Multimedia Devices
Chapter 8
Multimedia Overview
• The term multimedia has different meanings
for people because there are many types of
multimedia devices. This chapter focuses on the
most popular areas—CD and DVD technologies,
sound cards, cameras, and scanners.
CD Drive Overview
• A CD drive (compact disc) is sometimes called
a CD-ROM (CD read-only memory) and it uses
discs that store large amounts of information
(628MB and higher).
• The disc for the CD drive is known as a CD, CDROM disc, or simply disc.
• Figure 8.1 shows a BenQ U.S.A. Corp.’s CD drive
and its various front panel controls.
• A CD has pits or indentations along the track.
Flats, sometimes called lands, separate the pits.
• Reading information from a CD involves using a
laser diode or similar device.
• The laser beam shines through the protective
coating to an aluminum alloy layer, where data
is stored. The laser beam reflects back through
the optics to a photo diode detector that converts
the reflected beam of light into 1s and 0s.
• The transitions between the pits and lands
create the variation of light intensity.
• Figure 8.2 shows an inside view of a CD drive.
CD Drive Speeds
• CD drives come in a variety of types classified by
the X factor: 1X (single speed), 2X (double
speed), 32X, 48X, 52X, and higher.
• Table 8.1 shows the transfer rates for several
drive types.
CD-R and CD-RW
• Two CD technologies, CD-R (compact disc
recordable) and CD-RW (CD rewritable)
• Table 8.2 lists the different CD technologies.
DVD Drives
• DVD-ROM originally stood for digital video disc, then digital
versatile disc.
• DVD drives can be both internal and external devices connected to
PATA IDE (internal), SATA IDE, SCSI, IEEE 1394 or USB.
• The DVD-ROM drives currently come in two different
configurations, 4.7GB and 8.5GB. The 4.7GB format (sometimes
known as DVD-5) has a single layer of data on one side of the
disc.
• The 8.5GB capacity (known as DVD-9) uses two layers on the
same side to increase storage capacity.
• Two other capacities are 9.4GB and 17.1GB. The 9.4GB disc (also
referred to as DVD-10) uses a single layer on both sides of the
disc.
• The 17.1GB disc (also known as DVD-18) has two layers on both
sides of the disc.
Other DVD Technologies
• In addition to DVD-ROM, there are other types
of DVD technologies currently in the
marketplace:
• Table 8.5 shows these technologies.
Blu-ray Drives
• Blu-ray is a development in optical disc
technology that uses blue-violet laser technology
rather than the red laser technology currently
used by CD/DVD drives.
• Blue-violet laser technology has a shorter
wavelength, which means that smaller data pit
sizes can be used to create higher disk capacities.
• This laser technology is also more expensive
than red laser.
CD/DVD Drive Interfaces and
Connections
• CD and DVD drives can use PATA IDE, SATA
IDE, eSATA, USB, and IEEE 1384.
• In both desktop and portable computers, the
IDE interface is the most common for internal
devices and USB for external devices.
Sound
• Many sound cards have a MIDI (musical
instrument digital interface) built into the adapter,
and a jack for microphone input. MIDI is used to
create synthesized music.
• A 15-pin female connector on the back of the sound
adapter connects a joystick or a MIDI device such as
a MIDI keyboard.
• Figure 8.8 shows a typical sound board and ports.
Ports for speakers and headphones are typically 1/8"
connectors that accept TRS (tip ring sleeve) cables.
• S/PDIF (Sony/Phillips digital interface format)
defines how audio signals are carried between
audio devices and stereo components.
• S/PDIF connectors can be used with coaxial
cable (RCA jack) or fiber-optic cable (TOSLINK
connector). Motherboards sometimes come with
S/PDIF connectors.
• Figure 8.9 shows the two types of S/PDIF
connectors.
• An initiative between Microsoft and Intel
resulted in the PC Design Guides, which are
available at http://www.pcdesguide.org.
Connector colors and connector icons (labeling)
are defined.
• Figure 8.10 illustrates the recommended port
icons relating to sound cards.
• Table 8.6 shows common coloring used for
sound ports.
Scanners
• A scanner is a popular input device that allows
documents including text and pictures to be
brought into the computer and displayed,
printed, emailed, pressed to CD/DVD, and so
on.
• The most common types of scanners are listed in
Table 8.8.
• A scanned image can be saved in several
formats. When scanning a document or graphic
for Web pages, select JPEG or GIF format.
• The most common graphic file formats are listed
in Table 8.9.
• There are many terms associated with scanning
and Table 8.10 lists the most common.
The end