Multimedia—cd And Dvd Drives

Transcript

Study Unit Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Please Note In addition to material in this study unit, the exam at the end is based on material from the following unit. Installation and Support of Hard Drives Be sure to work through that title as well as this unit before attempting the exam at the end of this study unit. Multimedia is about presentation, and the use of the technologies isn’t limited to PowerPoint presentations. Multimedia technologies are used in games, video conferencing, music production, computer animation, and Web pages. This study unit will discuss the technologies that have combined to make multimedia on the PC a reality. Multimedia isn’t a problem-free technology. The files used for images and graphics are huge in comparison to text and data files. To store and transport this data, new technologies were developed. The most universally used of the new technologies needed to support large file sizes are the CD/DVD drives. Other technologies have also been added to the basic PC. These include sound cards, graphics cards, large monitors, large hard drives, megabytes of random access memory (RAM), data compression programs, graphics production software, and PC speaker systems. When you complete this study unit, you’ll be able to • Identify the different types of sound, image, and video files • Record or capture sounds and images on your computer • Play the multimedia files you’ve recorded • Install sound and/or video cards on your computer • Identify the different types of CD drives • Identify the different types of DVD drives • Install CD and DVD drives on your PC • Install other multimedia devices on your PC Pr eview In this study unit we’ll discuss multimedia technologies. The goal of this group of technologies is to reproduce sounds, images, video, and other graphics in a realistic manner. The focus of this study unit will be the files that are used in personal computer (PC) multimedia presentations and the software and hardware that support them. iii MULTIMEDIA 1 1 3 WHAT YOU NEED 6 Pentium Multimedia Extension (MMX) Mouse or Equivalent Pointing Device High-Resolution Monitor Video Display Card Speakers Sound Card Word Processing Software Graphics Processing Software Sound Processing Software Resources 7 8 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 SOUNDS AND IMAGES 13 SOUND FILES 17 Recording Sounds Digitize or Input the Sound (Analog to Digital) Store the Sounds Compress the Data Playing Sounds IMAGE FILES Recording Images Digitize or Input the Image (Analog to Digital) Store the Image Compress the Data (Video Files) Compress the Data (Still Image Files) Displaying Images SOUND AND GRAPHICS CARDS 17 21 22 23 26 31 31 33 34 35 37 41 44 Troubleshooting Repairing Replacing/Installing Practical Exercise 1 44 49 49 56 CD AND DVD DRIVES 58 Caring for CD and DVD Drives Caring for CD and DVD Media 58 59 Contents Definition History v CD DRIVES CD-DA CD-ROM CD-R CD-RW DVD DRIVES DVD-ROM DVD-R and DVD+R DVD-RW and DVD+RW DVD-RAM DVD STANDARDS DVD-R and DVD-RW DVD+R and DVD+RW DVD Recording Media INSTALLING CD AND DVD DRIVES Proprietary Drives SCSI Drives IDE Drives External CD/DVD drives OTHER MULTIMEDIA DEVICES AND YOUR PC vi 62 65 65 66 67 70 71 72 73 74 76 76 76 77 79 79 81 83 85 88 Types of Cards Practical Exercise 2 88 91 SELF-CHECK ANSWERS 93 EXAMINATION 97 Contents Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives MULTIMEDIA Multimedia means many different things to people. In this study unit we’ll explain how multimedia applies to a PC and the technologies required to support it. Definition By definition, multimedia is the synchronized use of more than one presentation medium. This doesn’t include still images and/or line art with text (which are still the major components of a majority of written materials). Instead, multimedia is used to indicate the synchronized use of text, sound, and/or motion video. Multimedia is used to refer to the following combinations: • Text and sound • Text, sound, and images (video, still, animated) • Video and sound • Conventional presentations presented simultaneously on diverse output devices Multimedia can be distinguished from traditional movies by the scale of the production, the targeted audience (small group or single PC user), and by the design of an option for audience participation. If audience participation is included, this is often called interactive multimedia. Interactive elements include • Input device operation (keyboard, mouse and/or gaming adapter) 1 • Voice command • Touch screen • Video capture (Web cam/video imaging device) • Live participation (in live presentations) Multimedia implies some complexity in the input and output devices. It also means using equipment that can handle the display and playback of the multimedia presentation. On a computer, multimedia technologies are used to produce/ reproduce sounds and images in a manner that’s as lifelike as possible. To this end, the computer manufacturers have produced midpriced PCs, with hardware and software that run everything from fundamental games to the most sophisticated interactive digital video disc (DVD) on the market. The minimum recommended technologies associated with PC-based multimedia include MMX is an instruction set designed to handle multimedia applications for Intel processors. MMX is standard on processors, starting with the Pentium II. • A color display and adapter able to reproduce millions of colors at a minimum of 800 ⫻ 600 resolution • A processor with MMX or 3DNow! technology (this will be explained later in this study unit) • A sound card with Sound Blaster compatibility • A PC with enough RAM and hard drive space to handle large, complex files The basic setup can range from the standard configuration of a PC produced in this century, to the PC that’s used as a TV and has programming to create an animated GIF file for presentation on a Web site. 3Dnow! is an instruction set designed to handle multimedia applications on AMD processors. 3Dnow! support is standard on AMD processors, starting with K6-2. 2 There are three common features of the multimedia technologies you should be aware of. The first is the need for ever increasing amounts of storage. This need is supported by large hard drives. The addition of the standard equipment of a CD and/or DVD drive (detailed in this study unit) has also been in response to the larger file sizes generated by multimedia processing. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives The second common feature you can look for in this study unit is the need of the PC to be able to handle these large multimedia files in a quick and efficient manner. This includes increased processing size and speed. The third common feature on PCs that support multimedia are the devices that can sample sound and images. These devices have become more and more sophisticated as the need has grown to make the sounds and images more realistic. Along with the input devices also included in the multimedia PC are the output devices that allow you to enjoy the images and sounds that have been created for your enjoyment. “For your enjoyment” is an important consideration for the end user (or consumer) of the multimedia technologies. Multimedia technologies are aimed at making the PC experience as enjoyable to your senses as possible. If there was a way to program smells, this would be included in the multimedia experience. History The origin of multimedia can be traced back to games that could be played on a PC. Originally, graphic-based games were played on a device connected to a TV, leaving the PC to deal with word-based games. As the graphic capabilities of the PC increased, software writers took the initiative to write graphic games for the PC. These games were a financial windfall for the software developers. The at-home PC user found these reasonably priced games, which didn’t require an expensive device connected to a TV, to be fun and cost effective. This created a desire for even better graphics and sound on the PC. This spiral has continued for years, with HD-TV quality video, and 5-channel output surround sound available as options on a PC. Expansion in the home market include using the PC as part of the household entertainment center, using it to play music, stream video from the Internet, and play DVD movies in full surround sound. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 3 The multimedia technologies eventually started interesting the business user. Though games are still one of the major users of the multimedia technologies, there has been a move by businesses to use more of these technologies in the normal course of the workday. Video conferencing, presentations, Web-based advertising, and video-based training are just a few of the areas in which businesses now use multimedia technologies. Items as diversified as building security and theft detection have been added to the current uses of multimedia technologies. 4 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Self-Check 1 At the end of each section of Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives, you’ll be asked to pause and check your understanding of what you have just read by completing a “Self-Check” exercise. Answering these questions will help you review what you’ve studied so far. Please complete Self-Check 1 now. Indicate whether the following statements are True or False. ______ 1. A processor that supports MMX technology is recommended for multimedia files. ______ 2. Games were the first applications to use multimedia technologies. ______ 3. A text file with line drawings is considered a multimedia file. ______ 4. Multimedia files are larger than standard text files. ______ 5. Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound cards for home theater are the standard sound cards for PCs. Check your answers with those on page 93. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 5 WHAT YOU NEED Before diving into a discussion of multimedia files and hardware support, let’s look at what computer hardware you need to work with multimedia files. Multimedia files on a PC, as described in this study unit, require • A PC using a Pentium Multimedia Extension (MMX) central processing unit (CPU) and supporting MMX technology or a PC using an AMD 3DNow! on a AMD K6-2 processor (preferably a Pentium III supporting the streaming single-instruction, multiple-data [SIMD] extension [SSE]) • A minimum of 64 megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM) • A mouse or equivalent pointing device • A high-resolution monitor • A video display card (This may be part of the motherboard.) • Speaker(s) • A sound card (This may be part of the motherboard.) • Word processing software • Graphics processing software • Sound processing software More sophisticated multimedia systems could include • A Web cam and supporting software • A microphone and supporting software • A scanner and supporting software • A TV tuner for the PC • CD/DVD read/write devices • Surround sound processing card 6 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives • Multiple displays • Touch screens • Video projectors • Gaming devices (controllers, goggles, and so on) PC Using a Pentium Multimedia Extension (MMX) The CPU of your PC needs to be designed with multimedia applications in mind. The two major CPU manufactures have developed instruction sets that speed up the repetitive looping required by many multimedia software products. Intel MMX and SSE Intel released its version of multimedia instruction sets called MMX in the Pentium MMX, Pentium Pro, and Pentium II processors. The SSE instruction set was first used with the Pentium III processor. The new features supported by these processors included A loop, in computer programming, is a sequence of instructions that’s continually repeated until a certain condition is reached. • New instructions. Intel added 57 new instructions to the processors logic. All of these instructions were designed to handle the parallel, repetitive looping used by multimedia applications. • SIMD. The Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) process was added. This allows the processor to perform a single instruction on many pieces of data without needing to loop back to the instruction multiple times. • Increased cache. The internal processor cache was increased to 32 kilobytes (KB). This reduced the number of calls the processor makes to access slower hard drive based memory. • SSE. The Streaming SIMD Extension (SSE) was designed to enhance the 3-D graphics capabilities of many software applications. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 7 AMD 3DNow! AMD released its own instruction set, 3DNow! that’s used to perform the same functions as the Intel SSE instruction set. AMD supports most of the Intel set and has added a few instructions of its own. These are all designed to enhance the multimedia experience. Most multimedia software products support Intel MMX, Intel SSE, and AMD 3DNow! instruction sets. If you have a question on compatibility, refer to the product’s packaging. The outside labeling of most reputable multimedia applications will list the multimedia instruction sets and processors supported. Mouse or Equivalent Pointing Device Multimedia is interactive by nature. A mouse is required to produce and interact with multimedia presentations. Other pointing devices like tablets for precise drawing and game pads or joysticks for game play may be substituted. High-Resolution Monitor A pixel, short for picture element, is a single point in an image that is displayed on a monitor or printed on a sheet of paper. Monitors and printers produce pictures by dividing an image into thousands (or millions) of pixels, arranged in rows and columns. The pixels are so close together that the human eye perceives them as connected. 8 A monitor that supports the Video Graphics Array (VGA) standard of 16 colors at 640 ⫻ 480 pixels, or 256 colors at 320 ⫻ 200 pixels, is the absolute minimum that you can use when processing multimedia data. This has become the accepted minimum standard for PCs, and all PCs made after the release of the Pentium MMX chip will support this level of output. The XGA-2 standard, which offers 800 ⫻ 600 pixel resolution in true color (16 million colors) and 1024 ⫻ 768 pixel resolution in 65,536 colors, is the recommended minimum resolution your monitor should support. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Video Display Card You’ll also need a video display card that will support the high-resolution monitor. This device will be discussed in more depth later in this study unit. Speakers As stated in the definition, sound is one of the factors that differentiate a multimedia file from a standard text or data file. Speakers can come in the form of an internal speaker that comes with your PC, headphones that plug into the CD drive or back of the PC, or large speaker sets that can deliver Dolby 5.0 surround sound through five speakers. The original PC “beeper” doesn’t qualify as a speaker for multimedia presentations. Sound Card You’ll also need a sound card that will support the speaker(s) that are part of your PC. The sound card will be discussed in more depth later in this study unit. Word Processing Software Multimedia presentations require a platform in order to have a PC process them. The most common platform is the word processing application. The document can be first outlined in a word processing document, and then moved into more interesting presentation applications. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 9 Graphics Processing Software To be considered a multimedia presentation, a presentation must have either motion graphics or sound. There are a confusing number of truly excellent graphics editing programs available. The price and feature range is quite large. It’s recommended that you try a few out at the software store or a friend’s house before you purchase one. Some of the products offer a 30-day trial period that you can use to evaluate the features. Sound Processing Software Probably the most overlooked area of a truly inspiring multimedia production is the sound. Often the images and text are extraordinary, but the soundtrack ends up being an unimaginative variation on the 2001: A Space Odyssey theme. Good multimedia presentations require good sound processing. Like graphics editors, the sound editor product line has many options at many price ranges. Shop around for one that does what you need at a reasonable price. Resources A PC coupled with application software that supports multimedia processing is a major purchase for most households and businesses. If you’re the technician responsible for recommending or purchasing computer hardware, you’ll need to stay abreast of the dynamically changing technologies in this field in order to make correct choices. The following resources are a great starting point for this research: • Other service technicians deal with multimedia PCs • People own multimedia PCs. They’re usually willing to tell you what works and what doesn’t. 10 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives • The Internet, including magazine Web sites such as www.zdnet.com Technical magazines www.pcmag.com PC Magazine www.pcworld.com PC World www.pcguide.com PC Guide www.newmedia.com Multimedia news • Magazines such as PC Magazine, PC World, and PC Guide, to name a few Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 11 Self-Check 2 1. What is the minimum type of monitor required for multimedia presentations? a. CRT b. Color c. EGA d. VGA 2. Two PC repair technicians are discussing the technologies required for multimedia presentations on a PC. Technician A says a sound card is required. Technician B says a microphone is required. Which of the following statements is correct? a. b. c. d. Only Technician A is correct. Only Technician B is correct. Both technicians are correct. Neither technician is correct. 