of the notebook vendors offer MPEG hardware-assist technology as a standard component or an option. To check this out, we test-drove two notebooks that can play the big picture.
IBM's ThinkPad 760CD is the first notebook with an MPEG-2 digital-video decoder chip. Developed by IBM, the decoder chip runs both MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video, and you can also choose CD Interactive (CD-I)/Video-CD to play a CD-I movie, Video-CD, or karaoke CD. IBM officials say that it will use the chip with other high-end ThinkPads, and the company is shipping the decoder to third-party vendors. Last December, Sony, Philips, Toshiba, and other firms agreed on a common format for a high-density optical-CD technology that supports 4.7 GB of storage per side, yielding 133 minutes of MPEG-2 compressed video. IBM is hoping that this technology, called digital videodisc (DVD), will boost the popularity of its decoder chip.
We played MPEG-1 files from
an IBM MPEG CD-ROM sampler, a collection of action-filled scenes from the movie
True Lies
. The visual quality of the MPEG-1 clips degraded only slightly when we enlarged a smaller window to encompass the ThinkPad's entire 12.1-inch active-matrix color display. The only problem was that the MPEG clip appeared a little more grainy when it was stretched across the screen.
Zenith's Z-Note GT can also play full-motion, full-screen MPEG graphics with its video-playback card. For testing purposes, the notebook came equipped with the card built into the system, but it is usually a $267 option. Likewise, Hyperdata Technology sent us a MediaGo CD P-100 with an MPEG card installed. Testers played a CD-I-based version of
Top Gun
on the MediaGo CD P-100, and all agreed that it was VCR-quality video.
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You can play full-motion, full-screen MPEG movies on Hyperdata's MediaGo CD P-100 with an optional MPEG card using the bundled MPEG player. The notebook also supports such file formats as Video-CD, CD Interactive (CD-I), and karaoke CD.
Notebook Vendors Opt for Hardware-Assisted Video Playback
