Multimedia Hardware

Platforms Options

• Although the IBM PC is commonly used for development, many professional developers prefer the features of the Apple Mac.
• Some argue that the best development tools become available for the Mac platform first, and that it is better suited to working with graphics.
• Apple has collaborated with IBM and Motorola, to produce a new generation of computers the Power PC, which is able to emulate the PC platform.

The MPC Level Platform

• The MPC computer is a multimedia platform defined as a minimum standard rather than describing specific equipment.
• There are currently three standard MPC computers
• MPC level 1
• MPC level 2
• MPC level 3

The MPC Level Platform

• Suppliers of MPC computers submit their machines to validation tests and will guarantee that software written to the standard will run on their machines.
• The latest standard multimedia PC level 3 specification was released by the Multimedia PC Working Group in June 1995

The MPC Level Platform

	MPC 2 - 1993	MPC 3 - 1996
RAM	4MB	8MB
Processor	25MHZ 486SX	75mhz Pentium
Hard Drive	160MB	540MB
CD-ROM Drive	300KB/sec	600KB/sec(‘Quad Speed’) 4X CD-ROM
Audio	16-bit digital sound	16-bit digital sound
Video playback	n/a	MPEG1 Support
System Software	Windows 3.0 plus multimedia extensions	Windows 3.11

• Essential elements of MPC standards