has tested and developed our implementation of H.264, check out the Project Rémoulade page on DivX Labs.
MKV files
DivX Player will be able to play back H.264 video and AAC audio within the MKV file container (no audio-only files). The DivX Plus video profile in DivX 7 software also includes the DivX H.264 Decoder filter and the DivX MKV Demux filter. These DirectShow filters extend playback support for .mkv files with H.264 video streams to all DirectShow-based media players in addition to your DivX Player 7. (Note: The DivX MKV Demux filter does not override any other MKV file splitters installed.)
MKV is a file container that may contain a variety of formats, but most .mkv files contain H.264 video with AAC or MP3 audio. H.264 video in an AVI container can also be played back in DivX Player 7 as it can play back .mkv or .avi files with H.264 and AAC, but .mkv files containing other video or audio formats are not supported.
What’s new about DivX Plus HD Playback?
In addition to the ability to watch awesome high definition video, some of the exciting new technical improvements supporting H.264 in DivX 7 for Windows include:
- High-performance H.264 video decoding with support for Baseline, Main, High, High 10, and High 4:2:2 profiles, full interlace support, real-time handling of interlaced H.264 video, multithreaded decoding on up to 8 CPU cores and optimizations for MMX, SSE and SSE2 instruction sets.
- Multichannel AAC (LC/HE) decoding
- Support for .mkv files including:
- Multiple audio tracks for multilingual audio, directors commentary or isolated musical scores
- Multiple subtitle tracks for multilingual subtitles
- Ordered chapters for chaining .mkv files together during playback
- Support for .mkv file splitting with DMF Demux at a low merit
- Initial support for SSA and ASS subtitles which can either be stored within the .mkv file or externally
- Fast frame-accurate seeking
Make Default
Making DivX Player the default media player
The easiest way to make DivX Player your default media player is to select a video to watch with the DivX Player. Right-click on the file, roll over “Open With” and select “Choose Program…” Now select DivX Player from the list and be sure to mark the box labeled “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file.” The DivX Player is now the default player for this type of file.
2) Multiple audio tracks
If your video has more than one audio track (e.g. for other languages) you can switch between these easily while playing your video or set one language as your default.
To switch between audio tracks, right click on the media pane then select ‘Audio Tracks.’ In the next menu, choose the track you want to play. Click ‘OFF’ to disable audio, or go to “Audio Settings…” to manage the language preferences. The DivX Player Preferences window will open. Under ‘Audio Settings,’ check the box to use default audio settings when available and select your preferred language from the drop-down menu. Click ‘Apply’ then ‘OK’ to return to playback.
If your video did not come with a secondary audio track but you have acquired one that you would like to add to your video, you can join the audio file to the video file using a muxing tool such as DivXMuxGUI. Once the audio has been “muxed” (i.e. joined) to the video, the additional audio track will be available for playback in DivX Player.
3) Subtitles
If your video has subtitles, you can choose which set of subtitles (for multiples) to use and set defaults in the same way you access your audio tracks.
Right-click on the central media pane in DivX Player and select ‘Subtitle Tracks’ from the list. ‘OFF’ will disable subtitles and a checkmark shows which track is chosen for playback. To choose a different track, just click on its name.
For subtitle preferences, select “Subtitle Settings…” The DivX Player Preferences window will open. Under ‘Subtitle Settings,’ check the box to use default subtitle settings. Pick your language from the drop-down menu. Click ‘Apply’ then ‘OK.’
If your subtitles are in an external file (e.g., an srt file) then you can select these when you open the video file by following these steps:
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To join the external subtitle file permanently to your video, use the DivXMuxGUI tool in the same way you would join your audio files.
External subtitles
A few important things to keep in mind when using external subtitles:
If you want DivX Player to automatically detect a corresponding .srt subtitle file, make sure you have the files named properly and saved to the correct location. External subtitles can be opened in text editors such as Notepad; but they must have subtitle suffix, such as .srt, rather than the .txt text file extension. The .srt file needs to be in the same folder as the video file and have the same file name of the video. For example, if your video file is “myvideo.divx” the subtitle file would be “myvideo.srt”.
If you are using foreign characters, you may want to save the file in a different encoding format. Generally, the UTF-8 format works well. To change the character encoding setting, open the file in Notepad and select Save As > (All Files) Encoding: UTF-8. Changing this can usually correct any display problems associated with subtitles using character encoding other than ASCII.
If your subtitles are not displaying, try disabling the advanced hardware overlay. Go to Start > All Programs > DivX > DivX Codec > Decoder Configuration Utility. Select the Decoder tab and under Video Settings; uncheck the box that says "Use advanced hardware overlay".
4) Media Library and playlists
Media library and playlists
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To create a new playlist, click on the create playlist button located in the bottom left-hand corner of DivX Player. (It looks like a little folder with a “+” on it.)
A new window will appear where you can name the list. Write the playlist name and click ‘OK.’ Your newly created playlist will appear in the Media Library. You can now select your videos for the playlist from the Media Library’s All Videos view by clicking and dragging the file over to the playlist name, or by right-clicking and selecting ‘Add to Playlist…’ |
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To play movies in your playlist simply select the first movie you wish to play and double-click or click the play icon.
You also have the following options when you right-click on your playlist:
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5) Download Manager
The Download Manager is a tool that manages all the DivX videos you download from websites selling DivX Video-on-Demand (VOD) content. DivX VOD downloads require you to log in to your DivX Player account for authentication purposes.
Once user authorization is complete, DivX Player begins downloading the video file and gives real-time feedback on completion percentage. The time required to download a video is dependent upon the size and length of the video being downloaded and your Internet connection speed. At any point during the download process, you can stop your video download. When you want to resume your download, all you need to do is re-open the Download Manager, choose your video and click the “Resume Download” link. The Download Manager figures out where you left off and continues downloading from that point.
