Transcript Multimedia Communication

Multimedia Communication
Standards and Delivery Methods
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
1
Definition of Multimedia

The interactive use of audio, still image, graphics,
animation, text and motion video.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
2
Industry Standards



The multimedia industry is extremely competitive
and develops a variety of new hardware and
software on a regular basis.
It is not uncommon for developers to create
different solutions to the one problem.
Standards offer the advantage of making products
readily interchangeable, increasing competition,
consistent file formats and reduced training.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
3
What are Standards?


A definition or format that has been approved by a
recognised standards organisation or is accepted as
a de facto standard by the industry.
That which is established by authority as a rule for
the design and measure of quantity, extent, value,
or quality.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
4
Why use standards?



Multimedia applications depend on the operating system
and hardware far more than other types of software.
Without standards it would be impossible to develop
multimedia applications.
The primary benefit of standards is to make hardware and
applications that run on any platform and operating system
that is designed to recognise that standard.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
5
Standard Organisations




ANSI: American National Standards Institute.
IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers.
ISO: International Standards Organisation.
VESA: Video Electronics Standards Association.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
6
Computer Architecture





Processor: Intel Pentium, AMD and IBM.
Memory: RAM, ROM and HDD.
Input: Keyboard, mouse and microphone.
Output: Projection device, high resolution
monitor, speakers, amplifier and printer.
Control: Operating system, BIOS (Basic Input
Output System) and software to control the
program.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
7
Architecture Standards




Standards help determine what is compatible to a
particular platform.
Standards are usually driven by market leaders
and technological pioneers.
Unfortunately, this does not mean that software or
hardware is optimal in terms of speed or
efficiency.
However competition keeps prices down.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
8
Operation Systems (OS)

A Operating System is a software program that helps the
user interact with a computer. It controls the input, output
and processing activities for a computer.






Boot the machine (Load the OS into PC’s memory)
Controls the resources of the computer included computer memory,
file storage space and the computer processor (CPU).
Provides an interface between the hardware and the user.
Allows the computer to perform primitive operations on computer
hardware and provide an abstract representation of these actions to
the user.
Helps all the hardware components communicate with each others.
There are utility programs contained within OS that help you do
things like copy file.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
9
Functions of an Operating System
 start up the computer  monitor performance
 manage memory
and provide housekeeping
 administer security
 manage programs
services
 control a network
schedule jobs and configure  provide user interface
 access the Web
devices
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
10
Where is the Operating System
located?
operating system
resides on hard
disk in most
operating system
cases
resides on ROM
in handhelds
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
11
OS Interface

Command Line Interfaces


You must type in what you want the computer to do,
and you must type it correctly.
Graphic User Interface (GUI)

A GUI let you click with the mouse to start a program
or do other computer task.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
12
Booting

Booting is a process of starting or restarting a
computer
Cold Boot: Process of turning on a computer after it has
been powered off completely
cold boot
 Warm boot: Process of restarting a computer that is
Process
of turning
on on
a
warm boot
already
powered

computer after it has been
powered off completely
Process of restarting a
computer that is already
powered on
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
13
What messages display on the
screen when you boot up?
BIOS version and
copyright notice
total amount of
memory
devices detected
and tested
Windows
message
sound card and
CD-ROM drivers
loaded
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
14
Multimedia Standards






JPEG : The Joint Photographic Experts Group.
MPEG : Moving Pictures Experts Group.
QuickTime : Macintosh based video format.
WAV : a digital sound file for windows.
MIDI : Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
AVI : A video file format for Windows.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
15
Delivery Platforms





Multimedia applications can be delivered on a
number of different platforms.
The three most common methods of delivering
multimedia applications are:
CD ROM.
The Internet or Intranet.
DVD technology.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
16
Internet or Intranet




The Internet is a revolution in information
dissemination and communication.
The Internet provides a method of distributing
multimedia applications across a variety of
platforms to a large audience.
The Internet uses the HTML standard.
Many companies distribute multimedia training
material internally via an Intranet.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
17
CD ROM




CD ROM : Compact Disk Read Only Memory.
A CD is capable of storing between 500 and 680
MB of information.
A CD ROM uses optical technology and lasers to
read digital information.
CD’s are extremely popular, cheap to produce and
easy to distribute.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
18
DVD



DVD : Stands for Digital Video Disk or Digital
versatile Disk.
DVD is the first video distribution medium
designed for digital video.
The smallest configuration will store 4.7 gigabytes
of data (Approximately 7 times the capacity of a
CD).
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
19
DVD


Like a CD, data is recorded on the disc in a spiral
trail of tiny pits, and the discs are read using a
laser beam.
Larger storage capacity is achieved by making the
pits smaller and the spiral tighter, and by recording
the data in as many as four layers, two on each
side of the disc.
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
20
Software Drivers



Software drivers are used to control specific
hardware functions.
There are a variety of software drivers for video
cards, video and sound capture, scanners and
miscellaneous I/O devices.
Software drivers work in conjunction with the
operating system to provide a set of standardised
functions. (Eg. Record audio).
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
21
References

Multimedia, Technology and Applications (Ch. 3)
CP586 © Peter Lo 2003
22