Internet Explorer 4.0; Multimedia - Compaq Armada 7800 White Paper

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(cont.)
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. . icon that allows the user to changes video resolution and color depth without requiring the
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computer to be powered cycled.
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Windows 95
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Multimedia

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Microsoft Multimedia Support
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The versions of Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 preinstalled on the Armada 7800 include
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Microsoft DirectShow, which enables the following types of video playback:
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.AVI, .MOV and MPEG1 playback support
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Indeo4-compressed AVI playback support
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MCI support for both 16 and 32-bit applications
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Software MPEG Support
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The Armada 7700 and 7300 families included the MediaMatics Arcade Pack to provide software
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MPEG1 playback capability. This capability was provided in the form of a filter for use with
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Microsoft Active Movie and the Microsoft Media Player, of which both are included in the
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Windows 95 operating system. The MediaMatics Arcade Pack was optimized for use with Intel
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MMX processors providing better performance than the native playback capabilities of Windows
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95. With the Armada 7800, pre-installing Microsoft DirectX 5.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0 means
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that it is no longer necessary to provide the MediaMatics Arcade Pack.
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DirectX is a collection of APIs (Application Programming Interface) designed to introduce a set of
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standards for multimedia content creation and playback on personal computers. With these APIs
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developers can more easily develop cutting edge graphic media such as 3D VRML, support new
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web technologies like streaming, moving picture playback, online gaming and modeling.
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. . Active Movie has been replaced by Microsoft DirectShow, which is a part of the DirectX
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architecture. Although DirectShow is not shipped as part of DirectX 5.0, it is installed as part of
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Internet Explorer 4.0. DirectShow provides enhancements over its Active Movie predecessor, most
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notably providing MPEG1 software playback that has been optimized for Intel MMX processors.
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DirectX 5.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0 are included as part of both the Windows 95 and Windows
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NT 4.0 pre-install images.
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The following table compares MPEG1 playback performance on the Armada 7800 with the
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Armada 7700 and 7300 families.
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. . MPEG-1 P
LAYBACK
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WinBench 98 Video Test 192021
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Processor
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Clock Speed
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. . Color Depth
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Memory
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The clip was played through the ActiveMovie interface.
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Common test settings: Disk Drive=c:\ CDROM Drive=e:\ Report CPU Utilization=No.
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The video clip played contained a total of 448 frames.
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Windows NT 4.0 Compaq Support
Software CD
P C
ERFORMANCE OMPARISON
Compaq Armada 7800
Intel Pentium® PII with MMX™
266MHz
High Color (16bpp)
32 MB
ã ã
Compaq Compaq Web Site
QuickRestore CD
Compaq Armada 7360
Intel Pentium® with MMX™
200 MHz
High Color (16bpp)
32 MB