Previously, digital media could only be viewed on a PC, so that users were stuck to a computer if they wanted to enjoy media stored in certain formats. HD Media players provides other avenues for users to enjoy their video and audio. They are used for playing digital media files in a media centre or on home theater systems. Given the fact that file-playing is its main purpose, a digital media player will need to be able to play as many file types as possible.
There are many consumer devices for recording media, ranging from the video cameras on many cell phones, to music recorded in a studio or on a PC. The various devices used to create media may also store the files in different formats. Digital media players allow the user to store and play the different formats without the need to purchase more than one device. Even DVDs may be played using a media player. DVDs can be “ripped”, so that the files stored on them can be saved to a hard drive or other storage media. HD media players are essentially hard drives for storing and playing media files. There are many file format options for storing both video and audio media, in fact, the variety of file formats in which this data may be stored could be described as “immense”. The file formats, which are denoted by different filename extensions, represent ways in which the data contained in a media file is compressed or encoded. Each different format has its benefits and drawbacks.
Some players are able to play a larger subset of formats than others. The quality of a media player (also sometimes called a media box) may be judged by the number of file formats it can play.
The most common and well-known compression format for audio is the MP3, which can be played by most devices. When compared to WAV files (uncompressed audio) they are smaller, which means that a user can fit more of them unto a hard drive than files that have not been compressed. This can be done without much loss of quality when compared to the original recording. This is the goal with many file formats, namely, to achieve a small size without losing audio and/or video quality.
Another fairly common format for audio and video is the MP4 format, which is often referred to as a “container format”, in that the video and audio it contains may each have been encoded using different types of compression. It is a relatively common format that most digital media players will be able to play without issue.
DIVX can refer another compression format that is known for its ability to maintain high video quality, even though DIVX compressed files may be relatively small in size. The term may also refer to a container format that can have audio and video tracks within it and that would have the .divx filename extension. DIVX files are not as common as MP3 files or MP4s. In order to play these files, the user will need a DIVX player or software to convert DIVX files to another format.
MKV is an open standard container format, based on the proprietary DIVX format. One of the benefits of this format is that it can store an unlimited number of tracks, including audio, video and subtitles. There are many software MKV players available for download, but if a user wants to was MKV files on a home theater system, the most convenient way is to use a media player capable of opening them.
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