Multimedia: Applications and Future Print  Email
1. Multimedia Computers nowadays has become a very famous tools that should everyone have. The government also urge us to have ‘one p.c. per home’. In year 2020 we will see multimedia will become fully use as at Multimedia Super Corridor (Dr. Norsaidatul Akmar Mazelan – MSC & MDC Maktab Kerjasama Malaysia). As that goes, multimedia has become standard method of conveying information. Multimedia combines different types of media elements such as text, graphics, sound, animation and video into one cohesive applications to convey informations. We can mix and match any these media elements depending on the type of message we would like to pass on to your target audience. Basically, with multimedia, we are only limited by our imagination. In the heart of multimedia is interactivity. A regular telephone can be used to transmit information via either voice (audio) or fax data. The telephone is not considered multimedia device because it only uses one type of media at a time, audio or text. A television in one hand is considered a multimedia device. It can transmit text, sound, video, graphics and animations data simultaneously but it is a linear multimedia device, meaning the viewer has no control over the sequence of the presentation. However, with a P.C. you can have interactive multimedia. With interactivity, we, the user have control over what media elements are to be delivered and when it is to delivered. (see Figure 1). For example, a presenter may want to use animations, sound and text at different parts of his presentation to present ideas and information to his audience or a manager may want to illustrate some word-processed documents and spreadsheets together with sound, video and graphics animations. Interactive multimedia is important especially when it is applied in education. Research has proven that students increase their retention rate up to 40 per cent when multimedia methodology of teachings is used compared to traditional teaching methods. We tend to remember more if we actively participate in the learning process. To make our P.C become multimedia PC, we have to have a few hardware components. Sound Card With so much attention commanded by the latest graphics and motion-video capabilities, sound for PCs is sometimes left by the wayside. But, without high-fidelity sound, we can’t fully experience today’s multimedia applications and games. Sound card is a component used to make our PC plays audio. It usually come together with a set of speaker and microphone. Sound Cards with General MIDI (GM) wavetable synthesizers for high quality audio now become very popular. Usually sound card is measure as compared to Sound Blaster. Sound Blaster card is quite expensive (RM 800-RM 1800) therefore, the alternate is Sound Blaster compatible such as ESS Audio or Aztec (RM 50 – RM 350) CD-ROM drive CD-ROM or CD Read Only Memory drive is use to retrieve information, movie or music data from a CD. CD-ROM can stored up to 600 MegaBytes of data and can be retrieve using the CD-ROM drive. With combination between CD-ROM drive and Sound Card, we can make our PC plays any music CD title (ordinary CD title that can be buy at music store). The price of CD-ROM is depending on its speed whether it is 2X, 4X, 6X, 12X or 24X. The price range is between RM 250 – RM 800. The CD contained data, can cost up to RM 60. Nowadays, there is CD-ROM drive that can be write onto it, the CD-RW (CD Read Write) which can cost you up to RM 5000. You can buy a blank CD (RM 13 - RM 15) to stored data or duplicate your movies or music library. MPEG Card Motion Picture Experts Group (Moving Picture Experts Group ?) or mostly called MPEG card is a multimedia component to playback Video CDs (VCD). VCD are digital movies which means they cannot degrade and can be randomly accessed. Because of the cost of these playback cards have also decreased dramatically to an affordable level, these MPEG cards provide alternative methods of entertainment on the PC. With MPEG video playback card, you can use an 80486 PC with 4MB of RAM, ordinary VGA card and double-speed (2X) CD-ROM drive to playback MPEG video. New technologies are arising from the video industry like the newly released, highly-anticipated DVDs. DVDs will be able to store high quality, broadcast digital movies.