3. Which multimedia function is supported by graphics processing software? a. Screen resolution b. Image manipulation c. Web camera d. Music coordination 4. True or False? Required hardware for multimedia includes at least one speaker. 5. What is a recommended source of information on multimedia processing? a. Radio b. Television c. Internet d. Newspaper Check your answers with those on page 93. 12 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives SOUNDS AND IMAGES Sounds and images are the backbone of the multimedia technology. They’re also the files that require the most hardware and software support. The files that are created by sound and image technologies can tax the resources of most PCs storage and memory capabilities. To help with the storage problems that multimedia files create, many Compression/Decompression (CODEC) programs have been developed to reduce the size of the files. The hardware and software used to create and/or play sound and images files are the focus of this section Recording sounds and images on a PC is a multistep process. The major challenge with sounds and images on a PC is reproducing analog signals, which, like sounds, are continuous and constantly changing, onto a device incapable of constant changes because it processes data in a discrete single-sample, or digital, format. Analog describes any fluctuating, evolving, or continually changing process. It comes from the word analogous, which means “the same,” and implies a smooth constant transition that lacks jumps or gradations. Digital comes from the Latin word digitus, which means “finger or toe.” It comes from using fingers as counting tools and implies separate gradations. Digital as it applies to PCs describes electronic technology that generates, stores, and processes data in terms of two states: positive and nonpositive. The positive state is represented by the number 1, and nonpositive by the number 0. For analog signals to be reproduced by a PC requires the signals to be converted to digital data. An analog signal can be represented by a “bump” (a smooth hill or sine curve), while the digital representation of this signal looks much more like a series of steps (Figure 1). Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Compression/Decompression (CODEC): An algorithm that reduces the number of bytes used by large files and programs. (Recall that the term algorithm refers to a formula or set of steps for solving a particular problem.) To minimize the amount of storage space required for a complicated file, such as a video, compression is used. Compression works by eliminating redundancies in data. For viewing, you have to use a decompression algorithm, which will uncompress the data. There are numerous standard CODEC schemes. Some are used mainly to minimize file transfer time and are employed on the Internet. Others are intended to maximize the data that can be stored in a given amount of disk space or on a CD-ROM. 13 Analog Analog/Digital Digital FIGURE 1—Analog and Digital Signals The bump is an analog curve with a smooth transition from point to point. The stair steps are a digital representation of the curve. The steps represent points along the smooth curve. Digital information can represent only the exact position of a single point on the curve, not the whole curve. This collecting of data by a digital device (to represent the points of an analog sound) is called sampling. The more frequent the sampling, the more precise the representation of the analog signal (Figure 2). Sampling is part of the conversion of analog signals to digital. It’s accomplished by taking samples of the signal at set time periods. This data is saved as a set of “blocks” that represent the analog signal. Many Samples Few Samples FIGURE 2—Sampling a Wave 14 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Taking many samples over a set period of time produces a superior reproduction of the analog signal. However, the more samples taken, the larger the size of the file. There’s also a difference in the expense of the equipment used to collect the large number of digital samples required to reproduce analog signals in a truly realistic manner. To help you understand why more accurate samples take more data storage space, refer back to Figure 2. The manysampled wave conforms to the curve better than the one measured with fewer samples. Each of these samples requires at least one byte of information. More accurate sampling requires more bytes of information (written to a data storage device) to represent the analog signal. In a basic explanation of the examples in Figure 2, the data in the top figure would need at least 29 bytes of information written, while the data in the bottom figure requires only seven bytes. The sample size is the amount of collected data per fixed interval of time, which affects the amount of storage space— in this example, one byte. An increase in accuracy on the other axis could cause the sample size to double or triple (two or three bytes), making the reproduction that much more realistic and the file that much larger. It’s important to consider the equipment required to take a large number of accurate samples and play them back in a realistic manner. The price range of devices that are used to capture and play analog signals is quite large. The cost of a microphone used to capture sounds can be as little as $5.00 or as much as $500.00 (and this is a conservative range). Web cameras (Web cams) are other devices that have a large range of prices. A camera that produces a 352 ⫻ 288 resolution and 30 frames per second often goes for $20.00 while one that offers 640 ⫻ 480 resolution and wireless connection will cost $200.00. In review, the more samples taken, the more data that’s written to the digital recording media. The more accurately the digital samples reflect the analog signal, the greater the amount of data written to the digital recording media. The higher the sampling rate (number of samples taken per period of time) of the input and output devices, the higher the cost. If you add more editing and playback features, you also add more cost. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 15 Self-Check 3 Match the item on the left with their descriptions on the right. Indicate your answers in the place provided. ______1. Analog a. Affects the amount of storage required for one sample ______2. Digital b. Exact information about one point in time ______3. CODEC c. The number of samples taken per period of time ______4. Sample size d. Smooth transition from point to point ______5. Sample rate e. Reduces the amount of space used by large files Check your answers with those on page 93. 16 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives SOUND FILES To record and play sounds on a PC, three basic components are required: an input device (such as a microphone), a sound device (typically, a sound card), and an output device (speakers or headphones). There are a large variety of input devices, but they fall into two basic categories, instruments and microphones. Instruments create electronic signals that are fed into the PC. Microphones take analog sound waves and convert them into electrical impulses recognizable by the PC sound card. Sound cards are the workhorses of the PC. They take the analog electronic signal and convert it to digital. This is where the sampling takes place. In the case of electronic keyboards, much of the analog/digital conversion takes place before the data reaches the PC, but the sound card still needs to direct the data to where it belongs. Speakers are the basic output devices used for sound files. They take the electronic impulses converted by the sound card and output them as audible sound. There are other output devices, like oscilloscopes and mass storage devices, which don’t create audible sounds. Recording Sounds Recording sounds is a straightforward process as far as the PC operator is concerned. If you want sound with your multimedia presentation, you must be able to record it. To do this, you need a microphone or other input device. To record sounds using the Windows OS, follow these steps. • Open the Volume Control panel by left-clicking on Start, point to Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and left-click on Volume Control (Figure 3). • Check the Microphone volume. Make sure the volume is set in the middle of the slider and that the Mute box isn’t checked. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 17 FIGURE 3—Volume Controls • Open the Sound Recorder panel by left-clicking on Start, point to Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and left-click on Sound Recorder (Figure 4). FIGURE 4—Sound Recorder • Left-click on the square with the red dot. This is the Record button. 18 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives • Record any sounds you want. The sounds enter the microphone. There they get converted to an analog signal. This signal is then sent to the sound card by means of the microphone cable. • Press the square (Stop button) to stop recording. • Left-click on File and then left-click on Save as. . . to save this recording to a sound file that can be played later. Keep track of this file’s location for use later in this study unit. Hopefully this was easy for you, but to the PC itself recording a sound is a multistep process that’s quite complex. The reason that the PC didn’t come out with multimedia processes when it was first released in the 1980s was that the complexity of chips and programming required to record sounds in a digital format required more RAM than was available in the original IBM PC. The audio CDs were just being released during this time, and required a mainframe to do the original audio conversions. The major component of the recording process, which a PC owner sees, is the microphone. The major component according to the PC, and the operating system, is the sound card. The sound card is either part of the motherboard or is a separate card that records sound, saves it to a drive on your PC, and plays it back. Some sound cards offer direct sound editing features. Sound cards have external audio input and output jacks, visible at the rear of most PCs (Figure 5). Audio input and output jacks typically consist of • Digital out/digital speakers jack (orange) • Line-out 1/front analog speakers jack (green) • Line-out 2/rear analog speakers jack (black) • Line-in jack (blue) • Microphone jack (red or pink) • MIDI/joystick port (15 pin MIDI) • SB1394 (IEEE 1394) port (FireWire or i.Link) Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 19 FIGURE 5—Sound Card Jacks Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is a recording/playing back protocol designed for digital synthesizers and PC sound cards. Rather than representing musical sound directly, it transmits information about how music is produced. The command set includes note-ons, note-offs, key velocity, pitch bend, and other methods of controlling a synthesizer. The sound waves produced are those already stored in a wavetable in the receiving instrument or sound card. The colors listed are the typical colors of the jacks. Most sound card companies conform to the color scheme. Check the documentation that came with your sound card or PC for the color of the jacks on your PC. The speaker(s), line-in, line-out, and microphone jacks typically support the standard mini-plug. Often included is a MIDI jack, a 15-pin socket. On some sound cards you’ll also notice a 4-pin FireWire/i.Link connector for connection to other audio devices. Sound cards support the four basic functions required to add sound to a multimedia presentation. This means they • Digitize or input the sound (analog to digital) • Store the sounds • Compress the data • Reproduce or synthesize the sound (digital to analog) 20 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Digitize or Input the Sound (Analog to Digital) As discussed earlier in this study unit, converting analog sounds to digital data requires sampling the analog sound and then digitizing it. The sampling and digitizing is done using a method called pulse code modulation (PCM). PCM turns the analog signal into a series of 0s and 1s by sampling the input at set time periods. PCM isn’t only used for sound data, but for all forms of analog data, including fullmotion video, animation, satellite telemetry, and virtual reality. The quality of the analog conversion is determined by the accuracy of the digital samples. The greater number of bits used to represent each sample increases the accuracy. Currently there are sound cards that support 8-, 16-, and 24-bit samples. The number of bits, as discussed earlier, is called the sample size. The other determining factor for the quality of sound is the sampling rate. As you’ll recall, the sampling rate determines the amount of time between samples. The standard music CD has a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. This number represents 44,100 samples per second. Our ears can sample up to 22,000 samples per second. So when a music CD is played we hear the music as a seamless transition of sounds, not as a group of samples. Professional Tip Don’t confuse sample sizes with the bus size used to attach the sound card to the board. A 16-bit sound card supports 16bit sample sizes. You can have an 8-bit sound card on a 16-bit bus. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 21 Store the Sounds We now have the analog data chopped up into discrete data that has a defined sample size and sample rate. Now this needs to be stored on the PC. There are only two ways a sound card can save uncompressed sound data on a PC, which is in WAV and MIDI files. WAV Files Pronounced “wave” (a verbal approximation of their .wav extension), these audio files are the oldest and most standardized type of audio file that can reside on your PC. This file type was created by a joint effort by IBM and Microsoft and first distributed with Windows 95. Support for WAV files has been included with Windows since the Windows 95 release. The wide support of this file type has made WAV files the de facto standard for PC sound files. These files are copied onto your computer through the sound card input jack using the Sound Recorder option on the Accessories menu on Windows 95 or newer Window versions. Using the software that’s included with most sound cards will create .wav files on those machines using other operating systems. In these cases, refer to the software documentation included with the sound card for directions on creating WAV files. Lossless compression substitutes special characters for repeating patterns within the audio file. 22 The WAV file is a lossless compressed file that often stores information using a 16-bit sample size and a 44.1 kHz sampling rate. Lossless means that all data is represented without any gaps or loss. This type of recording creates files that require 10 MB per minute of stereo audio playtime. In machines with limited storage resources, these files are often too large to keep on the hard drive, and are often stored on a compact disc (CD) or other removable storage device. Since games and some presentation software use .wav files for audio storage, the availability of storage space is often an issue when using some of these software programs. Errors created by running out of hard drive space are common in older machines that have less-than-adequate hard drives for doing multimedia presentations and games. The only solution available for these machines is adding storage space. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives MIDI Files Pronounced “middy,” and using the .mid extension, these Musical Instrument Digital Interface files are most often used for synthesized sounds. The information in a MIDI file is a wavetable representation of the instrument or sound. There are no sampling rates or sampling sizes in MIDI files. Instead, the information represents predefined sounds stored in a wavetable. For instance, all of the notes of a piano are recorded, digitized, and stored in a wavetable. Selecting the table entry that holds a C sharp would produce a sound that perfectly duplicates a C sharp from a piano. The quality of the MIDI file is determined by the quality of the wavetable definitions created by the originating sound device. MIDI files are lossless compressed files, but this compression isn’t extensive enough to create easily transportable files. These MIDI files will use approximately 10 KB per minute of stereo music. Commercially available software products, used to produce new sounds, can modify these MIDI files. The ease of manipulation of sounds in .mid files has created a demand for this type of file in computer games and new music creation. The same problems caused by inadequate storage that .wav files present are also true of .mid files, and the same remedy is suggested. Compress the Data Since both WAV and MIDI files are really too large to store on a PC’s hard drive, standards have been created for compressing this data into a storable and transportable form. Though there are some proprietary compression formats (such as Windows Media Player ASF), there are currently two main types of music compression formats—MPEG 1/2, Audio Level-3 and AAC. