The Multimedia PC, or MPC, was a recommended configuration for a PC with a CD-ROM drive. The standard was set and named by the "Multimedia PC Marketing Council", which was a working group of the Software Publishers Association (now the Software and Information Industry Association). The MPMC comprised companies including Microsoft, Creative Labs, Dell, Gateway, and Fujitsu. Any PC with the required standards could be called an "MPC" by licensing the use of the logo from the SPA. The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and conform with our NPOV policy, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Creative Technology Ltd. ... Dell Inc. ... Gateway, Inc. ... For the district in Saga, Japan, see Fujitsu, Saga. ...

CD-ROM drives were just coming to market in 1990, and it was difficult to concisely communicate to a consumer all the hardware requirements for using "multimedia software", which mostly meant "displaying video on a PC via a CD-ROM drive". The MPC standard was supposed to communicate this concisely, so a consumer buying hardware or software could simply look for the MPC logo and be assured of compatibility. This article is about the year. ...

The MPC program was never a success and it is rare today to see software or hardware labeled with the term "MPC". As the standardized term failed to catch on, and as the Software Publishers Association turned away from consumer software in the late 1990s, interest in the MPC standard vanished. The problem of software labeling continues, especially in the field of computer games, where a plethora of 3D video cards has been manufactured with an extremely wide range of display capabilities, and no common industry labeling standard to let consumers know whether their card is powerful enough to let them play a particular game. For the band, see 1990s (band). ... This article needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ...

MPC Level 1

The first MPC minimum standard, set in 1990, was:

• 16 MHz 386SX CPU
• 2 MB RAM
• 30 MB hard disk
• 256-color, 640×480 VGA video card
• 1x (single speed) CD-ROM drive using no more than 40% of CPU to read, with < 1 second seek time
• Sound card outputting 22 kHz, 8-bit sound; and inputting 11 kHz, 8-bit sound
• Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions.

This article is about the SI unit of frequency. ... 386 DX redirects here. ... This article is about a unit of data. ... RAM redirects here. ... Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ... 8-bit colour graphics is a method of storing image information in a computers memory or in an image file, such that each pixel is represented by one 8-bit byte. ... VGA Port VGA plug Video Graphics Array (VGA) is an analog computer display standard first marketed in 1987 by IBM. It has been technologically outdated in the PC market for some time. ... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... Seek time is one of the several delays associated with reading or writing data on a computers disk drive. ... A sound card (also known as an audio card) is a computer expansion card that can input and output sound under control of computer programs. ... In sound processing, quantization is the process of aligning a set of musical notes to conform to a grid. ... Windows 3. ...

MPC Level 2

In 1993, an MPC Level 2 minimum standard was announced:

• 25 MHz 486SX CPU
• 4 MB RAM
• 160 MB hard disk
• 16-bit color, 640×480 VGA video card
• 2x (double speed) CD-ROM drive using no more than 40% of CPU to read at 1x, with < 400 ms seek time
• Sound card outputting 44 kHz, 16-bit "CD quality" sound.
• Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions, or Windows 3.1012

The Intel 80486SX is an Intel 486DX microprocessor with its floating-point unit (FPU) disconnected. ... Highcolour (or Hicolour, Highcolor, Hicolor, Thousands on a Macintosh) graphics is a method of storing image information in a computers memory such that each pixel is represented by two bytes. ... To help compare orders of magnitude of different times this page lists times between 10−3 seconds and 10−2 seconds (1. ... A Compact Disc or CD is an optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio. ... A typical Windows 3. ...

MPC Level 3

In 1996, MPC Level 3 was announced:

• 75 MHz Pentium CPU
• 8 MB RAM
• 540 MB hard disk
• Video system that can show 352×240 at 30 frames per second, 16-bit color
• MPEG-1 hardware or software video playback
• 4x CD-ROM drive using no more than 40% of CPU to read, with < 250 ms seek time
• Sound card outputting 44 kHz, 16-bit "CD quality" sound.
• Windows 3.11

This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Frame rate, or frame frequency, is the measurement of the frequency (rate) at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. ... MPEG-1 was an early standard for lossy compression of video and audio. ... Seek time is one of the several delays associated with reading or writing data on a computers disk drive. ... A typical Windows 3. ...

See also

• PC System Design Guide

External links

• MPC Level 3 detailed spec (Gateway support site)