Within a year or so, DVD-ROM drives will be introduced and installed in computers. Therefore, our computers will have far superior movie playback quality than hi-fi VCRs and even laser disks players. MPEG video technology also compress video data so that full-length movie can fit into two CD-ROMs (one CD-ROM can be used to to store up to 74 minutes worth MPEG video). Nowadays you can find quite a large number of MPEG movie or Video CDs available in the local market. Among the hot and popular movies that are available locally are Air Force One, Lost World and Star Wars (special edition). TV Tuner is another types of card which display video except this card will provide television for us. TV tuner will have channel like TV always do and can receive TV signals to our monitor or display units. Multimedia software also must included to make our multimedia PC fully used. Usually these software came together with all the above components. However, we also can have it in Microsoft Windows 95 operating system and can be bought from computer shop such as 3D studio. A few popular multimedia software such as ; MMX Technologies With the powerful today’s technology in Information Technology, Intel Inc. the biggest computer microprocessor manufacturer, already introduce their add on magical technology for the computer chip called Multimedia Extensions (MMX). With the Multimedia Extensions technology our computer can produce a better graphics resolutions and sound capabilities. MMX is special design so that it will use the sound card and MPEG card and also the PCI video card that installed in the Pentium processor system to the maximum capabilities. Nowadays, if you buy a computer that have Intel MMX inside, means you already own a very powerful multimedia system ever design to date. MPEG Softwares Software that use to run a VCD (Video CD). With this software we can plays VCD. XingMPEG is a very powerful MPEG softwares that can run using PCI VGA card that comes usually together with Pentium 100-based PC and upwards. With this software, no need to buy MPEG card. However, the picture is not as smooth as having MPEG card and sometimes cannot plays version 2.0 CDs. You can buy MPEG software as cheap as RM 250 per copy. Audio Softwares It use to plays audio through our speaker. An audio software such as Microsoft Windows 95’s Audio Player and ESS audio Rack is function like an Hi-Fi which can plays music CDs and music files. This software can read our music title CD and then will play it. We have the options to control the balance of the speaker, bass and treble. Some of this applications provide us a huge library of sounds or music to fulfill or multimedia needs in order to do things better and fast. It also provides a lot of help if we want to edit our music files. 2. Applications For Multimedia As multimedia become one of the hottest craze in the computing industry. There is a lots of programmers turn their applications into multimedia capable. This will sure improve the applications capability and can be understand better. Applications for multimedia is a special design software to fulfill the requirement of the system. There is a few major industry that using fully multimedia applications. a. Film Industry The film industry is the biggest industry that using multimedia applications to help improve their film. A few major blockbuster film such as Terminator 2, Lion King and Jurassic Park are using fully multimedia applications to be successful. The special design application will touch up the film and to make it more realistic. The applications using an audio software to mix the voices or mixing a few animals sounds just to make it’s sounds like a real dinosaurs roar. The stunt actions also developed by the applications to be looks more real and dangerous. Today’s film usually will use the multimedia applications to ensure that the film will success. By using it, sometimes a hard techniques can be done easily. b. Music Industry Multimedia applications plays a big role in the Music Industry. The various sounds can be compiled into one tape and of course, can be edited too. The CD nowadays become the important media in Music Industry as its can holds more data of sounds. The applications is design to suite the company’s need such as its can plays voices acted like a backgrounds singers or music players. A very powerful multimedia music application sometimes can suggest to us what exact sounds or music hardware should been use to improve our songs. c. Company’s Presentation In order to present a powerful presentation to the listeners, multimedia applications plays a big part. Presentation with music, animated graphics and video capability, can attracted more audience than dull presentation. Presentation can be edited in a special applications or software (such as Microsoft PowerPoint 97) and can be insert with sound and animation. This will ensure the audiences give full concentration to the presentation. The applications is specially design to fulfill the client need. It will be design to be connect with the multimedia hardware (such as MPEG Card, Sound Card..etc.). It also can communicate with music or film hardware (such as Video, Microphone or Organ). This type of applications will make our presentation looks professional. 3. Multimedia In The Future What next in the future ?. Nobody can tells for sure as Information Technology growing too fast nowadays (seems it will never stop). However, a few major changes will be seen soon. Multimedia will become the most powerful tools that will be use in all industry, government and daily lives !. We can see this example multimedia tools in the action or science fiction film. One things for sure, this multimedia technology will then improve our lives styles to become more organize, easy and fast. a) Voice Capability Talk with your P.C ?. Nothing impossible as IBM (the giant company in PC industry) also try to make this possible (they produce the beta test software already !). Voice can be recorded in the application’s library and a program will tell the PC what to respond when receiving that particular message from users. For example, you will say to the PC; “Open Mumka.DOC…please” and the PC will recognize that command is to open the mentioned file, automatically it will open that file for you. You can access to the security just by says a few words. The computer (of course, together with multimedia) will search it’s voices library and match your voice with the voices library and then will give you the access. This technology has been said to improve the military technology where else the fighter planes need no pilot anymore. The military will watch their radar and give appropriate command to the fighter planes. The Russian already work hard for this. Their test fighter plane called ‘UMF’ or ‘Unmans Fighter Planes’. b) Video Phone / Conference As far back as the 1964 New York World’s fair, when AT&T first demonstrated its (then) futuristic Picture Phone technology, science fiction fans and the rest of us have been waiting for the videophone to arrive in our homes. The obstacles to producing a viable commercial product have been formidable : High implementation cost, voracious bandwidth requirements and perhaps most daunting of all uncertainly about whether the American public really wants to been seen by anyone who happens to dial their phone number. Who can’t relate to the recent MCI TV commercial that makes light of one telecommuter’s fear that video conferencing will expose her unkempt at-home hair to the prying eyes of co-workers dialing in from the office. Like it or