WINDOWS 1002000 PROFESSIONAL RESOURCE KIT [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Optimizing Workstations for Multimedia

In Windows 2000, network administrators can configure workstations to optimize the multimedia experience and use group and local policies to deploy custom desktop settings or profiles.

This section also presents configuration information and technical details about AGP and DVD device support in Windows 2000 Professional.

Configuring Sounds

You can assign sounds to system and program events, such as when Windows 2000 starts or when a user logs off. You can save different combinations of event and sound pairings as custom sound schemes. You can also specify the default devices to use for playing or recording sound.

Configuring Sound Events and Sound Schemes

Use the following procedures to configure event/sound pairings and save them as custom sound schemes.

For more information about recording sounds to use for sound events or in your custom sound schemes, see "Using Multimedia Effectively" later in this chapter.

For more information about configuring multimedia hardware devices and options, see "Configuring Multimedia Devices" later in this section.

To assign sounds to system and program events

In Control Panel, double-click Sounds and Multimedia.

Click the Sounds tab, and then in the Sound Events box, click the system or program event to which you want to assign a sound.

In the Name box, click the sound that you want to play when the selected event occurs.

If the sounds that you want to play aren't listed, click Browse to locate the sound files on your computer or network, or select a different sound scheme from the Scheme box.

You can save an entire set of sound and event pairings as a custom sound scheme.

To create a sound scheme

In Control Panel, double-click Sounds and Multimedia.

Click the Sounds tab, and then in the Sound Events box, click the first system or program event to which you want to assign a sound.

In the Name box, click the sound that you want to play when the selected event occurs.

If the sounds that you want to play aren't listed, click Browse to locate the sound files on your computer or network, or select a different sound scheme in the Scheme box.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have completed assigning event and sound pairings. Click Save As, and then type a name for the new sound scheme.

If a workstation has multiple audio playback and recording devices, you can specify the preferred devices to use when playing or recording sound. You can also specify the default playback or recording volume for that device.

For more information about configuring a preferred device for Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) music playback, see "Playing Multimedia" later in this chapter.

To configure a preferred sound playback or recording device

In Control Panel, double-click Sounds and Multimedia.

Click the Audio tab, and then under Sound Playback or Sound Recording, click the preferred device that this workstation should use for playing (or recording) sound.




To specify the default playback or recording level for the selected device, click Volume, and then set the volume controls.

To specify advanced properties such as the hardware acceleration level, click Advanced, click the Performance tab, and then set the properties.

Windows 2000 lets you optimize audio playback and recording by specifying the default hardware acceleration and sample rate conversion quality.

To configure audio performance options

In Control Panel, double-click Sounds and Multimedia.

Click the Audio tab, and then under Sound Playback or Sound Recording, click Advanced.

Click the Performance tab, and then under Audio playback or Audio recording, select the hardware acceleration and sample rate conversion quality settings for the workstation.

For more information about hardware acceleration, sample rate conversion quality, and other advanced audio playback and recording options, see Windows 2000 Professional Help.

Configuring the Browser

By default, Microsoft® Internet Explorer plays sounds, animations, and videos from intranet or Internet sites. However, you can disable any of these options to ensure that pages load faster or to enhance a quiet work environment. You can also configure Internet Explorer to play a specific radio station by default every time the browser starts.

To enable or disable sounds, videos, and animation from web pages

On the desktop, right-click Internet Explorer, and then click Properties.

Click the Advanced tab, and then in the Multimedia section, select or clear the Play animations, Play sounds, or Play videos check boxes.

To set a default radio station to play every time internet explorer starts

Start Internet Explorer, and then on the Tools menu, click Options.

Click the Advanced tab.

In the Multimedia section, select the Always show Internet Explorer (5.0 or later) Radio toolbar check box, and then click OK.

On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then select Radio.

On the Radio toolbar, click Radio Stations, click Radio Station Guide, and then select the radio station that you want to play.