An additional feature of DivX Player is progressive playback. DivX Player estimates your average bandwidth throughput and allows you to start playing your video while it's downloading. It allows you to do this by determining that your download speed is faster than your playback speed and/or you have downloaded enough of the video that your playback won’t catch up with your download. This means if you have a DSL or cable connection, you may only have to wait a few minutes to start playing back a 90-minute video.
Since DivX VOD files are not streaming, you only have to download the file once. After you complete the download, you don’t have to wait for the video to be pushed to your computer again or be interrupted with variable bandwidth speed and the annoyance of buffering, because you will be playing your video from your hard drive.
After downloading a video in DivX Player, you will see a pop-up window asking if you would like to “Burn Video to Disc?” To start burning your video file to a CD or DVD, click “Burn”. To close the box and go straight to your video playback, select “Cancel”. If you never want to be prompted to burn after a download, check the box “Do not show this dialog in the future.” For more info on burning your media to disc, read below.
6) Burning
Burning your videos to a CD or DVD in DivX Player is very easy. There are two ways to burn videos to disc. The first method is through DivX Player’s Media Manager and the second method uses a file manager such as Windows Explorer or a My Computer window.
From the Media Manager in DivX Player, right-click on the file(s) you want to burn and select “Add to Burn Queue.” If selecting more than one file, hold down the Ctrl key while you select the filenames with your cursor.
You can also add the file to the burn queue by simply dragging and dropping the file on the burn motor (the big round button on the right side). Just click on your video file to select it, drag it onto the big round button and release to drop the file.
From the Windows file manager, just drag and drop the video file from the Explorer window onto the big round button in the burning pane of DivX Player. Click on the ‘Burn’ button to begin burning your disc.
To delete a file from your burn queue, just click to select the movie and press the delete or backspace key or use the ‘Clear’ button. You can select several files from the list to delete at once. When deleting a file from your file manager, you won’t delete the original file unless you select to do so.
The files are sorted in alphabetical order when burned to a piece of media. Also, you can change the name of your disc in the Volume Name text field.
You can view the total file size or the space remaining on your disc (DVD or CD) below the orange burning image. If the files exceed the total size limit of your media, DivX Player will not let you burn the files.
Click on the ‘Burn’ button to start burning your video file(s) to your disc.
Once the burning starts, the disc will show you the burning steps and the percentage of files burned. It will take only a few minutes to burn files. Once this process is finished, a status window will appear with the message “Burn successful, you have successfully written X of X files to disc.” This window will also give you the option to clear the burn queue.
7) Creating a DivX VOD account
Creating the DivX VOD account
If you are purchasing DivX Video-on-Demand (VOD) content, you will need to create an account in DivX Player that will be used to authenticate your purchases. This should be created with the same email address that is used to buy the content online.
If you do not currently use DivX VOD services, you do not need to create an account. Regular, non-VOD DivX files do not require authentication.
You can create an account in DivX Player to watch content bought from DivX VOD services. Use this to validate your viewing rights or register your DivX Certified devices. To create an account open DivX Player, go to the Tools menu and select ‘User Account.’ In the account log in window, click the ‘Create Account’ button in the bottom left corner.
In the create account window, you will be asked for basic information such as your name, email address and password. Fill out all the fields then click the ‘Create Account’ button. We’ll send you a confirmation email with a link to complete the creation of your account. If you don’t see the email initially, double check in your email junk folders as the account needs to be verified before you can watch your DivX VOD content.
Changing your account info
To change the details of your account, log in as usual through the Tools menu. Once logged in you can change your name, security question and answer, or password by deleting the existing details and writing the new information in its place. Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update Account’ button to save your changes.
If you forgot your password, go to the Help menu and select “Forgotten Password…” Answer your security question and an email will be sent to you with a link to change your password.
Using the Device Manager
If you’re tired of watching videos on your small computer screen, why not kick back in front of your TV for a more comfortable viewing experience? Or take multitasking to a new level by taking your videos on the go.
If you have a DivX Certified device, the Device Manager lets you set it up for viewing DivX Video-on-Demand content on the bigger or smaller screens any time you feel like it. Any DivX Certified device will play non-VOD files, but for DivX VOD the device must be registered to your account.
You can access your Device Manager much in the same way as you create/login to your DivX Player account. Just go to the Tools menu of DivX Player and select Device Manager. (We’ll explain more later…)
8) DFX Audio Enhancer Plug-In
Register
The DFX Audio Enhancer Plug-In trial comes automatically installed with DivX Player. You can try the DFX Audio Enhancer for free during the first 30 days after the software is installed.
The DFX Audio Enhancer can be purchased at any time during or after the free trial. To purchase, open the DivX Player and go to Tools > Audio Enhancer… or just click the DFX button in the playback control pane.
Using DFX during playback
You may be wondering what exactly DFX is, or how it can better your video experience.
Most of the digital audio in videos transferred via the Internet is compressed to save space. This is great for sending files, but the quality of the soundtrack is consequently compromised. This is what is meant by “lossy compression.”
The DFX plug-in in your DivX Player restores the audio back to nearly its original quality, delivering a richer, fuller and more dynamic experience.
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When you access the DFX Audio Enhancer window, five main components affecting sound can be adjusted to your personal preference for speech or for two music processing modes.
Simply click the square radio buttons to the left of the five components to unlock access to the controls. When the mode’s button is green, you can use the slider bars to adjust the levels of each audio enhancing feature. |
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NOTE: This will only be accessible when you have selected a video for playback that has audio.