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 23 MPEG Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG), pronounced “M peg,” are lossy compressed audio files. Lossy means that some data is lost when converted from analog to digital; the amount lost is determined by the quality of the sample. The compression, and corresponding decompression, is done with an audio CODEC program that’s installed into, and supported, by Windows. These audio files, which use the MPEG-1, Level-3 CODEC for lossy compression, are identified by the .mp3 file extension. When this data is removed it causes a corresponding loss of audio quality. This CODEC will be listed under Audio CODECs option on the Sounds and Multimedia Properties screen (Figure 6). This type of audio file is the most commonly used file type for storage of music and other commercial audio files on a PC. FIGURE 6—Audio CODECs Screen 24 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives The .mp3 files are compressed at a typical ratio of 17:1 and are easily transportable. The ratio of compression is often listed in fixed bit rates measured in kbps (kilobits per second), with a standard usable rate of 128 kbps. These files are easily transferred to portable audio devices, including MP3 players and CD/MP3 players. The compression ratio yields files that take approximately 150 KB per minute of stereo music. This small file size makes these files ideal for storage on machines with limited hard drive space. These files can also fit on a standard 3½-inch floppy disk for easy removal and storage. Professional Tip Most portable audio players play audio files with a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz and a sampling rate of 128 kbps. If you’re creating an .mp3 audio file for use in a portable player, it’s recommended that you use these parameters. Setting your MP3 translation program to these default levels will produce the most versatile files. Sampling rates over the recommended 128 kps will produce a higher-quality audio file, but the file will often “skip” when used on a portable player. AAC Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) files are the latest technology of audio compression, and are standardized as part of the MPEG-4 specifications. Compared to MPEG-1 Lever 3 (MP3) audio, AAC provides higher-quality audio reproduction, yet it requires approximately 50 percent less data. AAC has support for 48 full-frequency channels and a higher audio resolution, with sampling rates up to 96 kHZ. That makes for music that sounds better, downloads faster, and takes less storage space or network bandwidth. Because of its high coding efficiency, AAC is a prime candidate for any digital broadcasting system. AAC also plays a major role for the delivery of high-quality music via the Internet. AAC files are small and very portable. One minute of stereo data occupies approximately 75 KB of drive space. AAC also supports the five-channel requirements of newer audio output devices. These audio files use the newer AAC CODEC for lossy Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 25 compression; this CODEC can be accessed on the Multimedia Properties screen. Furthermore, AAC is the only high-quality audio coding scheme used within the MPEG-4 standard that’s currently used in producing most DVD movies. Playing Sounds The original PC had an internal speaker that could produce a single tone at a defined frequency. The current PC can support input and output devices that can rival many recording studios. Output can still be done via an internal speaker, but often the sound card that controls that speaker can produce any tone (or combinations of tones) perceivable by the human ear. The playing of a sound on a PC is easily explained by reversing the process used to create it. Playing a sound from a PC follows one of three paths: • Conversion of digital data to analog sound by converting samples to output • Conversion of wavetable definitions into analog sound • Conversion of compressed data, using a CODEC, into digital data and then translating the digital data into analog sounds Of the three options, the direct conversion of a lossless file into analog sounds produces the highest-quality output, but as stated before, these files are huge. A normal CD that holds about 700 MB of data can hold about 20 stereo songs. The MIDI option depends on the conversion wavetable quality of the soundcard in your PC. These files are also huge, but editable. The playback option of using a CODEC compressed file will give you the lowest-quality output, but the best file size. Many people can’t tell the difference between a .wav file and an .aac file, but there are also many who can tell the difference. The other determining factor in the playback of audio files is the quantity, quality, and placement of speakers your PC supports. Possibilities range from headphones to amplified five-speaker systems with separately powered sub woofers. 26 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives The best way to tell what speakers are right for you or your customer is to listen to the available speakers in the price range that has been decided on. Hearing is subjective, making speakers that are perfect for one person barely tolerable to another. To play the sounds that you recorded earlier using the Sound Recorder, follow these steps. (Depending on the Windows components and various audio software you’ve installed, the devices and windows illustrated here may appear slightly different.) For Windows 9x, NT, Me, and 2000: • Open the Volume Control panel by left-clicking on Start, point to Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and left-click on Volume Control (Figure 3). • Check the Wave setting. Make sure the slider is set in the middle and that the Mute box isn’t checked. • Open the CD Player panel by left-clicking on Start. Point to Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and leftclick on CD Player (Figure 7). • Left-click File and then Open. FIGURE 7—CD Player • Select the file that you recorded earlier and left click on the Open button. • Adjust the volume using the Volume Control panel that was opened earlier. On many sound cards there are two separate controls for the playback of .wav files. You can adjust the output volume by moving the “master” Volume Control (on the far left of the panel) upward. This volume control sets the volume for all output to the speakers and line-out jacks. There’s also a Wave volume control; this controls only the volume of .wav files. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 27 For Windows XP (this process will work on any PC with the Microsoft Media Player installed): • Open the Volume Control panel by left-clicking on Start, point to Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and left-click on Volume Control (Figure 3). • Check the “master” Volume Control (on the far left of the panel) and Wave setting. Make sure the slider is set in the middle and that the Mute box isn’t checked. • Open the Windows Media Player by left-clicking on Start, point to Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and left-click on Windows Media Player (Figure 8). FIGURE 8—Windows Media Player • Left-click File and then Open. • Select the file that you recorded earlier and left-click on the Open button. 28 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives • Adjust the volume using the Volume Control panel that was opened earlier. On many sound cards there are two separate controls for the playback of .wav files. You can adjust the output volume by moving the “master” Volume Control (on the far left of the panel) upward. This volume control sets the volume for all output to the speakers and line-out jacks. There’s also a Wave volume control; this controls only the volume of .wav files. Professional Tip Setting the Wave, SW Synth, and CD Player to the same level (preferably the maximum level) will allow you to use the master volume to control most sound output from your PC. If you have these controls set at different levels you may get parts of an application producing very loud sounds, while other parts of the same application are inaudible or even mute. Many applications use a combination of .wav and .mid files to play sounds, so a constant setting of the output types is advised. Playing files compressed using a CODEC (a lossy file) will require software written to decode the compressed data. Decoding software that will play MP3 files is available for free on the Internet. The most commonly used PC-based MP3 players are • The Windows Media Player, available at www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/ players.asp • The Winamp .mp3 player, available at www.winamp.com Use the Internet to find other .mp3 players. There are many to choose from, all with different features. Playing .aac files can be accomplished by acquiring an .aac player. This player is currently part of the QuickTime audio/video player. This player will supply the .aac CODEC and will allow translation of most .acc files. Check on a specific CODEC’s availability on your PC by accessing the Audio CODECs option on the Sound and Multimedia Properties window (Figure 6). Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 29 Self-Check 4 Indicate whether the following statements are True or False. ______ 1. Windows Media Player is used to play .aac files. ______ 2. MPEG is a type of lossy compression. ______ 3. You need a tape recorder to record sounds on a PC. ______ 4. One form of lossless compression is MIDI (.mid). ______ 5. PCM is used to sample analog data. Check your answers with those on page 93. 30 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives IMAGE FILES With the introduction of lower-cost digital cameras, the use of photos in presentations has increased. The standard format of data transferred between digital cameras, scanners, and PCs is the TWAIN data format. TWAIN is a standardized software protocol and applications programming interface (API) that’s used for communication between imaging devices and software on a PC. TWAIN files, though portable, aren’t usable on most multimedia applications and need to be converted by imaging editing software. Many multimedia software packages require image files of a specific type to imbed them in a presentation. This should be a major consideration when purchasing multimedia software and supporting image editing software. Compatibility of file types isn’t guaranteed. There have been no established standards for image files, but some file formats do seem to be used more than others. Some of the common file extensions used for image files are .jpg, .wmf, .tif, .pcx, .gif, .eps, and .bmp. These file types aren’t interchangeable, but most image editing software applications support most of these file types. The compression ratios are different for all of these types of image files, so the file size can vary up to 500 percent for the same image. These file types are covered later in this study unit. All images on a PC aren’t still images. More and more images used in multimedia presentations are video or animation based. This is particularly true of Web pages, where flashing, spinning moving pictures and streaming videos are becoming the industry standard. Recording Images Recording images of any type requires a way to input the still or video images. Often this is accomplished over the Internet, but almost as often the file is created with a camera. The major component of the image recording process, which a PC owner sees, is the camera. The major component according to the PC, and the operating system, is the graphics processor. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 31 Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is an interface specification that enables 3-D graphics to display quickly on PCs. AGP runs at several times the bus speed of conventional Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) cards (528 MB/s versus 132 MB/s). Because of this and the fact the AGP supports only one card, the data transfer rate using AGP is significantly greater than with PCI video cards. AGP employs eight sideband address lines, so multiple data transfers can take place concurrently. The graphics or video processor is either a set of chips that are part of the motherboard, or it’s on a separate card that is generally in the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP). The job of this processor is to accept recorded images, save the images to a drive on your PC, and play the images back on your monitor or other display device. The complexity of these tasks requires memory (specifically RAM) and most AGP graphics cards/processors support 8 MB to 128 MB of “onboard” memory for processing graphics. If this RAM isn’t available as part of the graphics processor, it’s often “borrowed” from the system RAM during graphics processing. This shared RAM is regular system RAM, which is slower than onboard video RAM. The video controller allocates the RAM it needs, which decreases the amount available for the rest of the system. So overall, built-in onbaord video RAM is a better choice. Many graphics processors also provide tools for video/graphics editing. Graphics processors support the graphics input and output jacks that are found on the rear panel of most PCs (Figure 9). FIGURE 9—Graphics Card Jacks Graphics input and output jacks can consist of the following: • 15-pin analog port. This is also called the Video Graphics Array (VGA) port and connects to your monitor. This may be the only port on your graphics card. This is also referred to as the Red Green Blue (RGB) port. 32 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives • S-Video. Short for “Super-Video,” this is technology for transmitting video signals over a cable by dividing the video information into two separate signals: one for color (chrominance), and the other for brightness (luminance). This is also called C/Y Video for the two signals, C for chrominance and Y for luminance. This port supports television output. • Video in (yellow). A standard RCA jack for connection to VCRs and cameras. • Video out (black/dark blue). A standard RCA jack for connection to VCRs and televisions. • Digital video interface. DVI is a specification created to accommodate analog and digital monitors with a single connector. There are three different DVI configurations: DVI-A, designed for analog signals, DVI-D, designed for digital signals, and DVI-I (integrated), designed for both analog and digital signals • Gaming port. This port is used to connect graphics output devices used in some games. Graphics processors support the four basic functions required to add images to a multimedia presentation. This means they • Digitize the input (analog to digital) • Store the graphic images • Compress the data • Reproduce the graphic images (digital to analog) Digitize or Input the Image (Analog to Digital) With images, most of the data is already in a digital form before the PC receives it. Cameras and scanners have already taken the analog image and converted it to digital data during the process of making an image. There are also digital video cameras that use the FireWire/i.Link or USB 2.0 connection to input digital information directly to your PC. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 33 Analog videos also need to be converted to digital format. These images include most camcorder images, television video, and filmed video. As discussed earlier in this study unit, converting analog input to digital data requires sampling the input and then digitizing it. The sampling and digitizing is done using the same method as for sound input, pulse code modulation (PCM). PCM turns the analog input into a series of 0s and 1s by sampling the input at set time periods. So in simple terms, digital video is a sampled form of analog video. The most common sampling schemes in use today are listed in Table 1. Table 1 VIDEO SAMPLING RATE Clock Rate Horiz ontal Pixels Vertical Pixels NTSC square pixel 12.27 MHz 780 525 NTSC CCIR-601 13.5 MHz 858 525 NTSC 4FSc 14.32 910 525 PAL square pixel 14.75 MHz 944 625 PAL CCIR-601 13.5 MHz 864 625 PAL 4FSc 17.72 MHz 1135 625 Store the Image We now have the image or video converted to digital data. Now this data needs to be stored on the PC, and the uncompressed video files are huge. Standard, uncompressed video takes about 30–50 MB per second of video/audio play time. This would mean an uncompressed video file would fill up your hard drive in just a few minutes. Image and video data storage depends on compression to have it workable on your PC. It also explains why an AGP graphics adapter has at least 8 MB onboard RAM for storing 10 frames of video images. 34 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Still images are commonly sent to the PC using the TWAIN application programming interface (API). These files are in an uncompressed format and can take up a lot of hard drive space. As stated before, there’s no set standard for still image files. Below are listed some of the major file types for both still images and videos. This list is by no means comprehensive but does give a sample of data formats available. Compress the Data (Video Files) The three file types listed below are the most common video file compression CODECs being used for video images viewable on a PC. To view the specific video file formats supported by your PC, do the following: • Left-click on START and then left-click on Control Panel. • Double left-click on Sounds and Multimedia (Windows 9x, NT, Me and 2000) or Sounds and Audio Devices (Windows XP). • Left-click on the Hardware tab, scroll down, and select Video Codecs. • Left-click on the Properties button. This will open the Video Codecs Properties screen. • Left-click on the Properties tab. This will have a complete list of the video CODECs supported by this PC (Figure 10). AVI Files AVI (Audio video interleaf) Indeo® video allows software-only playback of video on desktop multimedia PCs. It’s Intel’s digital video capture, compression, and decompression CODEC. A video clip compressed with Indeo video can play back on any system that supports Microsoft’s Video for Windows. This CODEC is available from Intel (http://www.intel.com/pcsupp/multimed/indeo) for Microsoft Video for Windows, and QuickTime for Windows. These files won’t play on most home DVD players. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 35 FIGURE 10—Video CODECs MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 Files MPEG files for video are supported by the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats. These formats are commonly used for commercially available movies. Creating videos in these formats and transferring the data onto a DVD can often produce videos playable on your home DVD player. These formats displays a relatively high-quality image in high-end computers, but a jerky image on lower-end computers. The MPEG video files are of higher resolution (at least 352 ⫻ 240 pixels) and better quality (150 KB/s, 30 fps) than many equivalent files of other formats. The .mpg files require either an MPEG playback video board (hardware assisted playback) or a Pentium MMX CPU or better with an AGP or PCI graphics card and .mpg playback software. With this combination of hardware and software, it’s possible to play commercially available movies on your PCs DVD player if it supports the DVD- or DVD+ standards. The DVD standards are discussed later in this study unit. 36 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Under the category of MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 videos is DivX™. This is a proprietary, MPEG-4 based video compression technology, using its own CODEC, which can shrink digital video to sizes small enough to be transported over the Internet, while maintaining high visual quality. This CODEC can reduce an MPEG-2 video (the same format used for DVD or Pay-Per-View) to ten percent of its original size. Video on regular VHS tapes can be reduced to about one hundredth of their original size. To view a DivX compressed version of the video, you need a media player designed to play DivX encoded content. This player can be downloaded free from www.divx.com/divx. The DivX CODEC is included in this DivX software bundle. DivX files aren’t compatible with the DVD- or DVD+ file types, and won’t play on stand-alone video players. As with all technologies, the advantages of the DivX CODEC (small file size) need to be weighed against its disadvantages (incompatibility issues). QuickTime Files Apple Computers developed QuickTime files (identified by the .mov extension). QuickTime (www.apple.com/quicktime) is a proprietary compression algorithm for audiovisual information. The software is available for free from the above link for all Windows 9x and newer machines. QuickTime files provide a smaller downloadable file and playback on less modern systems. The smaller file size, however, lessens the video quality. QuickTime videos have a resolution of 120 ⫻ 90 pixels. This plays more smoothly in lower-end computers, but the picture quality is inferior to that created from MPEG files. Compress the Data (Still Image Files) As stated before, still images are usually sent to the PC using the TWAIN API. TWAIN was designed to provide mechanisms for transferring images from the source device to the image application (such as Photoshop). Multimedia applications don’t accept TWAIN files as one of the image file types used in presentations. The image files need to be converted into a compatible format. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 37 BMP Raster graphics are digital images created as a set of samples of a given space. A raster is a grid of x- and ycoordinates on a display space. Vector graphics are digital images created through a sequence of commands that place lines and shapes in a given space. In physics, a vector is a representation of both a quantity and a direction at the same time. In vector graphics, the file is created and saved as a sequence of vector statements. This file type is reserved for bit map (often spelled “bitmap”) files. Bit maps define the display space and color for each pixel or “bit” on the display space. These files aren’t compressed and have a tendency to be quite large. One good thing about .bmp files is that they don’t need to contain a bit of color-coded information for each pixel on every row; they need to contain information indicating a new color only as the display scans along a row. This way an image with large areas of solid color will require a smaller bit map. Bit maps use the raster graphics method of specifying an image. A raster is a grid that defines how an array of pixels (in x- and y-coordinates) is illuminated, be it monochrome or color. Changing values for one pixel is rather difficult. BMP, GIF, JPEG, and TIFF files are examples of raster graphic files. For this reason, you can’t immediately rescale a bit map image without losing image quality. In direct contrast to this, vector graphics images are designed to be quickly rescaled. A vector file (also known as a geometric file) uses commands and mathematical calculations to render an image. Brightness, density, tone, and color are easy to modify. Typically, an image is created using vector graphics editor and then converted to a raster graphic file or bit map for use in a multimedia application. EMF Enhanced MetaFile (EMF) is a term for spool file formats used in printing by the Windows OS. To spool (which stands for “simultaneous peripheral operations online”) a computer document is read and stored (usually on a hard disk) so that it can be printed/processed later. When a print job is sent to the printer and it’s already printing another file, the computer reads the new file and stores it. Spooling allows multiple print jobs to be sent to the printer at one time. The EMF format is the 32-bit version of the original Windows Metafile (WMF) format. The EMF format was created to solve problems the WMF format had printing graphics from some multimedia and graphics applications. The EMF format is 38 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives device-independent, meaning that the physical dimensions of the original graphic image are maintained on the hard copy despite resolution changes in dots per inch of the printer. EPS Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) is the graphics file format used by the PostScript language. PostScript is a printing programming language that describes page appearance. EPS files can be either binary or ASCII. The term EPS usually implies that the file contains a raster graphics image. In contrast, PostScript files include only the PostScript commands for printing the graphic. GIF Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is the file designator for one of the most common file formats for graphic images on the Internet. The GIF format uses the LZW compression algorithm. LZW (named after its three inventors, Lempel, Ziv, and Welch) is an algorithm that can take a large file and store it as a much smaller one. It does this by assigning codes to all of the colors. Instead of storing all of the pixel information, the codes and location are referenced as duplicate color data. Unisys owns this algorithm, and companies that make products that profit from using it (including using the GIF format) need to license its use from Unisys. American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is a format for text files on PCs and the Internet. An ASCII file uses a 7bit binary number (a string of seven 0s or 1s) for each alphabetic, numeric, or special character with 128 possible characters defined. The GIF uses a 2D raster image that uses a binary code. There are two versions of the format, GIF87a and GIF89a. GIF89a supports files that enable animated GIF, which is a short sequence of images within a single GIF file. An Internet committee has developed a patent-free replacement for the GIF, the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format. This file type is covered later in this section. Meanwhile, many GIF Web site builders continue to be ignorant of, or indifferent to, the requirement to get a license from Unisys for the use of their algorithm. GIF is a lossless compression algorithm. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 39 JPEG This is the term for any graphic image file produced by using a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) standard. This is a suite of compression algorithms for computer image files. The JPEG scheme includes 29 distinct coding processes. To create a JPEG file, choose from this suite of compression algorithms. When you create a JPEG or convert an image from another format to a JPEG, you’re required to indicate the quality of image you want. Since the highest quality results in the highest resolution and largest file, you need to make the trade-off between image quality and file size. There’s a progressive JPEG file that supports fade in Web graphics. JPEG is a lossy compression algorithm. PCX Files that end with a .pcx extension use the PCX file format. This file format was originally developed by ZSOFT for its PC Paintbrush program. Most optical scanners, fax programs, desktop publishing applications and multimedia programs support the PCX file type. PNG Portable Network Graphics (PNG) is a file format for image compression that was designed as a replacement for the Unisys-owned GIF. The PNG format was developed by an Internet committee expressly to be patent-free. Like a GIF, PNG files are compressed using a lossless algorithm (meaning all image information is restored when the file is decompressed during viewing). A PNG file isn’t intended to replace the JPEG format, which is a lossy compression that lets you make the trade-off between file size and image quality during image compression. Typically, PNG file is 10 to 30% more compressed than a GIF file. The PNG format includes these features: • You can control the degree of transparency (also called opacity). • Interlacing of the image is supported. 40 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives • You can use gamma correction of the image to “tune” the image in terms of color brightness. • Images can be saved using true color as well as color palette and grayscale formats. The PNG format doesn’t support, animation and files can’t contain multiple images. TIF Tag Image File Format (TIFF) is a common format for exchanging raster graphics images between programs. The .tiff or .tif file type identifies a TIFF file. The TIFF format was developed in the 1980s with contributions from the Aldus Corporation (now part of Adobe Software), Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard. TIFF files can be saved using RGB full color, gray scale, or color palette. They can include files with JPEG or LZW standard run-length image compression. WMF Windows Metafile Format (WMF) graphics file format is used to exchange graphics information between Microsoft Windows applications and as a print spooler file. WMF files can hold both vector and bit-mapped images. Displaying Images Displaying images on your PC requires application programming that supports the image type you’re attempting to display. All of the video file types discussed in this study unit will play on • Windows Media Player (www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp) • DivX player (www.divx.com/divx) Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 41 • QuickTime player (www.quicktime.apple.com) • RealOne player (www.real.com) Professional Tip Since image file types aren’t compatible with all multimedia application programs, make sure the image editor you get will create the types of image files you require. The image file types listed are displayable by image editing software. Some image file types are displayable by the Paint and Image viewer programs that come as part of the Windows OS; others aren’t. You can purchase most image editing software from computer supply stores. Another component required by many multimedia application software packages is DirectX. DirectX is the major interface program group that enables the playing of multimedia files on your PC. It’s a group of application programming interfaces (APIs). The APIs act as a kind of bridge for the hardware and the software to “talk” to each other. The DirectX APIs give multimedia applications access to the advanced features of high-performance hardware such as three-dimensional (3D) graphics acceleration chips and sound cards. They control low-level functions, including two-dimensional (2D) graphics acceleration, support for input devices such as joysticks, keyboards, and mice, and control of sound mixing and sound output. DirectX enhances what you experience with your computer. With DirectX installed as part of your operating system, you’ll be able to access better 3-D graphics, music, and audio effects. The latest version of DirectX is available, for free, from Microsoft at the following address: www.microsoft.com/windows/directx 42 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Self-Check 5 Match the item on the left with their descriptions on the right. Indicate your answers in the place provided. ______ 1. VGA port a. A grid of x and y coordinates in a display space ______ 2. Vector Graphics b. A group of APIs ______ 3. AGP slot c. 15-pin analog ______ 4. Raster graphics d. Places shapes in a given space ______ 5. DirectX e. Where the graphics card goes Check your answers with those on page 94. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 43 SOUND AND GRAPHICS CARDS The sound and graphics processors are the hardware backbone of any multimedia PC. If you want to increase the quality of the multimedia output (sounds and images) on your PC, these are the components that will require upgrading. Also, these components, whether they’re part of your motherboard or a separate card, will fail over time. This section of the study unit focuses on the fixing and replacing of sound and graphics (video) components or cards. Troubleshooting Troubleshooting any device on a PC requires a logical, step-by-step approach. This same approach is used to troubleshoot both a friend’s legacy IBM PC AT and the most complex PC you’ll come across as a PC repair technician. The following steps are the ones commonly used to diagnose and repair problems with the multimedia devices on a PC: • Identify the problem. • Check for conflicts within the PC. • Swap known good for suspected bad. Identify the Problem This little statement covers most of the work involved in troubleshooting problems on a PC. If you know the problem, you can fix it. The problem is, as a PC technician, usually you aren’t there when the problem first appears. Listening skills are important at this point in the diagnosis. • What does the PC owner say the problem is? • What are the symptoms (no sound, no picture, error codes, or strange noises)? 44 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Asking a few pertinent questions can also lead you down the path of diagnosis and repair: • When did this problem first happen? • Did you install anything new? • Did you move the PC recently? The answers to these questions will point to a device or devices that need to be checked. The PC’s owner will be your best source for the information you’ll require to do any repair work. The most common problems are no sound and/or no picture. The first part of the troubleshooting of this type of problem is to check to ensure the external devices are receiving power and are turned on. This may sound silly, but there are many instances where a PC won’t work in a person’s house and will be fine at a PC repair shop. More often than not, this is a power issue. • Check outlets, circuit breakers (fuses), and or power strips. • Check to see if the device that’s not working is turned on; this includes speaker units, where the power switch may be on the sub woofer on the floor. • Check to see if the cables or wires that connect the output device (speakers, monitor or printer) to the PC are plugged in correctly and in good condition. The next step is to see if there is anything new on or around the PC. Are there any new applications or programs installed on the PC? If so, go to the section below on checking for conflicts. If the PC has recently been moved, you’ll need to check for power and connections. If there are new devices in the room, like a fan, heater, or air conditioner, turn these devices off and then check the PC. Often the motors on fans will cause interference on monitors and speakers. If the inspections above don’t identify the problem, then it will be necessary to open the PC and inspect the component wiring and installation. