Divx Display at Circuit City

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Site created 12/15/97.

page created: 9/15/98

Divx at the Good Guys
Orange County, CA (Tustin store)

Well, it finally happened. Divx has arrived at my local area retailers. Or should I say retailer. As part of a move to rollout Divx nationwide, my local Good Guys store received their Divx display on Friday. As you can see below, the display isn't much: a single $499 Zenith DVD player (which is on top, all the others are open DVD players by Divx-supporting manufacturers), and a rack of about 40 Divx movies.

Unfortunately, if you feel like swinging by to see Divx for yourself, forget it. Oh, you can see the player and discs all right. But don't bother to ask if you can see an actual Divx disc playing on the player - they can't do it. You see, there's no phone line to hook up the player and establish an account. So all you're likely to see (and this is born out by numerous consumer sightings at other stores as well) is a Divx player playing an open DVD disc (in this case a concert DVD).

What about the software you ask? Well, I'll admit some of the 40 titles were impressive. Good Will Hunting, That Thing You Do, A Life Less Ordinary, Mouse Hunt, Rising Sun and Alien Resurrection were among the handful of titles not on DVD, that were on display for $4.49 each. But of course, all are in full frame. And as I'm told that many still have that "rain-splattering" video problem (which, of course, I couldn't verify as I couldn't actually see a Divx disc), why bother. So how much do the salespeople make if they sell a Divx movie? 17 cents... that's it. So they could sell you a stack and still not even make enough to buy lunch.

The folks at this particular Good Guys store set up their Divx display on Friday night. I came in on Sunday, and I'm told that I was the first person to actually pick up a Divx movie. Most folks just ignore it all. A guy next to me was looking at the display, and then asked about open DVD instead - he soon got an enthusiastic open DVD sales pitch. I'll give them credit: officially, all the sales people I spoke with, professionally told me that they can't disparage the product. Unofficially... well, you can probably guess how most of them feel about Divx. I've been told that Good Guys stores have sold a grand total of 4 Divx players since the test run began. They can't keep the DVD players in stock, particularly the Sony, Toshiba and Pioneer models.

Divx is just a complicated, contradictory mess. I think their own training video illustrates this best. According to one salesman on the video, hot movies are always available, "because Divx movies are purchased, not rented. Popular titles are stocked to meet customer demand. So you should never have to go away frustrated or be forced to make a second choice." But not five minutes later, another would-be salesman on the video says, "Divx allows you to build a home movie library, that you can rent again for around $3.25." So which is it, buy... or rent? The tape also makes it clear that "Divx is a feature of DVD, not a separate format." That must be why the DVD Forum refused to allow Divx to be part of the standard. Another salesman chimes that because Divx is DVD, you get "the sharpest, most detailed picture available, and spectacular CD-quality sound. The colors are more accurate, the edges are more defined, and the sound rivals any theater around. The discs are small and never need to be rewound." So why not just buy open DVD? When asked why Divx doesn't have all the features of so-called 'basic' DVD, another salesman on the tape says "Divx can do widescreen and all the rest. It's still a DVD disc. But they found that consumer demand for it's just not there." That must be why this particular store can't keep DVD players in stock. Here's the funniest thing - what do you suppose are the features you get from Divx? Here's the answer, right from the sales tape: "Reverse, fast-forward, skip from scene to scene. And you're always free to pause at any time. It's not just remote control - it's complete control!" Yee-ha...

Can you tell that I was unimpressed by the Divx display at my local Good Guys store? Well, in what I think is a supremely funny aside, it's more than the local Circuit City store has. You see, the Circuit City store across the street not only doesn't have Divx, they don't even have their DVD players hooked up right. All of them are connected to 4:3 sets, but are playing in anamorphic mode, and so the picture appears squished. When I asked the vacant-eyed sales kid about this, he said, "Ah... I don't know. I'll be back in a minute..." He never returned. I left Circuit City in stitches. Idiots.