Windows 2000 supports the latest multimedia hardware, such as the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), DVD devices, and digital video cameras. Windows 2000 also supports a wide range of Human Interface Devices (HIDs) and other peripherals connected through the universal serial bus (USB) or an IEEE 1394 port.

For information about HIDs, IEEE 1394, multiple monitors, or USB, see "Hardware Support" in this book.

Getting Information About Multimedia Devices or Drivers

New to Windows 2000, you can view a list of installed multimedia devices, determine driver versions, perform diagnostics and more, all from one common place: the Hardware tab of the Sounds and Multimedia Control Panel option. The Devices list shows the audio, video, and multimedia devices installed on the workstation. When you click a device in the Devices list, information about that device (such as the manufacturer and operational status) is displayed under Device Properties.

To configure and test specific multimedia devices

In Control Panel, double-click Sounds and Multimedia.

Click the Hardware tab, and then under Devices, select a device.




To determine the properties of the device, such as the driver versions in use, click Properties.

To troubleshoot that device, click Troubleshoot.

An AGP is a dedicated bus that delivers improved video and graphics performance over Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) buses.

Figure11.1 Accelerated Graphics Port Architecture

AGP has the following advantages over PCI video adapters:

The peak bandwidth of AGP is up to four times higher than it is for PCI. AGP has higher sustained rates due to sideband addressing and split transactions.

AGP is a dedicated bus, which reduces contention with other devices.

AGP allows the CPU to write directly to shared system memory, which is much faster than writing directly to local memory.

AGP can read textures from shared system memory while reading and writing other data from local memory, thereby improving performance of high-resolution 3-d scenes.

AGP can run graphics data directly from system memory, instead of having to first move graphics data into video memory before running it.

To use an AGP video adapter, a computer must have an AGP graphics controller and a compatible chipset, such as the Pentium II LX or higher.

Overview of DVD Devices and Options

DVDs can read multiple, digitally stored data streams concurrently for playback of multimedia applications and full-length motion pictures.

Capacity of DVDs

The current capacity of a DVD starts at 4.7 gigabytes (GB). Both sides of the media can be readable and data can be layered on each side (for example, a gold layer of data can be placed above a silver layer). Lower laser power is used to read the top layer, and increased laser power allows the bottom layer to be read. Combining these two options increases the total possible capacity of a single DVD to 17 GB.

Uses of DVD Drives

A DVD drive has many uses. Although it was designed to display full-motion video, its massive storage capacity allows it to perform in other ways, including the following:

DVD discs and devices provide cost-effective storage for large data files. in the future, DVD will allow for writable devices, opening a larger range of options.

Because computers can achieve greater image quality than can conventional broadcast television sets, a DVD on a computer running Windows 2000 achieves even better quality than on standard DVD video player devices.

Windows 2000 supports the following DVD formats:

DVD-Video A disc containing full-length motion pictures for playback on a computer's DVD-ROM drive, or on a home DVD-video player.

DVD-ROM A disc containing a computer application or data that can be read by a DVD-ROM drive. A double-sided, double-layered DVD-ROM can hold up to 17 GB.

DVD-WO A disc that supports one-time recording, similar to compact disc-recordable (CD-R). DVD-WO requires third-party software.

DVD-RAM A disc that supports multiple recording capabilities, similar to magneto optical (MO) discs. DVD-RAM requires third-party software.

Hardware Requirements

DVD-video requires a DVD drive and a decoder (a hardware decoder card, a software decoder, or a combination of the two). DVD drives can also read data or play audio from standard CDs.

Full-motion video is stored on DVD in the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG)-2 format. Because high rates of transfer are necessary to read and display full-screen, real-time data, your DVD system must have a decoder.

The following decoder cards and DVD drives are directly supported in Windows 2000:

Toshiba Tecra 760, 780, 8000 or Portege 7010 or 7020, Toshiba Infinia

Quadrant (Cinemaster) 1.2 and 3.0 (but not 2.0), Dell XPS series

A DVD-ready system must also include a video card capable of at least 800 x 600 x 16 bits per pixel (BPP) graphics display with Video Port Extensions (VPEs).