not, Video phone will replace the ordinary phone. While talking you can see the person face or actions. This is good in order to know who’s you talking to. Video conference is a conference that using multimedia technology. You can conference with panel from everywhere in the world without they have to come to your room !. You just put the headphone and watch all of them in a single PC or screen. c) Virtual Teacher / Class No need to go to school and get scolded by your teacher if you forgot to do homework !. The virtual teacher and classroom is design to teach you with a teacher in the PC !. The subject is follow the government subject. You will learn same thing like ordinary school except everything is virtual. The software will teach you, give an exercise and show video to make you understand better. The best part is if you want to learn about a foreign country for example, the software automatically will bring out the picture or a movie about that particular country and if you have an home theater, you will feel like you’re in that country. This is quite helpful as sometimes ‘real’ teacher cannot get or find a lots of helpful tools to assist in their teaching. Nowadays, software like KBSR Science, English and Kemahiran Hidup is a good example of this will improve technology. Seems it will attract the student to learn more about the subject. With the powerful graphics and sound even our 3 years old kids want to learn the things already. Its also will teach the kids how to operate PC and type as well. d) Home Assistant It’s stands what its sound. The Home Assistant is a system that been design to help us to manage the house (good for the bachelor too). The Home Assistant will use a special applications that connect to the main server. This system can recognize home owner by scan the person’s retina and then open the door. The home will fully controlled by the computer. With the help of multimedia, the computer will act like a home maid. It will boil the water, make a coffee, cook dinner, clean the house and then wake the house owner by giving the morning call !. Its also will control the air conditioning depends on the weather and temperature of the house. e) Home Theater Home Theater is a few sets of hardwares that connect to the multimedia capable PC. Its connect to the TV, Hi Fi and a few megawatts speakers. This to ensure you will have same pleasure as watching the cinema. Sometimes the TV will be replaced by the 100 inch screen which will give awesome pictures !. Everythings from audio to animations or movies will be controlled by this PC. As the display is from MPEG card (the resolutions is better) so, the picture in the TV or screen will produce a better quality pictures. What about sounds ?. The speakers that been put into four directions in quest room will give a tremendous sounds and then produce like a real cinema. With the use of VCD and music CD, the picture given is better than ordinary video tapes and ordinary cassette. No cinema no more !. f) Virtual Office This one is I would like to see it happens. Virtual office is where you run your office daily work just by using Information Technology (together with the multimedia, of course !) from your home Just sit down on your comfort chair and think, no more scolded by boss, no more office politics, no more mumble supervisor and no more messy work papers around. Just imagine, if it could happens. However, ILAN system Inc. USA already plan it. This virtual office is using internet and multimedia capabilities. First, the virtual business community, you will have a few men sit in the front of their computer and meetings, after product has been agreed. Then the sales executives will sell the item through the internet. He or she will publish the item through the HOME PAGE in the internet. They also can fax and send you an Email. The product will be buy by using credit card and it will be send to your address. Honestly ! Second, the virtual Systems Engineer. If you’re a SE (shortform for Systems Engineer, for computer guys) you no need to go to work. Just sit in the front of your computer, and report to your boss everyday. If there is a programming need to do, just do it from your home. After done, by using modem, internet, telecommunications and multimedia you will sent that source codes right to your server in your office just through your PC!. If something goes wrong, no need to go to your office to debug it, just login from your PC and you can see exact things that in your office, you can amend the problems while having a cup of coffee !. Virtual Office was thought to be used in year 2010 which by that time the peoples schedules become to straight to the time tables and time to meets the clients. Therefore, The Virtual Office is a very good idea. Another good things you can save the transport cost and claims. Those housewives also might found this is good idea, where while watching their kids, cooking or cleaning the house they also can work to get side income for the family and not to waste their certificates. All this applications will be in the market soon or by the year of 2020. The multimedia will become one of the most important technologies besides communications. The time the Smart School and Intelligent Cities done in of the seven applications told by our dearest honorable Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed’s Multimedia Super Corridor finish, multimedia will become one of the country most important business sector. This show how important the multimedia industry to the country. “We cannot allow it to fail” said Dato’ Seri Dr. Mathathir Mohamed in the Multimedia Asia conference. Multimedia will brings a lots of goods thing to the country besides make things better. After the Multimedia Super Corridor success, surely, it will improve nowadays multimedia technology. No doubt. e) The Cyborg With the fully use of multimedia technologies and a help from robotic industry, it can produce a Cyborg (Cybernatic Organism) which seems like a human but it’s a robot. This Cyborg will replace human in the dangerous activities or industries such as finding the new planets, stars, building constructions, police and military. This Cyborg doesn’t feel afraid or hurts. They will obey orders and fulfill their mission successfully. This technologies been said to fully replace humans in military, with this cyborg the humans soldier no need to go to the war, they just send cyborg !. This cyborg will been program and trained to fly fighter planes, drive tank, ship and even sacrifice themselves in order to fulfill the mission (example, run into the enemy’s camp with the bomb tied to their body). The taxi driver also will be replace with this cyborg, the cyborg will be a good and dicipline. This is ensure the passenger is safe and comfortable. g) The Smart Card Get fussy with a lots of cards ?. Credit card, ATM card, discount card and etc. With smart card you will have all those above plus every details about you (date of birth, height, weight..) will be included. The card also will give you access to the particular buildings and companies. This technologies has been implemented but not use widely. Just imagine, you’re entering a building, the computer ask you to insert your identification (smart card) and the greet you. The smart card technologies also provided a fully security, where nobody will see and copy your signature, name and photo, this is because everything will kept digitally, means, only computer can read such that data.
By Nor Arisham Haji Bakar
Published: June 10, 2001
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