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 45 WARNING Failure to remove power from the system may cause personal injury, shock, or even death. CAUTION Failure to wear the wrist strap during repair may cause electrostatic discharge and damage the equipment. If the sound and video components are on separate cards, check to see that the cards are seated in their sockets correctly. Make sure the wires are connected to the cards and the external components. It’s not unusual to find the sound card to CD player wire unplugged or a cable that’s obviously loose. If the component that’s causing problems is part of the motherboard, check for wiring. There are also jumpers and software-controlled switching that’s involved with onboard sound and video components. Check with the documentation that came with the PC to identify correct configurations and setup. Check for Conflicts within the PC The sound and/or graphics card is installed correctly. The peripheral device(s) is correctly connected and powered. Internally, the cabling is installed correctly. The next thing to do is to check the OS for how it’s handling the sound or graphics card. This check of the OS can be done at any point in the troubleshooting process. There are two components that cause the most problems with sound and graphics processors, the device driver and the device manager. The device driver file functions can be 46 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives modified during the installation of some application programs. If the problem with sound or graphics appeared right after the installation of a new application, this is a good place to look for problems. The device driver is a small file that resides within the PC’s file structure. It tells the PC how to use the device and how to join it with the other devices installed on the PC. To check on how the device driver is functioning, you use the device manager. This set of tools displays the device’s resource usage and reports on conflicts, if they exist. To open the device manager and check on the functioning of the device driver, follow these steps: • Left-click on START and then left-click on the Control Panel. • Double left-click on System. This will open the System Property screen. • Left-click on the Hardware tab and then left-click on the Device Manager button. • For sound component’s problems, open the Sound, video and game controller part of the menu by clicking on the plus sign (“+”). • For graphics controller’s problems, open the Display adapters part of the menu by clicking on the plus sign. • Select the device you want to inspect (either the sound components or graphics adapter) by double-clicking on the menu item. • This will display the property screen for the device you selected (Figure 11). • The General tab opens a window that will display the device status area that reports on the device’s functioning. There’s a Troubleshoot button you can select if the device isn’t functioning correctly. If this is a fair representation of your current problem, left-click on the Troubleshoot button and follow the instructions on the screen. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 47 FIGURE 11—Property Screen • The Driver tab reports the information about the driver and gives you the option to view the details of the current device driver, update the driver to a newer one, roll back the PC to the driver being used before the current one (if the new driver fails), or uninstall the driver and end support for the device chosen. • The Resources tab opens a window that lists the resource types and settings for the device. There’s also part of the window that reports on device conflicts. If there are conflicts with other devices, you’ll be required to change the settings or reinstall one of them. A general rule is to first use the automatic settings. If this doesn’t work, change the device settings for the least important device first. For example, change the resource settings for the “disco ball” driver before the settings for the monitor. 48 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Swap Known Good for Suspected Bad The peripheral devices are powered up and connected correctly. The wiring inside the PC is correct, and the cards (if they exist) are seated correctly. The device driver file is up to date but the device manager reports that the device has failed. It’s time to swap suspected bad for known good. The easiest components should be done first, so if the problem is with the sound, plug some earphones into the jack in the back and see if they work. If they do, then replace the speaker(s). If graphics are the problem, plug in a working monitor. Replace the nonfunctioning monitor if required. If the external components aren’t the problem, then it’s time to deal directly with the sound and graphics components, processors, or cards of the PC. Repairing Sound and graphics cards aren’t repairable in the conventional sense. You, as a PC technician, have the options of installing driver files, resolving resource conflicts, reconnecting wiring, or reseating the card if applicable. Repair of a sound card/sound components on the motherboard or graphics card/graphics processor on the motherboard is cost prohibitive. The cost of a new sound or graphics card is much less than the bench time required to repair the damaged circuitry. There are few exceptions to this rule. One involves high-end cards with loose hardwired connectors. You may experience other exceptions to the replace rule, but be aware of bench testing and service costs on low-end cards. Replacing/Installing The final option with sound or graphics card malfunctioning is to replace the card itself. The reason for replacement of the sound or graphics components on a PC can also be because there’s a desire to enhance the multimedia features. Since all currently produced PCs have multimedia sound and graphics support, the installation of a new sound or graphics card involves the removal of the existing hardware. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 49 As discussed earlier in this study unit, some motherboards have integrated sound components and/or a graphics processor. The motherboards with these integrated functions will have audio and video jacks. These jacks, which protrude through the back of the PC, will be mounted directly to the motherboard. Installing a separate sound or graphics card on these systems involves one important consideration: the sound or graphics portion of the motherboard will need to be disabled to prevent resource conflicts when the new hardware is detected. These problems with conflicts are almost always resolved by the operating system. When the OS doesn’t resolve the conflict, the sound or video portion of the motherboard will need to be disabled through jumpers. See the documentation included with the motherboard on your PC for the location and settings of these jumpers. Either through OS actions, resource reallocation, or setting jumpers, this conflict will require resolution before the PC can use the new hardware. Sound Card A good reminder is to read all of the documentation that comes with your sound card for any installation procedures specific to your card. It’s recommended that the sound card being installed is SoundBlaster® compatible. This means the sound card or the audio portion of your motherboard or multimedia card uses the same instruction set as a SoundBlaster® card. This instruction set has become an industry standard for sound cards. Be particularly aware of proprietary cables that may be used to connect the sound card to the CD drive. Special care should be made to make sure that the 4-prong cable being connected to the sound card for direct audio connection isn’t the 4-prong power connector that’s used for the 3½-inch floppy drives. This connector will fit into the audio-in socket on the card but will destroy the sound card when your PC powers up. 50 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives There are four main steps in replacing a sound card: 1. Remove the existing sound card. This includes disabling the sound component of the motherboard if applicable. 2. Install the sound card into an empty PCI slot on the motherboard. 3. Install the device driver for the sound card. Sometimes this is done through operating system Plug and Play and sometimes from a driver CD. 4. Install the applications that came with the CD or floppy disk supplied with the sound card. Before working on the inside of the PC, remember to follow the standard precautions. WARNING Failure to remove power from the system may cause personal injury, shock, or even death. CAUTION Failure to wear the wrist strap during repair may cause electrostatic discharge and damage the equipment. Following are details of the previously outlined four steps to installing the sound card: • Remove the power from the PC. This is done by turning the power switch to the off position and disconnecting the PC from its power source. • Put on your wrist strap and connect it to a ground source. • Remove the external wires connected to the sound card or sound components on the motherboard. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 51 Professional Tip Even a device as simple as the wrist strap, used to protect the PC against electrostatic discharge, can fail. It’s important to test this device’s functions often to prevent damage to a PC. • Remove the PC’s cover. • Locate the components being replaced. • If the sound components reside on a PCI card, take out the screw that secures the card to the PC’s frame and remove the card. You may need to rock the card from end to end to remove the card. Save the screw for installation of the new sound card. • If the sound components are part of the motherboard, remove a cover plate from the PCI slot nearest to the motherboard sound components by removing the screw that secures the cover plate to the PC’s frame and removing the plate. Save the screw for installation of the sound card. • In some cases the sound card will connect directly to an IDE CD/DVD drive or graphics card. If this is the case, install these wires. • Other sound cards support telephone answering devices (TADs). If this is true for your PC, connect this wire. • Seat the card in the slot and use the screw removed earlier to secure the new sound card in the slot. • Recheck the wiring and look for any loose tools or hardware items inside of the PC’s case. • Replace the cover. • Attach all external cables to the new card and reconnect the power to the PC. 52 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives The physical part of hardware installation is complete. Now boot the PC and see if it recognizes the new hardware. If the hardware installation is recognized by the system, a dialog box stating New Hardware Found will open and the Add Hardware Wizard opens. Follow these steps: • The Add Hardware Wizard gives you the option to Search for the Best Driver for Your Device (Recommended). Select this option and then left-click on Next. • Check the Specify a Location option and left-click on Next. • Left-click on Browse and type in the path to the drive that has the CD or floppy disk with the driver file. Leftclick on Next. • When the installation is complete, left-click on Finish and reboot the PC. • Check the installation on the Device Manager (Figure 11). If you don’t have the driver file for the sound card you’re installing or if you purchased a sound card that may have driver updates, go to the home site of the sound card manufacturer and search for the device driver. If the device is an integrated sound card, you’ll need to go to the PC manufacturer’s site for device drivers. If you’re installing a sound card on a PC that has the sound components integrated on the motherboard, refer to page 50. If the sound card came with any application software, install that now. Graphics Card A good reminder is to read all of the documentation that comes with your graphics card for any installation procedures specific to your card. Be particularly aware of proprietary cables that may be used to connect the graphics card to the sound card. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 53 As with the sound card, there are four main steps in replacing a graphics card: 1. Remove the existing graphics card. This includes disabling the graphics processor of the motherboard if applicable. 2. Install the graphics card into the AGP slot on the motherboard. 3. Install the device driver for the Graphics card. 4. Install the applications that came with the CD or floppy disk supplied with the graphics card. Before working on the inside of the PC, remember to follow the standard precautions. WARNING Failure to remove power from the system may cause personal injury, shock, or even death. In addition, failure to wear the wrist strap during repair may cause electrostatic discharge and damage the equipment. Follow these steps to install the graphics card: • Remove the power from the PC. This is done by turning the power switch to the off position and disconnecting the PC from its power source. • Put on your wrist strap and connect it to a ground source. • Remove the external wires connected to the graphics card or graphics processor on the motherboard. • Remove the PC’s cover. • Locate the components being replaced. • If the graphics components reside on an AGP card, remove the card. You may need to rock the card from end to end to remove it. 54 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives • If the graphics processor is part of the motherboard, you may want to disable the fan that cools the graphic processor chip by removing the wires that go from the motherboard to the fan. This isn’t a required action. • In some cases the graphics card will connect directly to the sound card. If this is the case, install these wires. • Seat the card in the AGP slot. • Recheck the wiring and look for any loose tools or hardware items inside of the PC’s case. After you are sure the area is clear. • Replace the cover. • Attach all external cables to the new card and reconnect the power to the PC. The physical part of hardware installation is complete. Now boot the PC and see if it recognizes the new hardware. If the hardware installation is recognized by the system, a dialog box stating New Hardware Found will open and the Add Hardware Wizard opens. Follow these steps: • The Add Hardware Wizard gives you the option to Search for the Best Driver for Your Device (Recommended). Select this option and then left-click on Next. • Check the Specify a Location option and left-click on Next. • Left-click on Browse and type in the path to the drive that has the CD or floppy disk with the driver file. Leftclick on Next. • When the installation is complete, left-click on Finish and reboot the PC. • Check the installation on the Device Manager (Figure 11). Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 55 If you don’t have the driver file for the sound card you’re installing, or if you purchased a graphics card that may have driver updates, go to the home site of the graphics card manufacturer and search for the device driver. If the device is an integrated graphics card, you’ll need to go to the PC manufacturers site for device drivers. If you’re installing a graphics card on a PC that has the graphics processor integrated on the motherboard, refer to page 50 of this study unit. If the graphics card came with any application software, install that now. Practical Exercise 1 1. Convert a .wav file to an .mpg file using a sampling rate of 128 kbps. Convert the same file using a sampling rate of 64. Compare the file sizes and listen to the music. 2. Find the device driver for your graphics card on the Internet. 3. Remove and install the PC’s sound card (if possible). Check your answers on page 96. 56 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Self-Check 6 Indicate whether the following statements are True or False. ______ 1. It’s always cost efficient to repair sound cards. ______ 2. All graphics cards have the same external connectors. ______ 3. Sound cards are installed in a PCI slot. ______ 4. Swapping known good for suspected bad is a good troubleshooting strategy. ______ 5. Graphics cards are installed in the AGM slot. Check your answers with those on page 94. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 57 CD AND DVD DRIVES Among the major devices used to support multimedia files are the compact disk (CD) and digital versatile disk (DVD) players and writers. Multimedia applications make files that are often too large to store on a floppy disk. To make these files transportable, a new media needed to be developed or adapted for use on a PC. The media adapted for PC use was the CD, and the supporting PC hardware was the CD drive. Standard CD media can store up to 700MB of data. This allowed most multimedia presentations to be shared among PCs with CD drives. Just as people had burning (writing data to) CDs down to a simple procedure, multimedia presentations grew to include feature-length films and large interactive applications. The DVD was adapted for use on PCs and now offers data storage capabilities of 8.7 GB or more. Caring for CD and DVD Drives The major problems that you’ll experience with CD/DVD drives are caused by outside sources. The major problem with CD/DVD drives is caused by airborne dirt. This includes dust, smoke, and pollen. The best solution to the dirt problem is to have the PC in a controlled environment with no airborne pollutants. Air conditioners and room air purifiers work well to keep this problem to a minimum but won’t solve it completely. The solution to the dirt problem is to occasionally clean the CD/DVD player using a cleaning disk. The cleaning disk will clean airborne pollutants from the laser unit using a brush that’s attached to the disk. Cleaners come in two styles: • The dry cleaner will work well if you don’t have smoke around the CD/DVD drive. • The wet cleaning disks, which use an alcohol product on one of the brushes, work well in a smoky environment. A CD cleaner works well on a DVD drive since the DVD drive emulates a CD drive when a CD is inserted. Read the CD drive instruction manual for recommended cleaners and cleaning schedule. 58 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives The second problem that can negatively influence the performance of a CD/DVD drive is electrical noise. This noise can be caused by devices with motors on the same circuit as the PC, and will cause a CD/DVD drive to produce errors. The error correction coding written to the media almost always catches these errors, but does cause the drive to read data more than once before the PC can process it. The need to read the data more than once can also cause stutters in audio and video playback. The solution to this problem is to isolate the power going to the PC from the power that runs motors. The air conditioner or air purifier that helps elevate dust and dirt problems shouldn’t be on the same circuit as the PC. Turning the drive on end causes the final problem that you can experience with a CD/DVD drive. Most CD/DVD drives weren’t created to play media when in a vertical position. Turning the drive on end can cause read/write errors that slow the drive’s performance. There are exceptions to the vertical rule, the best way to identify drives that can work in a vertical mode is the presence of a lip that holds the media in these drives. Also, drives in laptop or notebook computers will tolerate the drive being used in diverse orientations. Caring for CD and DVD Media CD and DVD media is durable and sturdy. