Choosing a Platform Architecture for Cost Effective MPEG-2 Video Playback

Adding movie playback to personal computers is a natural step in the continuing evolution of PCs as entertainment devices. MPEG-1 has recently become established on PCs as the standard for video playback, particularly in some geographies. Partly because of inexpensive, widely available content and partly because of a limited installed base of VCRs, MPEG-1 on PCs became an attractive alternative in Asia/Pacific countries and to some extent in Europe. In the U.S., low cost, widely available cable programming and the inherently inferior MPEG-1 picture quality, among other factors, prevented MPEG-1 from gaining any real momentum. However, with the advent of MPEG-2 with its higher resolution picture and with the high density and low cost of new DVD (originally Digital Video Disk or Digital Versatile Disk) drives, a significant new video playback capability is on the horizon.

Left to evolve on their own, MPEG-2 and DVD would probably take a path that would preclude them from having a major impact on the personal computer for some time. From the PC industry’s perspective, the worst case scenario would have expensive drives (>$400 U.S.) with integrated MPEG-2 and audio decode with only composite video and 4 or 5-channels of analog audio output. These devices would be the equivalent of today’s laser discs. Some amount of PC integration would probably occur but a major opportunity to create new uses and capture new users would be lost.

To maximize the potential for movie playback of MPEG-2 content from DVD drives in PCs, the industry should recognize that there are potential problems and then coordinate to produce the desired results. The paper Choosing a Platform Architecture for Cost Effective MPEG-2 Video Playback (Adobe Acrobat* format, 700 Kbytes) details efforts underway by Intel’s Platform Architecture Labs, one of the main drivers behind system architecture initiatives such as PCI, Plug and Play, and DMI, to provide this capability to the industry.

* Legal Stuff © 1997 Intel Corporation