Main categories
Multimedia computers can be divided into [TV computers (Teleputer) developed by home appliance manufacturers and computer TVs (Compuvision) developed by computer manufacturers]
Development process
The first multimedia computer appeared in 1985. Its main function is to combine audio and video, graphics and images with computer interactive control for comprehensive processing. Multimedia computers are generally composed of four parts: multimedia hardware platform (including computer hardware, audio and video and other media input and output devices and devices), multimedia operating system (MPCOS), graphical user interface (GUI) and support for multimedia data development Application tool software. With the increasing application of multimedia computers, it has played an important role in the fields of office automation, computer-aided work, multimedia development, education and publicity.
Composition of hardware
Explanation of multimedia PC (MPC)
Before multimedia computer, traditional microcomputer or personal computer processing The information is often limited to words and numbers, which can only be regarded as the initial stage of computer applications. At the same time, since the interaction between humans and computers can only be through the keyboard and the display, there is a lack of diversity in the ways of communicating information. In order to change the human-computer interaction interface so that the computer can integrate sound, text, image, and image processing, mankind invented a computer with multimedia processing capabilities. Here we focus on the multimedia PC (MPC). The so-called Multimedia Personal Computer (MPC) is a personal computer with multimedia processing functions. Its hardware structure is not much different from that of commonly used personal computers, except that it has some additional software and hardware configurations. There are probably two ways for general users to own MPC: one is to directly buy a PC with multimedia functions; the other is to add a multimedia suite to the basic PC to form an MPC. In fact, most of the personal computers purchased by users recently have multimedia application functions.
Basic configuration (and optional configuration) of multimedia computer
Generally speaking, the basic hardware structure of multimedia personal computer (MPC) can be summarized as seven Part:
① At least one powerful and fast central processing unit (CPU);
② It can manage and control the configuration of various interfaces and equipment;
< p>③ Storage space with a certain capacity (as large as possible);
④ High-resolution display interface and equipment;
⑤ Interface and equipment that can handle audio;
>⑥ Interface equipment that can process images;
⑦ Configurations that can store large amounts of data, etc.;
Other configurations
The configuration provided in this way is the hardware foundation of the most basic MPC, and they constitute the host of the MPC. In addition, the expandable configuration of MPC may also include the following aspects:
Optical drive: Including rewritable optical drive (CD-R), WORM optical drive and CD-ROM drive. Among them, CD-ROM drives have brought a cheap 650M storage device to MPC. CD-ROMs containing graphics, animation, images, sound, text, digital audio, programs and other resources have been widely used. Therefore, optical drives are now available to the majority of users. Said it must be configured. However, rewritable optical discs and WORM optical discs are more expensive and are not very popular at present. In addition, DVD has been on the market for some time. Its storage capacity is larger, with double-sided up to 17GB, which is an ideal product for upgrading.
Audio card: The audio input and output devices connected to the audio card include microphones, audio playback devices, MIDI synthesizers, headphones, speakers, etc. The support of digital audio processing is an important aspect of multimedia computers. The audio card has the conversion function of A/D and D/A audio signals, can synthesize music, mix multiple sound sources, and can also connect to MIDI electronic music equipment.
Graphics accelerator card: Multimedia performance with both graphics and text requires the support of a graphics card with high resolution and rich colors on the same screen. It also requires a Windows display driver and a pixel computing speed under Windows. Be fast. So now the local bus display adapter with the graphical user interface GUI accelerator greatly accelerates the display speed of Windows.
Video card: It can be subdivided into special cards such as video capture card, video processing card, video playback card and TV encoder. Its function is to connect cameras, VCR players, TVs and other equipment to obtain, Processing and performance of various animation and digital video media.
Scan card: It is used to connect various graphics scanners, and is a commonly used input device for static photos, text, and engineering drawings.
Printer interface: Used to connect various printers, including ordinary printers, laser printers, color printers, etc. The printer is now one of the most commonly used multimedia output devices.
Interactive control interface: It is used to connect touch screen, mouse, light pen and other human-computer interaction devices, which will greatly facilitate the user's use of MPC.
Network interface: It is an important MPC expansion component to realize multimedia communication. The era of the combination of computer and communication technology has come, which requires special multimedia peripheral equipment to transmit or receive multimedia information with a huge amount of data. The equipment connected through the network interface includes video phones, fax machines, LAN and ISDN Etc.