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take care of them. Often you’ll get CDs with important application software that’s shipped in paper sleeves. It’s suggested that you put this software into a plastic case to protect your investment. Following is a list of recommended precautions when handling CD/DVD media: • Don’t write on a CD/DVD label area unless you’re using a pen specifically designed for this type of use. The actual CD data is located under the label. Scratching through the label will destroy the CD/DVD. • Don’t ever write on the non-label side of the disk; the laser looks through this clear side. • Use only labels specifically designed for use on CD/DVD media. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 59 • Don’t use cleaners on CD/DVD media. To clean the surface of CD/DVD media, use a soft, dry cloth and wipe from the center to the edge, not in a circular motion. • Don’t bend the CD/DVD media. • Don’t make the center hole larger. • Don’t subject the CD/DVD media to extremes of temperature. • Don’t leave CD/DVD media in direct sunlight. This is especially true of CD-R, CD-R/W, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVDR/W, and DVD+R/W media. • Hold the CD/DVD media by the edge. Don’t touch the non-label side of the media. If CD/DVD media does get stuck in the drive, use the emergency eject hole on the front panel of most CD/DVD drives (Figure 12). Insert a straightened Emergency Eject paper clip or similar Hole instrument into the hole and manually FIGURE 12—Emergency Eject Hole eject the drive tray. As a knowledgeable computer repair technician, you’ll need to understand how CD and DVD drives function within the Windows environment. 60 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Self-Check 7 Indicate whether the following statements are True or False. ______ 1. Cleaning a DVD drive will cause wear on the laser unit. ______ 2. Use a straightened paper clip in the eject hole when a CD gets stuck. ______ 3. For security reasons, always use a ballpoint pen to write on a DVD surface. ______ 4. An air conditioner can cause interference with a CD drive. ______ 5. Clean DVDs with a 50% isopropyl alcohol solution. Check your answers with those on page 94. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 61 CD DRIVES The single most standard and popular multimedia device is the CD drive. CDs can be used to copy and distribute large amounts of data on a relatively safe medium. As most people have experienced with their personal audio CDs, some care needs to be taken when handling the disk. However, it’s difficult to damage a CD to the point of it not being usable. Unlike a diskette, a CD can be x-rayed without loss of data and is unaffected by a magnetic field. However, the CD can be damaged by deep scratches on either the label side or the clear side. Most CDs offer up to 700 MB of available data space, or about 80 minutes of music stored as .wav files. This large area for data makes the CD a very desirable medium for multimedia and its storage-hungry files. During the writing process CD media is written to on the CD’s protected inner surface. This surface is written to in a linear manner that’s laid out as a continual spiral. This spiral is broken down into sectors, each containing equal amounts of data (Figure 13). The surface of the media is embedded with data in the form of pits and lands (Figure 14). A land represents binary 1 and a pit represents FIGURE 13—CD Sector Layout binary 0. You’ll often read about “pits” on a CD instead of bumps. They appear as pits on the aluminum side, but on the side the laser reads from, they’re bumps. 62 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives CD drives have changed over the years. To read data, the CD drive employs a small motor with an actuator arm that 1,600 moves the laser read head to the sector nanometers that’s to be read. CD drives also speed up and slow down depending on where the actuator is located on the media. 125 nanometers 500 nanometers If the CD media was spinning at a constant speed, the distance traveled during a set period of time would vary 830 nanometers (minimum) depending on the actuator location on FIGURE 14—CD Lands and Pits the CD media. To create the effect of constant linear velocity (CLV), the motor driving the CD media speeds up as the actuator moves closer to the center. This way the laser that reads the data is over the sector for the same amount of time no matter where the data is written. To support the 150 kbps transfer rate the Constant linear velocity (CLV) is a CD-ROM drive spins the CD media at 200 rpm. Faster data transfer speeds than the original CD-DA 150 kbps were required by graphic (video) images. For a PC to present a video clip without a choppy effect, CD drives needed to go double (150 kbps ⫻ 2) and then quad (150 kbps ⫻ 4) speed. Current CD drives support speeds of 48x using multiple read heads and high speeds, but these same drives are still required to slow down to 200 RPM and a transfer rate of 150 kbps. To support the higher speeds required by video files, CD drives have adopted a mix of CLV and constant angular velocity (CAV), the same constant-speed technology used by hard drives. Keep in mind that a CD-ROM drive that supports both CLV and CAV is required to process video files without choppiness and audio files that are written in the CD-DA format. drive process where the spacing of the data is constant, and the CD drive speeds varies. Constant angular velocity (CAV) is a CD-ROM drive process where the spacing of the data is variable, and the CD drive speeds is constant. It’s important to know information regarding the naming conventions currently being used by CD drives. The standard for audio files stored on commercially available audio CDs is 150 kbps with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. This base rate is the standard from which CD-ROM drives are compared. If being purchased new, a CD drive should support data Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 63 transfer rates of at least 32x (150 kps 3 32). Older drives support slower data transfer rates and can make some music files, presentations, and games “stutter” during playback. This stuttering can be reduced by changing the settings of the disk cache size. For drives with removable media, VCACHE caches data during the read but not during the write process. A cache (pronounced “cash”) is a place to store data on a PC in a temporary area of RAM. To change the cache size on a Windows 9x, NT, Me, or 2000 PC (not supported by Windows XP) do the following: • Left-click on Start and then left click on Settings and then Control Panel. • Double left-click on System. • On the System Properties screen select the Performance tab. • Left-click on File System and then left-click on the CD-ROM tab (Figure 15). FIGURE 15—CD-ROM Cache Size • Adjust the Supplemental cache size: slider to support a larger cache. Also make sure the Optimize access pattern for: is set for the highest speed supported by your CD drive (commonly Quad speed or faster). 64 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Next we’re going to explain the four types of CDs and their drives that you’ll encounter: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, and CD-RW. CD-DA Compact disk-digital audio (CD-DA) is the original compact disc for music, was defined by Philips and Sony, in 1982. The CD-DA allows for music playing time of 74 minutes 30 seconds. Data on a CD-DA is organized into logical blocks of information. The audio information is stored in frames of 1/75-second length. There are 44,100 samples per second stored. Each sample occupies two bytes (16 bits), and there are two channels (left and right) stored on the CD-DA. This gives a sector size of 2,352 bytes per frame, which is the total size of a physical block on a CD. The CD drive that supports this type of CD is the standard CD player found on a home stereo system. The CD-DA format can also be read by any of the PC CD drives outlined in this section. The opposite isn’t true: PC CDs won’t always play on a music CD player. CD-ROM CD-ROMs are written in the following two formats: 1. CD-ROM Mode 1 is the mode used for CD-ROMs that store data and applications. To access the large number of data files that may be present on this type of CD, precise addressing is necessary. Data is laid out in the same way as it is on audio disks. Data is stored in sectors, which each hold 2,352 bytes of data. For Mode 1 CD-ROM data storage, the sectors are further broken down, and 2,048 bytes are used for data, while the other 304 bytes are devoted to error detection and correction code. There are 75 sectors per second on the disk and transfer rates of 150 kbps. Faster transfer rates are available for some CD-ROM drives. Drive speed is expressed as multiples of the single speed transfer rate (2x, 8x, 16x . . .) Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 65 2. CD-ROM Mode 2 is used for compressed audio/video information and uses only two layers of error detection and correction, the same as the CD-DA. Therefore, all 2,336 bytes of data behind the sync and header bytes are for user data. Although the sectors of CD-DA, CDROM Mode 1, and Mode 2 are the same size, the amount of data that can be stored varies considerably because of the use of sync and header bytes, error correction and detection. The Mode 2 format offers a flexible method for storing graphics and video and allows for different kinds of data to be mixed together. CD-ROM drives can read CDs created by a host of different sources. This includes audio CDs, data CDs, and photo CDs. These drives are a cost-efficient entry point into the CD market but don’t address the problems with hard drive storage of data-intensive multimedia files. Professional Tip The speed of a CD device is listed in its name. For instance, a CDRW 32x12x4x drive will read a CD at up to 32x speed, write a CD at a maximum of 12x speed, and rewrite a CD at a maximum of 4x speed. As in all things associated with a computer, speed counts. If you’re the technician responsible for recommending or purchasing computer hardware, the fastest drive with the lowest price, from a reputable manufacturer, is your best deal. CD-R CD-R drives were the next type of CD drives to evolve. They’re able to write as well as read data. The CD-R, or CD recordable, drive isn’t visually different from a CD-ROM drive with the exception of a faceplate identifying it as a CD-R drive. The differences are all circuit and software based. These drives have a laser that has multiple power levels. The most intense power level is used for writing new data on the disk, while the lowest power level is used for reading data. 66 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives The CD-R drives use specially created CDs with a lasersensitive organic dye layer where the data is stored (Figure 16). During the writing process on a PC, the laser at the highlevel setting irradiates an organic dye that changes the media and causes the dye to diffuse the laser beam like a pit. The PC reads the CD with the lower laser setting, which can distinguish between a pit or land by the amount of light deflection caused by the surface. If being purchased new, a CD-R drive should support data writing rates of at least 4x (150 kbps ⫻ 4). CD-R 80 MIN./ 700 MB FIGURE 16—CD-R Media Recordable The CD media created by the CD-R technology are slightly photosensitive and more heat sensitive than commercially created CD-ROMs. Keeping this in mind, these CDs need to be protected from bright light sources as well as temperature extremes, specifically heat. CD-RW CD-RW, or CD rewritable, drives are the latest type of CD drives. These drives are able to write, erase, and read data using a specially created rewritable CD that can be erased and written to a multitude of times. (Some manufacturers state up to 1000 times.) These drives have the ability to generate three separate power levels from the laser. In addition to an intense power level and a lower power level like that of the CD-R drives, the CD-RW drives contain a middle power level. This middle power level is used to erase previously recorded data. More recently produced CD drives have the ability to Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 67 record at the same time they erase old data. In some cases, when this technology is used, old data will still be present on the CD. When creating CDs with this single-pass rewrite process, always check the data integrity by playing the CD before distribution. Professional Tip Often, the data recorded on rewritable CD media (CD-RW) isn’t playable on older CD-ROM drives or home audio CD players. This is because of the shallower depth of the pits created on CD-RW media and the potential of incomplete erasure of old data. If the files being written have the potential of being used on these types of drives, use CD-R media to increase the usability of the data. 68 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Self-Check 8 Match the item on the left with their descriptions on the right. Indicate your answers in the place provided. ______1. Sectors a. Uses three laser levels ______2. CLV b. Put down in a spiral ______3. CD-DA c. A place to temporarily store data ______4. CD-R/W d. Data spacing is constant, drive changes speed ______5. Cache e. The original CD audio format Check your answers with those on page 94. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 69 DVD DRIVES DVD is a relatively new technology that uses a denser recording technique, layering, and two-sided disks to achieve very large capacities. DVDs can hold video, audio, and computer data. DVD drives are also able to read CDs. The original purpose of DVD was to hold video data (movies) for mass distribution. Like a CD, the DVD media is a 4.7-inch diameter (120 mm) by .05-inch (1.2 mm) thick disk. The DVD also stores data on a spiral track like the CD. The difference between CD and DVD writing is the distance between the pits used to record the data. These pits are shorter because a 650 nm wavelength is used on DVD drives, compared to the 780 nm wavelength used on CD drives. The sampling rate of a DVD drive is also different from that of CD drives. DVD drives use a 48 kHz sampling rate compared to a 44.1 kHz sampling rate on a CD drive. DVD drives support both sampling rates and wavelengths, so they can easily use both DVD and CD media. Many DVD drives have two separate lasers to achieve this goal. One laser is used for CD media and the other for DVD media. There are also more tracks on DVD media because they’re placed closer together than on CDs. The track pitch on DVD media is 0.74 microns, less than half that of a CD’s 1.6 microns (Figure 17). Data pits are considerably smaller, which allows a greater number per track than on CDs. FIGURE 17—DVD Lands and Pits 740 nanometers 320 nanometers 120 nanometers 400 nanometers 70 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives DVD media, on average, holds four times the number of data pits that can be held by a CD. The average capacity of a single-sided, single-layered disc is 4.37 GB. DVD has also increased the efficiency of the data structure on the disk. In the 1970s, when CDs were first developed, considerable error correction was necessary to ensure that the disc would play correctly. Many bits were being used for error detection and correction, which limited the media’s capacity to store user data. DVD’s more efficient error correction code allows increased data capacity. There’s a second layer of writable media used on some DVDs that increase the usable data storage space to between 4.37 GB and 8.7 GB of data, depending on the disk. A comparison of DVD recording media is presented later in this study guide. This large difference in the amount of storable data, when compared to a CD, has turned the DVD format into a favorite for storage-intensive platforms such as multimedia files. The DVD data format, though ideal for multimedia files, has caused a secondary problem that must be addressed. To have a PC that will read and create DVDs, you must figure in the cost of the PCs used to create these. The PCs that use DVD drives usually require a minimum of a Pentium III processor (or equivalent) with 128 MB RAM and a 20 GB or larger hard drive. This changes the purchase price of a PC from the midrange price into the high-end price. Next we’re going to discuss four types of DVD drives and media that you’ll encounter: DVD-ROM, DVD-R and DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM. DVD-ROM DVD-ROM drives were created for use on PCs only. DVD-ROM drives can read DVDs created by compatible hardware and software. Most of these DVD drives will play DVD videos as well as software written to a DVD. The advantage of a DVD is in the amount of data stored (up to 8.7 GB). The DVD-ROM drive is a cost-efficient entry point into the DVD market, but like CD-ROMs, these drives don’t address the problems with storage when using data-intensive multimedia files. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 71 Professional Tip The speed of a DVD device is listed in its name. This is similar to the rating on a CD drive, with one important difference. A DVD+R/W 12x8x36x drive will read a DVD at a speed up to 12x, write a DVD at a maximum speed of 8x, and read a CD at a maximum speed of 36x. Notice that the last number listed on a DVD drive is the speed at which it’s able to handle CDs. A DVD-ROM 12x32x will read DVDs at the 12x speed and CDs at a 32x speed. As stated earlier, speed counts. If you’re the technician responsible for recommending or purchasing computer hardware, the fastest drive with the lowest price, from a reputable manufacturer, will be the best deal. DVD-R and DVD+R DVD-R and DVD+R drives were the next type of DVD drives. They’re able to write as well as read data. The DVD-R and the DVD+R are two types of DVD recordable drives. These drives aren’t visually different from a DVD-ROM drive with the exception of a faceplate identifying it as a DVD-R or DVD+R drive. The differences are all circuit and software based. These drives have a laser that has multiple power levels. The most intense power level is used for writing new data on the disk, while the lowest power level is used for reading data. The DVD-R and DVD+R drives use specially created DVDs with a laser-sensitive layer where the data is stored (Figure 18). FIGURE 18—DVD-R Media DVD-R for VIDEO 120 MIN./ 4.7 GB 72 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives As is the case with CD-Rs, the DVD-R and DVD+R media are more photosensitive and more heat sensitive than commercially created video and software DVD media. Keeping this in mind, this DVD media needs extra protection from bright light sources, as well as temperature extremes, specifically heat. The DVDs created by DVD-R and DVD+R technologies aren’t cross compatible. Many of the new DVD recordable drives support both standards, but conflicts can arise, specifically in the multisession writing modes these two standards support. The media from an older DVD-R device may be able to be read by an older DVD+R device (and vice-versa), but this isn’t always the case. Using the same technology as the people the data will be shared with, or procuring a device that supports both standards, is recommended. A discussion of the competing DVD technologies is offered later in this study unit. DVD-RW and DVD+RW DVD-RW and DVD+RW drives (RW stands for rewritable) are the latest type of DVD drives. These drives are able to write, erase, and read data using a specially created rewritable DVD that can be erased and written to a multitude of times. These drives have the ability to generate three separate power levels from the laser. In addition to an intense power level and a lower power level like that of the DVD-R drives, the DVDRW/DVD+RW drives contain a middle power level. This middle power level is used to erase previously recorded data. Most rewritable DVD drives can also write to CD-R and CDRW media (DVD-RAM and DVD-R drives can’t). They’re slow compared with the typical CD-RW drive’s write speed for CDR media. Many of the new DVD rewritable drives support both the DVD+RW and DVD-RW standards, but conflicts can arise, specifically in the multisession writing modes the two standards support. The same issues of data contamination that’s present in CD-RW drives can lead to problems when using the single-pass rewrite feature on these drives. Check your data integrity before distribution. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 73 Professional Tip Often, the data recorded on rewritable DVD (DVD-RW or DVD+RW) media isn’t playable on older DVD-ROM drives or home video DVD players. This is because of the shallower depth of the pits created on DVD-RW or DVD+RW media and the potential of incomplete erasure of old data. If the files being written have a potential of being used on an old DVDROM drive or home DVD player, use DVD-R or DVD+R media to increase the usability of the data. DVD-RAM This last type of DVD drive is also able to write, erase, and read data using rewritable DVD media. The disks created using DVD-RAM drives also have the ability to be erased and written to a multitude of times. The difference between these drives and DVD-RW or DVD+RW drives is that the data being written isn’t encoded or compressed using a CODEC. The files are PC-compatible files, and in a true sense, the DVDRAM drive acts like a removable hard drive. This makes this drive a great device for data backup, but it can’t create or read video DVD files or files created with a DVD- or DVD+ drive. The ability to create and edit movies as well as play commercial movies is a feature many users find very desirable. This is an added feature available only on drives supporting the DVD- and DVD+ standards. DVD-RAM drives don’t support these DVD types. 74 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Self-Check 9 Indicate whether the following statements are True or False. ______ 1. A DVD drive’s laser use a longer wavelength than a CD’s laser. ______ 2. Pits are raised areas on the readable side of a DVD. ______ 3. Most DVD drives read CDs. ______ 4. DVD-R and DVD+R media is photosensitive. ______ 5. DVD-RAM drives can read any type of DVD. Check your answers with those on page 95. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 75 DVD STANDARDS Currently, there are three competing standards for DVD format. Each one has its proponents and critics. No clear industry standard has risen from the competing formats. Below is a brief discussion of the formats and the reasons commonly used for choosing one of these formats. DVD-R and DVD-RW • DVD-R/W was the first DVD recording format released that was compatible with stand-alone DVD players. • DVD-R is a non-rewritable format, and it’s compatible with about 85 percent of all DVD players and DVDROMs. • DVD-RW is a rewritable format, and it’s compatible with about 65 percent of all DVD players and DVD-ROMs. • DVD-R/W supports single-side 4.37 GB DVD media (DVD-5) and double-side 8.7 GB DVD media (DVD-10). • The DVD Forum supports these formats (www.dvdforum.com/forum.shtml). DVD+R and DVD+RW • DVD+R/W has some better features than DVD-R/W, such as lossless linking and both CAV and CLV writing. • DVD+R is a non-rewritable format, and it’s compatible with about 85 percent of all DVD players and DVDROMs. • DVD+RW is a rewritable format and is compatible with about 70 percent of all DVD players and DVD-ROMs. • DVD+R/W supports single-side 4.37 GB DVD media (DVD-5) and double-side 8.7 GB DVD media (DVD-10). • The DVD+RW Alliance supports these formats (www.dvdrw.com). 76 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives DVD Recording Media • DVD-5 is a single-layer DVD media type that stores up to 4,700,000,000 bytes (that’s 4.37 computer gigabytes), where 1 kilobyte is 1024 bytes (4,700,000,000/1024/ 1024/1024 = about 4.37 GB). So why does it say 4.7 GB on the DVDs? Because DVD media doesn’t use computer gigabytes; it uses standard kilo, where 1 kilobyte is 1000 bytes. DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W support this format. • DVD-9 is a single-sided dual-layer DVD media type that can store up to 7.95 computer GB. This is what many commercial DVDs are using today. DVD-9 media is basically two DVD-5 single-layer media pressed together. This format isn’t supported by DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W. • DVD-10 is a single-layer double-sided DVD media type that stores up to 8.7 computer GB; “double-side” means that you burn on both sides on the DVD, 4.38 GB per side. DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W support this format. • DVD-18 is a double-sided, dual-layer DVD disc. This media is basically a DVD-9 disc on two sides. It stores as much as 15.9 GB of data, or 7.95 GB per side. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 77 Self-Check 10 Match the item on the left with their descriptions on the right. Indicate your answers in the place provided. ______1. DVD-R a. Supports CAV and CLV writing ______2. DVD-10 b. Supported by the DVD Forum ______3. DVD+R/W c. Not supported by DVD writing applications ______4. DVD-9 d. Stores 8.7 computer GB of data ______5. DVD-5 e. Single-sided, single-layer media Check your answers with those on page 95. 78 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives INSTALLING CD AND DVD DRIVES Installing a CD or DVD drive is easy. Quite often the cable and card required to complete the installation are already present inside the PC. The following are instructions for the most common types of drive installations. The scope of this study unit doesn’t allow for the inclusion of all possible drive configurations, but if you follow the instructions provided along with the documentation included with the drive, you’ll be able to install almost any CD/DVD drive. The same two types of interfaces are available for CD and DVD drives. Because of the ease of hard drive interfacing, the IDE/ATAPI interface is the most common. With the new increases in speed of external drives, this type of drive is growing in acceptance and usage. Professional Tip Device drivers are part of the packaging for most new CD or DVD drives. If you’ve purchased the drive used or refurbished, or the device driver wasn’t included with your new drive, you may need to use the Internet to find the correct driver file(s) to complete the installation. It’s recommended that you download the correct driver for your CD or DVD device before the physical installation starts. As soon as the PC boots up, Windows 9x or newer will detect the new device and ask for the device driver to complete the installation. Having the device driver copied onto a diskette, or in an easily accessible data area on your computer, will make the installation process easier. Common device drivers for CD and DVD devices are available at www.driverforum.com. If this source doesn’t have the driver for your CD or DVD device, you’ll need to use your search engine to find the required file(s) elsewhere. Proprietary Drives Proprietary drives are ones that use a proprietary card to interface with the PC. This type of drive is the easiest to explain the installation process for. The proprietary interface card is included with the drive. Simply follow these instructions: Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 79 WARNING Failure to remove power from the system may cause personal injury, shock, or even death. In addition, failure to wear the wrist strap during repair may cause electrostatic discharge and damage the equipment. • Remove power from the PC, put the wrist strap on, and open the PC. • Remove a cover plate from an empty PCI slot by removing the screw. Save the screw. • Seat the proprietary adapter card in the PCI slot and secure using the screw saved in the previous step. • Install the CD drive into an empty drive bay. Make sure access to the outside of the PC is unobstructed. • Attach power and data cables per instructions included with the CD/DVD drive. • Check the installation through the front of the PC. Ensure the drive door opens without interference. • Make sure the tools used for installation are removed from the interior of the PC. • Check the power and data cables to make sure they’re secure. • Close the cover and reconnect the power. • Boot the PC and install the software included with the CD/DVD drive. This commonly includes a device driver and application software. 80 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives SCSI Drives Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), pronounced “SKUH-zee,” is a set of standard parallel electronic interfaces that allow the OS to communicate with hardware installed on the PC. SCSI drives use a SCSI card to interface with the PC. SCSI drives require the installer to set jumpers to configure the drive to work on the system. To install a SCSI CD/DVD drive, follow these instructions: WARNING Failure to remove power from the system may cause personal injury, shock, or even death. In addition, failure to wear the wrist strap during repair may cause electrostatic discharge and damage the equipment. • Remove power from the PC, put the wrist strap on, and open the PC. • Most PCs have a SCSI interface card installed. If not, install the SCSI adapter card. • Remove a cover plate from an empty PCI slot by removing the screw. Save the screw. • Seat the SCSI adapter card in the PCI slot and secure using the screw saved in the previous step. • Install the CD drive into an empty drive bay. Make sure access to the outside of the PC is unobstructed. • Attach the ground terminal, power and data cables (Figure 19). • If there’s a direct cable from the CD/DVD drive to the sound card, connect this cable. • Set the jumper for the SCSI ID. If this is the only device on the SCSI chain, select the default ID, zero (0). If there’s already a SCSI device on the PC, select a unique number from one to seven. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 81 SCSI bus connector DC (In) connector Audio Out connector DC power connector Jumper pin Frame ground terminal Frame grounding connector Interface cable FIGURE 19—SCSI Drive Connections • Set the terminator jumper to enable or disable the builtin terminator. If this is the only drive, the first drive of a chain, or the last drive in a chain, set the terminator jumper to enable. If the drive is in the middle of the chain, set the jumper to disable. • Set the jumper for the SCSI parity checking. Most drives come with parity checking enabled. If the SCSI interface card doesn’t support parity checking, disable this function. • Check the installation through the front of the PC. Ensure that the drive door opens without interference. • Make sure the tools used for installation are removed from the interior of the PC. • Check the power and data cables to make sure they’re secure. • Close the cover and reconnect the power. • Boot the PC and install the software included with the CD/DVD drive. This commonly includes a device driver and application software. 82 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives IDE Drives Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) is a standard electronic interface used between a PC’s bus and the disk storage devices. Most computers sold today use an enhanced 32-bit version of IDE called Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE). In today’s computers, the IDE controller is built into the attached device on a separate controller card. Normally, there’s an IDE host adapter on the system board to connect the device to the host computer. Another name used for IDE is Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA). IDE CD/DVD drives use an extension of the IDE/ATA standard called the Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface (ATAPI). This standard allows tape, CD and DVD drives to be treated like any hard drive installed on a PC. This interface is supported by Windows 9x, Me, NT, 2000, and XP. IDE drives need to have unique IDs in order to function within a PC. Setting the jumper on the back of a newly installed drive allows Windows to generate the unique ID or interrupt for the device. When installing a single new IDE drive into a computer that has no CD or DVD drives, installation is easy. Connect the second IDE connector onto the cable that’s connected to the hard drive. Set the jumper on the rear of the drive to slave. Windows will correctly install the drive into your system using the device driver that’s supplied with the drive being installed. When installing an IDE drive into a system that already has a CD or DVD device, or if you’re installing two IDE drives at the same time, you’ll need to use other jumper settings. It’s recommended that multiple CD and/or DVD drives be connected to the same IDE cable. If you’re adding a drive to a system that has a CD or DVD player already installed, check if the drive is connected to the same IDE cable as the hard drive. If this is the case, remove the IDE cable and connect the other IDE cable (IDE2) in its place. Install the simplest type of drive, or CD drive, in the top slot. Place the more complex type of drive, like a CD-RW or DVD drive, in the second slot. Connect the IDE cable with the minimum amount of twisting and backtracking. Use the jumper on the rear of the drive to jumper the simplest type of drive to the master position, and the more complex drive to the slave position. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 83 Most computers have at least two IDE cables available for the installation of new devices. If your system board has only one IDE cable, with only two connectors, you’ll need to use one SCSI CD or DVD drive if you require two devices of this type. To install an IDE CD/DVD drive, follow these instructions: WARNING Failure to remove power from the system may cause personal injury, shock, or even death. In addition, failure to wear the wrist strap during repair may cause electrostatic discharge and damage the equipment. • Remove power from the PC, put the wrist strap on, and open the PC. • Most PCs have a two IDE interface cables installed. If required, install a second IDE interface cable to the IDE interface card or motherboard connection. • Install the CD drive into an empty drive bay. Make sure access to the outside of the PC is unobstructed. • Attach the power cord and IDE data cable (Figure 20). • If there’s a direct cable from the CD/DVD drive to the sound card, connect this cable. • Set the jumper for IDE configuration. ➢ If this is the only device on the IDE2 cable, set the jumper to master. For EIED drives set the jumper to secondary master. ➢ If this is the second drive installed on the IDE1 or IDE2 cable, set the jumper to slave. For EIED drives on IDE1, set the jumper to primary slave. For EIED drives on IDE2, set the jumper to secondary slave. • Check the installation through the front of the PC. Ensure that the drive door opens without interference. 