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4. Using the Notebook PC
DVD-ROM Drive (optional)
Overview
The Notebook PC comes in a DVD-ROM drive or a CD-ROM drive model. For DVD support on your
Notebook PC, you must select the DVD-ROM drive at the time of purchase instead of the standard CD-
ROM. Future upgrades can be done by an authorized dealer. In order to view DVD titles, you must
install the provided MPEG2 video decoder software and the DVD viewer software included on the
DVD module driver support CD. The DVD-ROM drive allows the use of both CD and DVD discs.
Definitions
DVD, which stands for Digital Versatile Disc, is the next generation of optical disc storage technology.
The DVD specification supports discs with capacities from 4.7GB to 17GB and access rates up to
22.16MBytes/s. The Notebook PC’s DVD-ROM drive is only single-sided; double-sided DVD (8.5GB
and higher) requires manually reversing the disc in order to access the reverse side.
It’s essentially a bigger, faster CD that can hold video as well as audio and computer data. With these
capacities and access rates, DVD discs can provide you with dramatically-enhanced high-color, full-
motion videos, better graphics, sharper pictures, and Dolby® Digital Surround for a theater-like experi-
ence. DVD aims to encompass home entertainment, computers, and business information with a single
digital format, eventually replacing audio CD, videotape, laserdisc, CD-ROM, and perhaps even video
game cartridges. DVD has widespread support from all major electronics companies, all major com-
puter hardware companies, and most major movie and music studios.
Software
To meet customer requirements for a complete Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) solution, a software play-
back solution is provided. The provided software has been optimized for playback of MPEG2 (Motion
Picture Experts Group specifications for data compression) encoded video clips as well as encrypted
DVD movie titles. Decoding digital MPEG2 video is accomplished through software only, eliminating
the need for expensive hardware. Although the software will function on Intel 233-333MHz based
notebooks, playback quality is reduced since loss of video frames (video images look as though they’re
skipping sections of the movie) during playback may occur. Software playback performance on Intel’s
400MHz processor platforms or faster is required to sustain 30 fps (Frames Per Second) which ap-
proaches the quality of most hardware playback solutions.
NOTE: Since MPEG2 video decoding is done through software, a processor of at least
400MHz Pentium II is recommended to provide real-time playback without frame skips.
An MPEG2 hardware decoder PCMCIA card is required on Notebook PCs with slower
processors for smooth DVD playback.