Overview for Entertainment PC 97

This section presents the key design features for Entertainment PC 97 under Microsoft Windows.

PC 97 Hardware Design Guide provides the first definition of this PC category for the "Designed for Microsoft Windows" logo program. Notice that the Entertainment PC 97 system is not an expanded definition for the category of so-called "multimedia PCs." To identify the requirements for such a multimedia PC, see the "Basic PC 97" chapter, and also study the recommendations for audio and graphics subsystem components in Part 4 of this guide.

Entertainment PC 97 is an enhanced set of design guidelines for Windows-based PCs, based on a superset of the Basic PC 97 guidelines. For example, the graphics and audio subsystems for Entertainment PC 97 are designed to optimize the capabilities of software applications that use Microsoft ActiveX and DirectX interfaces.

The overall goal for the Entertainment PC is to expand the PC market by providing a PC system tailored for high-quality entertainment and communications capabilities with ease-of-use features that will help overcome barriers to adoption for new users. An Entertainment PC 97 system is optimized for the following uses:

• Games – the best titles, with the most complex, realistic graphics and audio.
• Education – the most engaging titles, with full-screen video, interactive animation, and so on.
• Active Internet – enhanced web communications capabilities, with personalized and animated web sites, chat rooms, and so on.
• Personal communications – multimedia e-mail, Internet audio phone, video phone, and so on.
• Interactive, high-resolution TV and movie viewing – higher video quality, real-time links to content producers, and so on.
• Connection with traditional consumer electronics devices – home theater surround audio for games and DVD movies (for example, Dolby AC-3); fast and easy capture, editing, and playback of personal video.

These are the key design issues for Entertainment PC 97:

• Combining high-performance 2-D and 3-D graphics subsystem designed for the best games with better-than-television quality, full-screen, MPEG-2 motion video to deliver DVD movies, cable and digital satellite television, and so on.
• Enabling connection to large-screen displays, including standard televisions, for much more a realistic graphics experience than smaller desktop monitors can provide.
• Implementing a high-fidelity audio subsystem on par with consumer stereo systems, able to deliver rich content such as games with positional 3-D audio, professionally mastered music CDs, and so on.
• Enabling PC connections via USB and IEEE 1394 to consumer electronic devices such as camcorders, VCRs, and home theater stereo systems.
• Providing home appliance usability for ease of use.
• Extending human input device support with remote control, game input controls, and other devices that use USB, IEEE 1394, and other external connections.

Microsoft expects OEMs will build PCs that conform to the Entertainment PC 97 guidelines in the traditional desktop multimedia PC form factor. So-called "living room" PCs that attach to televisions or large-screen VGA monitors are an additional opportunity for market expansion by OEMs. Microsoft supports and encourages investment in the living-room form factor as part of its SIPC initiative, and this chapter provides additional design notes and recommendations for living-room PC design. However, requirements such as the "sealed case," graphics capabilities related to TV output, advanced audio capabilities, and other items apply for Entertainment PCs based on any form factor, including mobile PCs.

Important The system requirements defined in PC 97 Hardware Design Guide provide guidelines for designing PC systems that best run Windows 95 and Windows NT. These design requirements are not the basic system requirements for running the Windows operating system. Also, hardware features are described as Required, Recommended, or Optional for the "Designed for Microsoft Windows" logo program:

• Required: These basic hardware features must be implemented to qualify for the "Designed for Microsoft Windows" logo.
• Recommended: These features add functionality supported by the Windows operating systems. For "Designed for Microsoft Windows" logo testing, if a recommended feature is implemented, it must meet the standards for that feature as defined in this guide. Some recommended features might become requirements under the logo program in the future.
• Optional: These features are neither required nor recommended, but if the feature is implemented in a PC 97 system, it must meet the specified requirements. These features will not become requirements under the logo program in the future.