For more information about installing and configuring DVD devices, see Windows 2000 Professional Help.

Software Requirements

DVD technology includes several software components: MPEG-2, AC-3 (audio streaming), subpicture, two class drivers (a ROM class driver and Windows Driver Model [WDM]), UDF file system, Microsoft® DirectShow®, Microsoft® DirectDraw®, and a copyright-protection encryption key.

Figure 11.2 illustrates the Windows 2000 architecture for DVD support.

Figure11.2 DVD Architecture

MPEG-2 MPEG-2 is a type of video compression that saves space by saving only the data that changes on the screen. Rather than storing a 640 x 480 x 12 (12-bit color depth) for each frame, only pixels that change are encoded.

Dolby Digital (AC-3) AC-3 is a type of audio stream developed by Dolby Labs. It allows up to five separate audio channels (left and right front, left and right rear, and center) and a subwoofer channel.

Subpicture DVDs contain a third data stream called Subpicture. The Subpicture stream delivers the subtitles and any other add-on data, such as system help or director's comments, which can be displayed while playing multimedia.

DVD-ROM Class Driver Windows 2000 provides a DVD-ROM driver, which supports the DVD-ROM industry-defined command set known as the Mt. Fuji specification, including commands for copyright protection.

UDF File system The file system on DVDs is the Universal Disk Format (UDF), which is a standard defined by the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA). UDF is compliant with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-13346 specification and is intended to succeed the CD-ROM File System (CDFS).

UDF supports long and Unicode file names; access control lists (ACLs); streams; reading and writing (not just mastering); and the ability to start up the computer. Windows 2000 supports UDF version 1.5, and future versions (including the UDF 2.0 draft recently approved by the OSTA) as they are released.

DirectShow DirectShow provides support for a DVD Navigator and Splitter, proxy filters for video and audio streams, a video mixer, a video renderer, and an audio renderer. DVD movies have the equivalent of channels for the various data streams necessary to play a full-length movie. Data streams consist of not only the MPEG portion, but also digital audio, which can have Dolby surround sound and closed-captioning information. For a single video image, a DVD can provide up to eight languages and sound tracks and 32 subtitle tracks, and can support up to nine angles and eight ratings. DirectShow provides support for tracking these data streams and passing them to the proper codec.

DirectDraw HAL With VPE Decoded video can become quite large. An MPEG-2 stream starts out at a rate of about 5–10 megabits per second (Mbps). After the stream is decoded, it can easily exceed 100 Mbps. Processing this amount of information in a continuous stream can overwhelm the PCI bus. So most of the decoding of the information is moved back to the hardware level by using dedicated MPEG decoder cards.

Support for these decoder cards is built in to DirectX, with DirectDraw's support for Video Port Extensions (VPEs). Video Port Extensions allow the MPEG stream to be written directly to the frame buffer memory of the video card from the MPEG decoder card. Data transfer occurs through a special cable that connects the video card and the decoder card at the hardware level. DirectDraw allows the data stream to be moved through the hardware layer while keeping track of such things as synchronization.

Copyright Protection Copyright protection for DVD is provided by encrypting key sectors on a disc, and then decrypting those sectors before decoding them. Microsoft provides support for both software and hardware decrypters by using a software module that enables authentication between the decoders and the DVD-ROM drives in a computer.

As part of the copyright protection scheme used for DVD, the DVD Consortium has set up eight worldwide regions, as shown in Table 11.1.

Table 11.1 DVD Regional Codes

Discs are playable on DVD devices in some or all of the regions according to regional codes set by the creators of the content. Microsoft provides software that responds to the regionalization codes as required by the DVD Consortium and as part of the decryption licenses.

For more information about configuring DVD devices, see Windows 2000 Professional Help.

Configuring Video Camera Devices and Options

Windows 2000 Professional supports the latest digital video cameras and other input devices attached through high-speed USB or IEEE 1394 ports.

For more information about installing and configuring digital video cameras, see "Scanners and Cameras" in this book.