Letters to the Editor
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Not The Same
Div-X is now an encoding type, but the original intent of the media wasn't a new format, it was just a way to make an exiting format more limited.
The DivX codec has absolutely nothing to do with the failed DIVX (Digital Video Express) scheme.
DIVX discs were essentially standard DVD's with additional encryption, which could only be viewed for 48 hours after the initial screening before being discarded. Introduced in late 1998, DIVX flopped within a year, having encountered massive consumer resistance.
The DivX codec is an implementation of MPEG-4, and beginning in 1998 was one of the first codecs widely available to computer users which offered DVD-like picture quality at substantially reduced bitrates. Its name was a sarcastic reference to the hated DIVX discs, and was originally written with a winking emoticon, i.e. DivX ;-)