Players not requiring codec

[nice1bruva]

I'm creating a multimedia cd-rom that requires the play back of a 600 x 480 video size, clearly and with a small file size to save space on the mini cd's that it will be distributed upon. The major problem is that the cd must work on most average computers without requiring the user to install anything to their machine. I chose DivX 4.12 for it's quality and most consitent tested results. The only player that I have found that currently plays these DivX movies without installing the codec first is THE PLAYA. Unfortunately this is a buggy piece of crap that seems to drop audio channels and stretch the video to incorrect aspects when tested across a number of different machines. If anyone could point me in the direction of a player that is able to play divx content without actually installing the codec to the machine ( I dont mind being restricted to a certain codec provided the quality and file size are good ) but it is most important that nothing is installed on the users computer.

Any suggestions appreciated
Cheers

[Enchanter]

I chose DivX 4.12 for it's quality and most consitent tested results.

Strange. I have always found the quality of DivX 3.11 and 5.02 much better than the 4.12.

The major problem is that the cd must work on most average computers without requiring the user to install anything to their machine.

Use the MS MPEG4 V2 codec (from which the DivX 3.11 is derived). Most Windows installations natively support its playback. Be warned that WMP 8 on WinXP has quirks playing MS MPEG4 V2 contents. You will need to use WMP 6.4 instead.

To get the best quality out of the codec, you will need to use Nandub, which allows 2-pass encoding.

[nice1bruva]

Is this going to be compatible with windows 98 users without forcing them to download a codec?

I dont remember seeing it as a widely distributed codec such as Indeo or Cinepak?

Cheers

[Enchanter]

Is this going to be compatible with windows 98 users without forcing them to download a codec?

From my own experienc, yes. I have reinstalled Win98SE (Don't know about the first edition though) a few times and without having installed any codecs, I tried playing MS MPEG4 V2-compressed AVIs and found that they all played perfectly. Changing the filter settings is not possible though, but it is nothing important in your case.