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1.1.1. |
|
1.1.1. |
"Multimedia PC (MPC)" is a trademark of the Multimedia PC Marketing Council, and describes an IBM-compatible PC that meets a certain minimum specification for multimedia delivery within an MS-Windows environment. The specification was first announced in 1991, but has recently been updated and uprated to "MPC Level-2".
Level-1 machines, based on the 386sx processor, are not sufficiently
powerful for advanced multimedia CBL. But the Level-2 specification comes
close to that proposed in 1992 for an "Advanced Multimedia PC (AMPC)"
by the Multimedia User Group of the UK's Information Technology Training
Initiative (ITTI). The two specifications are compared in Table
1.2. A weakness of the Level-2 specification is that it contains no
standard for video.
| MPC Level-2 is a minimum specification for advanced CBL. |
Table 1.2. A comparison of the MPC Level-2 specification with the AMPC specification proposed by the ITTI's Multimedia User Group.
| MPC Marketing Council MPC Level-2 Spec |
ITTI AMPC Spec (see also Table 6.1) |
|
| Processor |
486-25 or compatible | 486DX-33 or compatible; DX50 or DX2-66 preferred; 128 - 256K mem cache |
| RAM |
4 Mb (8 recommended) | 8 Mb or more |
| Hard drive |
160 Mb | 200-340 Mb |
| CD-ROM |
Double-speed, XA-ready, multi-session, access time < 400ms | Single or double speed, XA-ready, multi-session, access time < 500ms |
| Display |
16-bit, 65536 colours | 15 - 24-bit, minimum 32000 colours |
| Sound |
16-bit ADC | 8-bit / 16-bit ADC |
| Video |
Not included | For high quality - DVI, MPEG Software only - VfW, QfW |
| Network |
Not included | 16-bit Ethernet with high interrupts |