Chapter 7: Hardware

1. Chapter 7: Hardware

2. Overview • Stages of a multimedia project • What You Need: The Intangibles • What You Need: Hardware • What You Need: Software • What You Need: Authoring Systems

3. What You Need: Hardware • The most significant platforms for producing and delivering multimedia projects are the Macintosh operating system and Microsoft Windows. • The Macintosh as well as the Windows PC offer a combination of affordability, and software and hardware availability.

4. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Detailed and animated multimedia can also be created on specialized workstations from Silicon Graphics and Sun Microsystems. • Projects must be tested to ensure proper performance in all target environments.

5. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Windows vs. Macintosh • The Microsoft Windows operating system can run on assemblages of hardware from countless manufacturers. • Apple Computer produces both the computer and the operating system.

6. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Networking Macintosh and Windowscomputers • Local area networks (LANs) connect computers that are close to each other. They are relativelyless expensive. • Ethernet is the most common networkingtechnology. • Client/server software allows computers to communicate.

7. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Networking Macintosh and Windowscomputers (continued) • Wide area networks (WANs) connect computersover a diverse geographical area. Typically set upand managed by large corporations, WANs areexpensive to install and maintain. • Internet service providers (ISPs) connectcomputers to the internet via a WAN.

8. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Connections • Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) • Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) • Universal Serial Bus (USB) • FireWire (IEEE 1394)

9. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • SCSI: • Connects internal and external peripheralequipment and devices • Is preferred for real-time video editing, networkservers, and situations that require mirroring.

10. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • IDE: • Connections are also known as Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA). • These are usually internal devices such as hard drives, CD-ROM drives, and DVD-ROM drives.

11. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • USB: • A standard for connecting devices to the computer using the plug-and-play system. • Uses a single cable to connect 127 USB peripherals to a single PC.

12. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • FireWire: • Introduced by Apple in the 1980s. • The industry standard and provides supportfor high-bandwidth serial data transfer, particularlyfor digital video and mass storage. • Can connect multiple computers and peripheraldevices (peer-to-peer).

13. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Memory and storage devices • Sufficient memory must be allocated for storing and archiving files. • Memory requirements of a multimedia project depend on the project's content and scope. • The two types of memory are random access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM).

14. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Memory and storage devices (continued) • RAM enables the simultaneously running of many applications. • ROM is non-volatile. The BIOS program that boots up the computer resides in the ROM.

15. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Memory and storage devices (continued) • Hard disks are non-removable mass-storage devices and have a high data storage capacity and data transfer speed.

16. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Memory and storage devices (continued) • Flash or thumb drives: • Small storage devices that can be integrated with USB or FireWire devices. • Can store from 8 megabytes to several GB of data. • More reliable than disk drives. • Small printed circuit board encased in sturdy metal or plastic. • Usable, trendy, and convenient.

17. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Memory and storage devices (continued) • CD-ROM: • CD-ROM drives are an important part of multimedia development. • CD-ROM discs are useful for short-run distribution of finished multimedia projects and data backup.

18. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Memory and storage devices (continued) • CD-ROM (continued): • A CD-RW recorder can rewrite 700MB of data to a CD-RW disc about 1,000 times. • CD-RWs are similar to CD-Rs, except CD-RWs can be completely erased.

19. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Memory and storage devices (continued) • DVD: • Is an optical disc technology for distributing multimedia and feature-length movies. • They provide sharp and detailed video resolution. • The three types of DVDs are DVD-Read Write, DVD-Video, and DVD-ROM.

20. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Memory and storage devices (continued) • Blue-ray discs: • Were developed by motion picture industry. • Can be used for high-definition television recording, video distribution, camcorder archiving, and mass data storage.

21. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Input devices • An optical character recognition (OCR) device is used to convert printed matter into ASCII text files. • Voice recognition systems recognize spoken words and commands. • Microphones and cables are used to capture audio. • Digital cameras use charged-coupled devices (CCDs) to digitally capture images.

22. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Input devices (continued) Working with a scanner, OCR software can save many hours of rekeying text.

23. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Output devices • For better quality audio, external stereo speakersare required. • Many multimedia developers use more than onemonitor by adding additional display adapters tothe computer.

24. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Output devices (continued) • Projectors are used when you have a largeraudience than can be accommodated around a computer monitor. • Color printers are an important part of anymultimedia production department.