Asus M1A, User Manual

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4. Using the Notebook PC
DVD-ROM Drive Information
Overview
The Notebook PC comes with an optional DVD-ROM drive or a CD-ROM drive. In order to view
DVD titles, you must install the provided MPEG2 video decoder software and the DVD viewer soft-
ware 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.
DVD is 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
experience. 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
computer hardware companies, and most major movie and music studios.
Software
To meet customer requirements for a complete DVD solution, a software playback 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. De-
coding digital MPEG2 video is accomplished through software only, eliminating the need for expen-
sive 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 are 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 approaches 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.