Multimedia computer
4981482
201997456
2008-03-30T07:04:10Z
74.181.121.224
Changed "two" to "some"
A '''multimedia computer''' is a [[computer]], that is optimized for high [[multimedia]] performance, enabling rich multimedia experience.
Early [[home computers]] simply lacked the power and storage necessary for true multimedia. The games for these systems, along with the [[demo scene]] were able to achieve high sophistication and technical polish using only simple, blocky graphics and digitally-generated sound.
The [[Amiga 1000]] from [[Commodore]] has been called the first multimedia computer.[http://www.byte.com/art/9408/sec14/art1.htm] Its groundbreaking animation, graphics and sound technologies enabled multimedia content to flourish. Famous demos such as the [[Amiga#Boing_Ball|Boing Ball]][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ga41edXw3A] and Juggler[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQgJ2jZwu9Y] showed off the Amiga's abilities. Later the [[Atari ST]] series and [[Apple Macintosh II]] extended the concept; the Atari integrated a [[MIDI]] port and was the first computer under $1000USD to have 1 megabyte of RAM which is a realistic minimum for multimedia content and the Macintosh was the first computer able to display true photorealistic graphics as well as integrating a [[CD-ROM]] drive, whose high capacity was essential for delivering multimedia content in the pre-[[Internet]] era.
Multimedia capabilities weren't common on [[IBM PC compatible]]s until the advent of [[Windows 3.0]] and the [[Multimedia PC|MPC]] standards in the early 1990s. The original PCs were devised as "serious" business machines and colorful graphics and powerful sound abilities weren't a priority. The few games available suffered from slow video hardware, [[PC speaker]] sound and limited color palette when compared to its contemporaries. But as PCs penetrated the home market in the late 1980s, a thriving industry arose to equip PCs to take advantage of the latest sound, graphics and animation technologies. [[Creative]]'s [[SoundBlaster]] series of sound cards, as well as [[video cards]] from [[ATi]], [[nVidia]] and [[Matrox]] soon became standard equipment for most PCs sold.
Most PCs today have good multimedia features. They have dual- or single-core CPUs clocked at 3.0 GHz or faster, at least 1GB of RAM, a 128 MB or higher video card and TV Tuner card. Popular graphics cards include Nvidia [[Gforce]] or ATI [[Radeon]]. The [[Intel]] [[Viiv]] platform, and [[Microsoft]] [[Windows XP Media Center Edition]] are some of today's products aimed at multimedia computing.
More recently, high-performance devices have become more compact, and multimedia computer capabilities are found in mobile devices such as the [[Apple iPhone]] and [[Nokia Nseries]], featuring DVD-like video quality, megapixel class cameras, fully capable browser, music and video players, podcasting, blogging, as well as e-mail, instant messaging, presence and internet call (VoIP) functionality. Multiradios help to offer broadband wireless connectivity, including for instance WCDMA/HSDPA and WLAN/Wifi. Devices are also increasingly equipped with GPS receivers and maps applications, providing new capabilities for location-aware services. The Nseries devices are also expandable, allowing for the addition of multiple applications and multimedia content.
{{compu-stub}}