84 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives FIGURE 20—IDE Drive Connections Audio cord to sound card Data cable • Make sure the tools used for installation are removed from the interior of the PC. • Check the power and data cables to make sure they’re secure. • Close the cover and reconnect the power. • Boot the PC and install the software included with the CD/DVD drive. This commonly includes a device driver and application software. External CD/DVD drives The speed of FireWire/i.Link and USB 2.0 bus support has enabled the development of external CD/DVD drives. If you have a FireWire/i.Link and/or USB 2.0 adapter on the PC, these drives are the simplest drives to install. Installation of the FireWire/i.Link or USB 2.0 adapter card is the same as installing any PCI card on a PC. Both FireWire/i.Link and USB drives are hot-swappable devices on PCs with the Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 and XP operating systems. This means all you need to do is plug the drive into a power Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 85 source and the correct port while the PC is running. No manual installation or reboot is necessary. The PC recognizes the drive, assigns a unique bus identifier, loads the device driver, and the PC can access the drive. All of these functions are transparent to the operator unless this is the first time you’ve connected the drive. In this case, you may be asked to install the device driver and application software that came with the drive. Refer to the documentation included with the drive for specifics on these installations. 86 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Self-Check 11 Match the item on the left with their descriptions on the right. Indicate your answers in the place provided. ______1. IDE a. Cable select, master and slave jumper positions. ______2. SCSI b. High-speed external drives. ______3. FireWire/i.Link c. Has primary and secondary settings. ______4. Power cable d. Jumpers must be set for termination. ______5. EIDE e. Connects to the back of CD/DVD drives. Check your answers with those on page 95. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 87 OTHER MULTIMEDIA DEVICES AND YOUR PC Multimedia, as defined previously, is the ability of a PC to reproduce sounds and images in a lifelike manner. To this end, there has been an explosion of new devices that make the creation of multimedia files on a PC easier. The types of output files that are required by the user most often determine the need for these peripherals. The following devices are the most common types of hardware used with multimedia files: • Digital cameras • External CD and DVD drives • Microphones • MIDI devices • Photo-quality printers • Portable MP3 players • Scanners • Smart media cards • Speaker systems • Videocassette recorders (VCRs) • Video cameras • Video projectors All of the above devices can connect to your computer in different ways. Types of Cards The first way such devices can connect to your PC is through the sound, or multimedia card (Figure 21). Microphones, MIDI devices, some portable MP3 players, and speaker systems plug into the standard ports on the sound or multimedia card. (Refer to Figure 5 for an illustration of these various ports.) 88 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives FIGURE 21—Sound Card Another way these devices can connect to your PC is through cards that need to be installed directly onto your system board. Home entertainment systems, VCRs, video cameras, and video projectors often require the installation of a FireWire card that will support IEEE 1394 devices. Some digital cameras also support IEEE 1394 for the transfer of their TWAIN files. The next way these devices connect to a PC is through proprietary cards that are supplied when you purchase the device. Refer to the installation instructions supplied with these devices for correct installation. Other considerations should be made when purchasing devices that require the installation of a card. PCs have a limited number of expansion slots, and using the slots for peripherals can hinder future enhancements to your computer. An additional concern is that some device-specific cards require the disabling of components and/or connectors on the system board to avoid conflicts of addresses. This system board modification should be covered in the documentation included with the device. Some older peripherals, like external drives, can require separate cards to function. Other complex devices, like home entertainment systems that include both audio and video I/O ports, also support the use of separate cards. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 89 The LPT, COMM, and monitor ports are another way multimedia devices can connect to your PC. These have traditionally been called the printer, communication, and video ports. These are standard connectors found on all PCs. Some photo printers connect through the LPT port, video projectors can connect through the monitor port, and many older peripherals such as scanners and external drives connect through the COMM port. The simplest way to connect the devices listed above is through the USB or USB 2.0 ports that are standard on most Pentium II or newer computers. These ports support high-speed data transfer and easy ability to connect to many devices. Most new peripherals support the use of USB or USB2 ports for their installation. The process of installing peripherals through a USB port is relatively easy when using Windows 9x and newer. Plug one end of the USB cable into the computer and the other into the device being installed. Some devices have proprietary cables used to connect to the device. After the connection is made, Windows will notify the user that it has identified a new device attached to the PC and start a step-by-step installation procedure. Make sure you have the device driver disk or CD available, because Windows device installer will request this information to complete the installation process. If the PC doesn’t start installing the device within a relatively short period of time, place the disk or CD into a drive, click on Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Hardware and follow the instructions on the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard as shown on Figure 22. If all else fails, open the disk or CD and choose a file that will start the process (commonly an install or DOS batch file). At the end of the installation process, the Windows programming will request that you restart the PC. Follow this instruction to let Windows configure the USB port for use with the newly installed device and its hardware. At this point, the installer may be asked to set a priority for the devices installed by enabling the device. If there are two TWAIN devices installed, you’ll be asked to choose which of these devices will be enabled. Two devices of the same type, like a scanner and a camera, will rarely be able to access the 90 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives FIGURE 22—Add/Remove Hardware Wizard PC at the same time using a USB port. This is caused by the way Windows configures USB ports on only one IRQ. Errors in processing data through a USB or USB2 port can be frustrating, but can usually be resolved by changing which device is enabled from the list for that type of peripheral. Practical Exercise 2 1. Remove and install the CD drive from a PC. 2. Using an Internet connection, view a video clip from your favorite news organization. 3. Research the cost of digital cameras. Find out the type of interface they use. Check your answers on page 96. Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives 91 Self-Check 12 Indicate whether the following statements are True or False. ______ 1. Multimedia devices can connect up to a LPT port. ______ 2. USB connections use only one IRQ. ______ 3. MIDI devices connect up to the graphics card. ______ 4. USB handles devices that support the same file type without problems. Check your answers with those on page 95. 92 Multimedia—CD and DVD Drives Self-Check 1 1. True 3. False 4. True 5. False Self-Check 2 1. d 2. a 3. b 4. True 5. c Self-Check 3 1. d 2. b 3. e 4. a 5. c Self-Check 4 1. False 2. True 3. False 4. True 5. True Answers 2. True 93 Self-Check 5 1. c 2. d 3. e 4. a 5. b Self-Check 6 1. False 2. False 3. True 4. True 5. False Self-Check 7 1. False 2. True 3. False 4. True 5. False Self-Check 8 1. b 2. d 3. e 4. a 5. c 94 Self-Check Answers Self-Check 9 1. False 2. True 3. True 4. True 5. False Self-Check 10 1. b 2. d 3. a 4. c 5. e Self-Check 11 1. a 2. d 3. b 4. e 5. c Self-Check 12 1. True 2. True 3. False 4. False Self-Check Answers 95 Practical Exercise 1 1. The conversion should be possible with any CD writing application software. If you don’t have any conversion application software, there are shareware converters available on the Internet. Use your search engine to find one (search for: wav to mp3 conversion). The file sampled at 64 kbps will be about 60% of the size of the file sampled at 128 kbps. The 128 kbps file sounds much clearer on most PCs’ sound systems. Remember 128 kbps is the most compatible sampling rate for .mp3 files. 2. Use your search engine and type in “device driver (xyz sound card)” where (xyz sound card) is the name of the sound card or integrated sound card on your PC. 3. Instructions are included under “Replacing/Installing” and “Sound Card.” If you have an integrated sound card, research the documentation that came with the PC on how to best disable the sound card section of the motherboard. Practical Exercise 2 1. Instruction is provided under the heading “Installing CD and DVD Drives.” 2. Every major news organizations (and most minor news organizations) have a Web site that has video clips to play. If you don’t have an Internet connection, use the Windows Movie Maker Sample File that comes with the Windows Movie Maker on the Windows 98SE, Me and 2000 operating systems, or Windows Movie Maker 2 Sample File that comes with the Windows Movie Maker2 on PCs with the Windows XP operating system. 3. The research that we did found digital cameras that cost between $30.00 US and $1,500.00 US. The ranges of features are just as large as the price difference. The top end models are currently advertising a 5.0 megapixel resolution. Most of the cameras researched connect to a USB port on the PC. 96 Self-Check Answers EXAMINATION NUMBER: 02704600 Whichever method you use in submitting your exam answers to the school, you must use the number above. For the quickest test results, go to http://www.takeexamsonline.com When you feel confident that you have mastered the material in this part of your course, go to http://www.takeexamsonline.com and submit your answers online. If you don’t have access to the Internet, you can phone in or mail in your exam. If you’re unable to take the exam by telephone or online, please call Student Services and request the special answer sheet and mail in your exam. Submit your answers for this examination as soon as you complete it. Do not wait until another examination is ready. Note: When you receive your examination evaluation after submitting your answers for grading, “Text 1” will refer to Installation and Support of Hard Drives and “Text 2” will refer to this study unit, Multimedia — CD and DVD Drives. Questions 1–40: Select the one best answer to each question. 1. How many devices can you connect to a typical SCSI adapter? A. 3 B. 4 C. 7 D. 24 Examination PC Hardware 1 Exam 2 97 2. You’ve an existing hard drive on your IDE adapter. You’re installing a second hard drive and want to keep the first hard drive as the bootable hard drive. How should you configure the second hard drive? A. C:/ B. Primary C. Master D. Slave 3. Fast wide SCSI uses cables that have _______ pins? A. 25 B. 40 C. 68 D. 72 4. You’ve just added an external FireWire hard drive to your PC. What should you configure this drive as? A. IRQ = 14 B. The drive configures itself. C. Device = 15 (0) D. Master 5. Which sequence of events is in the correct order for formatting a hard drive? A. B. C. D. Low-level format, partition, install the operating system, DOS format Low-level format, partition, high-level format DOS format, low-level format, partition, install the operating system Partition, low-level format, DOS format, install the operating system 6. The master boot record (MBR) is part of which system? A. FAT32 B. SCSI C. NTFS D. EIDE 7. What’s the data transfer rate for a FC-AL interface? A. 1.5 Mbps B. 24 Mbps C. 300 Mbps D. 500 Mbps 8. You open up the case on a customer’s PC and determine that it’s using an internal USB 2.0 interface. How many devices can it support? A. 8 B. 16 C. 127 D. 256 9. How many bytes are in a sector? A. 128 B. 256 C. 333 D. 512 10. Low-level formatting, which is now mostly done by the hard drive manufacturer, organizes the disk into A. allocation tables. B. cells. 98 C. tracks and sectors. D. packets. Examination 11. What translation mode can be used to allow a PC to see beyond 504MB on an IDE hard drive? A. LBA B. ISP C. CHS D. IEEE 12. What is it called when a hard drive writes a sector, skips one or more sectors, and then writes another sector? A. Sectoring B. Sector skipping C. Intersector weaving D. Interleaving 13. What determines the drive letter when installing a second hard drive? A. The drive manufacturer B. The end user C. The operating system D. The interface type 14. In a hard drive, the time required to position the head over the proper track and measure speed is called A. delay. B. overdrive. C. arrival time. D. seek time. 15. Which of the following will be found in a reserved area of a hard drive? A. SCSI B. APU C. MBR D. BIOS 16. What type of hard drive doesn’t require partitioning? A. B. C. D. FAT IDE NTFS None, all drives require partitioning 17. Which statement is true regarding SCSI termination? A. B. C. D. Only drives must be terminated. Only adapters must be terminated. No termination is necessary. Both ends of the chain must be terminated. 18. Two PC repair technicians are discussing optimizing the hard drive. Technician A says you can defragment the drive to optimize its performance. Technician B says you can get a faster interface card to optimize the hard drive. Which of the following statements is correct? A. B. C. D. Only Technician A is correct. Only Technician B is correct. Both technicians are correct. Neither technician is correct. Examination 99 19. When connecting a ribbon cable to a computer, how do you know which direction to plug it in? A. B. C. D. The The The The colored colored colored colored line line line line in in in in the the the the cable cable cable cable goes goes goes goes to to to to pin 0. the right of the connector. the highest pin number. pin 1. 20. What is defined as a “stack of tracks”? A. FAT32 B. Cylinder C. MBR D. Sector 21. What type of compression substitutes special characters for repeating patterns? A. Lossy B. MPEG C. Lossless D. MIDI 22. You want to add a CD drive to your PC. The box that the drive came in says “ATAPI CDROM.” What type of interface do you need to use for this drive? A. IDE B. USP C. SCSI D. PCI 23. Two technicians are discussing MMX technologies. Technician A says MMX has to do with sounds. Technician B says MMX has to do with videos. Which of the following statements is correct? A. B. C. D. Only Technician A is correct. Only Technician B is correct. Both technicians are correct. Neither technician is correct. 24. Images are transferred between a digital camera and a PC using what type of interface? A. MPEG-1, Layer-3 B. MIDI C. TWAIN D. IDE 25. What determines the quality of the reproduction of music on a computer? A. Number of samples B. Frequency of sound C. CD/DVD size D. Size of the original song 26. Two types of video files used on a PC are A. B. C. D. 100 AVI and WAV. MPEG-2 and DivX. QuickTime and MPEG-1, Layer-3. MIDI and DirectX. Examination 27. When a CD-ROM drives changes speed is an example of A. MP3. B. CLV. C. IDE. D. CAV. 28. A program that compresses and decompresses files for easier storage is called a A. SCSI. B. SIMD. C. CODEC. D. MMX. 29. What group of programs gives multimedia applications access to 3-D graphics acceleration chips? A. DirectX B. CODEC C. MPEG-1, Layer-3 D. MIDI 30. When installing a sound card on a system that has an integrated soundboard, you must A. B. C. D. Reinstall the Windows sound drivers. Disconnect the speakers. Connect the new card to the MIDI port. Disable portions of the system board. 31. What is one type of lossy audio compression file? A. .wav B. .mp3 C. .mid D. .tif 32. Which of the following is a sound card component? A. LPT connector B. DVI connector C. MIDI connector D. USB connector 33. What sets the single drive, master, or slave option of an IDE DVD-R/W drive? A. Windows B. A jumper on the back C. The device driver D. The system board 34. Two technicians are discussing DVD+R and DVD-R technologies. Technician A says you can use DVD-5 media to record a movie. Technician B says you can use DVD-9 media to record a movie. Which of the following statements is correct? A. B. C. D. Only Technician A is correct. Only Technician B is correct. Both technicians are correct. Neither technician is correct. 35. On a 32x12x4x CD drive, the 32x stands for A. CD read speed. B. CD erase speed. Examination C. CD write speed. D. CD copy speed. 101 36. On a 12x8x32x DVD-RW drive, the 8x stands for A. DVD read speed. B. DVD erase speed. C. DVD write speed. D. CD read speed. 37. Which port are graphics cards commonly installed into on a PC? A. VGA B. AGP C. PCI D. FireWire/i.Link 38. Which type of DVD drive works most like a removable hard drive? A. DVD-ROM B. DVD-R C. DVD+RW D. DVD-RAM 39. Which multimedia device can connect directly to the sound card? A. Digital camera B. Photo quality printer C. Internal CD-ROM device D. Video projector 40. Two technicians are talking about adding animated graphics to a web site. Technician A says you use .png files to do this. Technician B says that you need to use .gif files for animation. Which of the following statements is correct? A. B. C. D. 102 Only Technician A is correct. Only Technician B is correct. Both technicians are correct. Neither technician is correct. Examination