Films Online

Downloading MP3s from the Net–whether it be music-swapping through Napster

or just visiting sites to search for the music you want–has today become

second nature to most computer users. The prime reason behind this popularity is

the fact that MP3s are small files, easy to download and store on your hard disk

or burn on a CD, and give near CD-quality music. Now, the video front also seems

to be poised for the same scenario.

Distributing good-quality digital video over the Net has been a very

cumbersome task, because videos are huge files that take a long time to download

and are difficult to store on your hard disk. Moreover, the quality of the

downloaded file makes the whole process a task that’s better left undone.

However, the spread of broadband (which translates to much higher bandwidths)

coupled with two ‘hacker’ utilities, DeCSS and DivX, have opened the doors

to online distribution of good-quality digital video. In the process, the two

utilities have also opened a Pandora’s box of issues and controversies, not to

mention lawsuits.

DeCSS is a small utility that breaks the encryption scheme of DVDs and allows

you to copy the contents onto your hard disk so that you can view it on your PC.

DeCSS was initially developed to allow Linux users to watch DVDs on their PCs,

because there were no DVD players for the Linux operating system. It has,

however, now become the subject of lawsuits backed by the Motion Picture

Association of America (MPAA) and the DVD Copyright Control Association (DVD CCA),

on charges of promoting piracy, circumventing copy protection, etc. (See ‘The

Battle Over DeCSS’, page 128, PC Quest February 2001 for more on how DeCSS

works and the legal issues involved.)

Unencrypted DVD content got through DeCSS is, however, difficult to share

online because of its huge size, which is between 4—9 GB. This is where DivX–usually

written as DivX;-)–plays a crucial role. The smiley face is intended to

satirize a now defunct technology by the same name that was intended to prevent

piracy.

DivX allows a 90-minute DVD movie to be compressed to about one-tenth or less

of its original size, thereby making it small enough to download from the Net

and even burn on a regular 650 MB CD, without much loss in quality. With DivX,

it’s possible to download a two-hour movie in 45 minutes to two hours,

depending on your Net connect.

The codec (compression-decompression) was developed by a French video

engineer and hacker, Jerome Rota, and has gained immense popularity in the

hacker world since its release last year. DivX uses MPEG-4 for video encoding

(hacked from a beta version of Windows Media Player) and is available for all

operating systems. You can download and play DivX encoded movies using Windows

Media Player.

How DivX works

Encoding a DVD movie is a long process that can take up to 10 hours and

requires lots of hard-disk space and processing power. You need a variety of

software including DivX for the task. The process begins with using DeCSS or an

application like SmartRipper to rip the files off the DVD and copy them to your

hard disk. These files have a VOB extension and can occupy up to 9 GB of hard

disk space. Then, you use an application like FlasK MPEG that uses the DivX

codec to encode the movie into a DivX data stream. To handle the audio encoding,

you need a codec like Radium MP3, an application to extract the audio from the

VOB file, another one to enhance its quality, and finally an encoder to encode

the file into MP3 or other audio formats. Then, you need to merge the audio with

the video. Software like VirtualDub lets you encode audio and merge the audio

and video simultaneously. It also gives you the option of encoding audio into

MP3 or DivX audio. To play the encoded file, you need the DivX codec to decode

the movie (this happens automatically), and Windows Media Player.

Crystal gazing

Till now, DivX was largely a hackers’ technology, mainly because using it

is a technical task that’s difficult for average PC users. Most DivX codecs

are anyway illegal, because they’re based on Microsoft’s proprietary

technology. However, the DivX code has now been made open source under a project

called OpenDivX, which is also working on developing the second version of DivX,

DivX Deux. The objective of the OpenDivX project, which is being managed by a

startup called Project Mayo, is to develop compression ratios of up to 50

percent (as compared to 10—20 percent currently) and better video quality with

DivX. It will also make DivX easy to use so that it can move beyond the hacker

world to mainstream usage and become the standard for video compression, much

like MP3 is for music.

While DivX was based on Microsoft’s proprietary technology, developers

claim that OpenDivX doesn’t use any of Microsoft’s code. So, any issues

arising from the illegal use of Microsoft’s proprietary software have been put

to rest with this version of DivX. The OpenDivX encoder and decoder, however,

are MPEG-4 compliant.

The ball has been set rolling by OpenDivX, but there are other players as

well in the digital video download field. Another open-source project called

3ivx aims to develop a version of DivX that would make the files even smaller

and allow movies to be streamed–that is, movies can be played as they are

downloaded. This would have the added advantage of making piracy difficult

because movies won’t be saved on the user’s hard disk. At the same time,

Blockbuster, a retail chain store that rents DVDs has decided to distribute up

to 500 videos legally over the Web.

This scenario has interesting implications for the movie industry. The

distribution and download of DVD-quality videos seem to be a real scenario for

the near future, as both the technology and infrastructure are falling into

place. This can be viewed as a threat or as an opportunity. Codecs like DivX and

DivX Deux can promote large-scale piracy as movies are decrypted and distributed

over the Net. However, they could also be used by the film industry to offer

their content legitimately over the Web, for example, license it to Websites and

make money from it.

DivX has the advantage of being compatible with MPEG-4, which makes it an

appropriate standard for digital television broadcasts, because MPEG-4 is

related to the broadcast format used in digital television. Moreover, being

MPEG-4 compliant means that DivX supports Digital Rights Management, a type of

software that prevents illegal distribution of paid content over the Web. Both

these factors make it suitable for distributing digital video content online

legitimately.

The stage seems set for more action and developments as the plot progresses

to its climax. It’s a scenario the film industry can benefit from, or be

troubled with, depending on how the potential of this technology will be

exploited.

Pragya Madan