If you download video files on a regular basis, then you are probably already familiar with DivX. It's one of the most common video compression formats available. Most files have the extension .avi or .divx.

What you may not know is that you aren't restricted to just watching these files on your computer. There's quite a bit of hardware available, including DVD Players, that will allow you to watch DivX-encoded files on your television. Philips, in particular, is heavily involved in DivX-certified hardware and the company has a number of different DVD players available that will play nearly any type of video format that you throw at it.

If you're in the market for a DivX DVD Player, take a look at some of these options. All of these DVD players are DivX-certified. In addition to playing DivX, they will also play mp3 files too and display jpeg image files. One of these devices is also a DVD Recorder, so you have quite a few options here and I'm sure you'll find the right machine for you.

The Philips DVP5982 DVD Player with USB is the one that I own. I bought it to replace one of Philips first divx-compatible players, the DVP642.

Like its siblings, the Philips DVP5982 is Ultra DivX Certified and plays DivX as well as most other avi and xvid files with no problem. In addition to accepting a multitude of disc-based media storage types -- CD, CD-R-RW,MP3/WMA, DVD, DVD-R/+R -- it also has a USB port. Just attach a flash drive and you can play your files directly without having to burn them to disc.

In addition to the DivX certification, this Philips DVD Player is also "up converting" which means that if you connect the DVD player to your HD-TV with the HDMI inputs, it will upconvert the resolution on a standard DVD to 1080i

The Philips DVP5240, in addition to playing DivX and other file types such as VCD, SVCD and Windows media, also is a dual format machine. This means that it will play both NTSC and PAL DVDs, so you can buy your DVDs from both Region 1 (USA) and Region 2 (UK).

This is very handy. My previous Philips dvd player did the same thing and it is very easy to code the machine to play your R2 discs (just check the reviews on Amazon, someone there has listed the instructions). If you are a fan of British tv, in particular, then you may find this machine is right up your alley as some DVDs never make it stateside. The internal processor takes care of the conversion between PAL and NTSC. It actually should play DVDs from other regions as well, but I have only ever tested Region 2 discs personally.

The Pioneer DV-400V-K DVD player is another great multi-format (NTSC, Pal) machine that also has a USB port. This port accepts both flash drives and external hard drives. It also upconverts to 1080p if you have a HD Television and use the hdmi inputs.

The Pioneer has excellent reviews on Amazon and you really can't go wrong with this device. The price is great too.

Are you ready to take your DivX media on the road? The Toshiba SD-P2900 is one of the few portable DVD players that is DivX certified. It also includes a built-in memory-card reader that accepts Secure Digital, Memory Stick, XD Picture Card, and MultimediaCard. So if you get a large enough memory card, you could just carry your DivX media on those rather than carrying bulky and scratchable CDs and DVDs around with you.

And when you get home, you can just hook up the Toshiba portable dvd player to your tv or home theatre system.

This right here is a killer deal. The Toshiba DivX certified DVD converter that also upconverts is selling for less than a $100 on Amazon. It is the no. 1 selling DVD recorder on Amazon and it is a great Toshiba product.

If you're in the market for a DVD player that plays DivX, but you've been thinking about recording DVDs as well, then you should definitely take a look at this model as it plays as well as records. Since it also upconverts to 1080p, this may be one of the best bargains on Amazon.