[MPlayer-DOCS] manpage and HTML docs - FFmpeg MPEG-4 vs. DivX

[Jakub Misak]

Hi,

I'm new to this list, so excuse me if I don't send this to the right 
place.

The manpage still says in the encoding section that the "mpeg4" vcodec 
in -lavcopts is "DivX 4/5". The HTML docs also say that FFmpeg MPEG-4 
is DivX 4 or DivX 5.

Please, remove this nonsense. It is extremely harmful, damaging, 
confusing, irresponsible and stupid. It still confuses way too many 
people and hurts the open-source community, even the FFmpeg project 
itself.

For example, people write popular articles about video encoding in 
Linux that usually go like this:

"For the vcodec in -lavcopts, use mpeg4, which is DivX4 or DivX5, 
depending on which DivX version you have installed. Download DivX at 
www.divx.com."

Or like this:

"In our example, we'll use vcodec=mpeg4, which is either DivX4 or 
DivX5 (don't know what this depends on). Download DivX from 
www.divx.com."

This then influences tons of readers, who do stupid things. Like 
people who make multimedia packages for Linux distributions - they 
often have useless DivX dependencies even if the program doesn't and 
cannot use DivX at all. Or generally most Linux users who, sadly, are 
still victims of the incredibly powerful DivX myth, the strongest 
computer-related myth ever.

It's also one of the reasons why FFmpeg/libavcodec is totally unknown 
and ignored by almost everyone - most people either don't know it 
exists or think it's DivX, as people call it "DivX" all the time. 
People encode "to DivX" with livbavcodec, people use "the DivX codec 
from libavcodec" (for which they download DivX from www.divx.com). Or 
they simply use DivX, because they don't know it's useless in Linux 
and that there's some superior open-source alternative.

So, please, stop this DivX nonsense, stop calling MPEG-4 "DivX" for 
good. Make things clear, use the proper terms, even educate the 
users. Saying "DivX" instead of MPEG-4 doesn't make things more 
understandable and accessible - on the contrary, it causes massive 
confusion and supports the DivX myth. It's the same as calling Linux 
"Microsoft Windows", because it's an OS, too.

DivX is a commercial closed-source product (MPEG-4 codec) made by 
DivXNetworks, it's even their trademark, there's no other DivX.