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DivX specifically is not so useful now that windows (7? vista?) bundles good MPEG-4 decoders for both ASP and AVC (but on XP-class hardware, it was more performant than XviD). I think the DivX software bundle includes an encoder, so there's that.

There's still a few reasons directshow is still relevant:

- Getting video thumbnails for .mkv, .ogg, and .flv files in windows explorer

- Adding postprocessing filters (deblock, aspect ratio correction, pixel shaders, subtitling) to media players that don't otherwise support it (windows media player)

- Adding AV format and container support to your existing media player, for formats that Microsoft don't bundle decoders for (e.g. H.265, VP8, theora, daala, silk...)



These aren't very good reasons:

1. If video thumbnails don't work in Windows Explorer, Microsoft should fix that, or third parties should fix it by means other than malware installs.

2. Nobody should be using Windows Media Player. It's awful. Again, if it needs fixing, it should be fixed without malware.

3. If your existing media player lacks codecs, this can be fixed in several good ways. Malware is not the way to fix this.

I conclude that DivX is completely worthless, since it adds nothing that can't be better added in other ways, and is now aggressively evil as well.




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