1984, the world's first multimedia computer came out, and multimedia technology integrated various media and became popular all over the world.
1984, when Apple introduced its first multimedia computer, people didn't care. Nowadays, multimedia is always the most popular "princess" in computer exhibitions held around the world. The popular multimedia technology in the early 1990s has become the focus of high-tech competition in the world. Multimedia, Internet and information expressway are the three terms that appear most frequently in the information wave. Multimedia and information expressway constitute the core of the third information revolution. Experts say that the 1980s was the era of personal computers and the 1990s was the era of multimedia.
What is multimedia technology? In the past, personal computers could only handle words and numbers, which was a single medium. Nowadays, personal computers can handle not only words and numbers, but also images, texts, audio, video and other media. This is multimedia. Multimedia integrates technologies such as computer, TV, video recorder and game machine, forming an operating environment where computers and users can communicate with each other. It can receive images, sounds and various media information from the outside world, and after being processed by computer, it can be output in various ways, such as pictures, characters, sounds and animations, thus realizing the diversification of input and output modes. The computer can only input and output words and data, and the computer will start talking and singing.
A standard multimedia computer includes a host computer, a display with audio and video functions, audio-visual input and output devices, communication and control ports, a CD-ROM drive, a multimedia operating system and application software. The combination of multimedia computer and modern communication technology constitutes multimedia communication.
Multimedia technology combines semiconductor technology, electronic technology, video technology, communication technology, software technology and other high-tech, maintaining its characteristics of being based on electronic technology and involving many other high-tech. It will involve many industries, from military industry, scientific research, education, information consulting industry to almost all industries such as communication and entertainment industry. People call multimedia production "mass industry".
Multimedia technology has two remarkable characteristics: first, it is comprehensive, which integrates computer, audio-visual and communication technologies, and is the comprehensive performance of computers, televisions, video recorders, tape recorders, stereos, game machines and fax machines; The second is full interaction, which can form the interaction between human and machine, interactive operating environment and immersive scene, and control it as needed.
Man-machine interaction is the biggest feature of computer multimedia technology. You can only watch TV and movies passively, but on a multimedia computer, you can modify everything from graphics to colors. You can even participate in it, change the plot and let the actors perform according to your wishes. Multimedia technology combines computer technology, audio-visual technology and communication technology, and adopts advanced digital recording and transmission means. At present, it can replace many kinds of household appliances, and it will spread all over people's lives.
Multimedia computers generally use 80486 or higher processor, with at least 4MB of memory and 160MB of hard disk, so as to ensure no distortion when playing sound, animation and moving images. Multimedia computer adopts high-resolution display SVGA or XGA, which can display up to 65,536 colors of images, and is equipped with sound card and CD-ROM. After the sound card is configured, you can record music or sound on your computer through a tape recorder or microphone and save it. You can also combine the recorded sound with music and play it. On the sound card, MIDI interface can synthesize all kinds of electronic music to produce magical effects, and can also pull the game joystick on MIDI interface to play computer games. After configuring the CD-ROM drive, you can install large practical software on the CD-ROM, teach children vividly on the CD-ROM containing educational software, and enjoy the music on the CD-ROM. Multimedia computers can be equipped with fax cards, which can receive and send faxes through telephone lines. You can also add a TV card and watch TV programs on your computer. If you insert a live image decompression card into a multimedia computer, you can play videos and watch movies on the computer.
Multimedia TV image processor is a processor used to process image signals in multimedia technology. A multimedia chip put on the market by Texas Instruments in 1995, which contains 4 million transistors and can run 2 billion times per second in parallel processing mode. It can replace 5000 integrated circuits in the existing TV image editing computer workstation, so that personal computers can receive, display, edit and transmit high-definition TV and high-fidelity signals. In addition to the computer field, this signal processor can also be used in fingerprint identification, high-definition television and telephone conference systems.
In order to improve the information storage density, transmission capacity and processing capacity in multimedia technology, it is necessary to compress numbers, texts, sounds, graphics and images. Therefore, compression technology is very important for multi-computer media technology, which can extend a CD from 3 minutes to 74 minutes now. It can also squeeze 10 digital TV programs into a channel that can only carry one analog video program; Moreover, a transmitter can only transmit more than a dozen programs at the same time, and can transmit 32 sets of mono or 16 stereo radio programs within the bandwidth of 4~4 MHz.
(Above) A multimedia home computer introduced by Apple Computer Company. You can watch all kinds of videos and text materials on CD-ROM.
(Middle picture) You can use a multimedia computer to input your own images, and then process the words and sounds.
(Below) Apple computer monitor with built-in stereo.