Multimedia Systems

By

Prof. E. Amankwa
Lecture objectives
Introduction
• Multimedia incorporates the interactive use of audio, image,
animation, video, text, and graphics.
• Multimedia has many uses in industry, entertainment, education, and
Government.
• Business applications include advertising, product demos, marketing,
training, networked communications, catalogs, and voicemail.
• In education, multimedia enhances the teaching-learning process by
simulating information and use of audiovisual aids.
• Multimedia has evolved to digital media and new media
New Media
• Compared to old media or mass media like radio, television, and
printed newspapers, new media refers to media that is digital and is
native to computers.
• New media is interactive and provides two-way communication and
involves computations.
• Examples of new media are computers, virtual worlds, single media,
website games, human-computer interfacing, and online
encyclopedias
• Blogs, social media, digital games, virtual reality, and online
newspapers constitute forms of new media.
Digital Media
• Digital Media uses computer technology to combine various forms of
media.
• It is electronic media that works using digital codes as opposed to
analog signals/continuous signals.
• Using digital signals, it creates digital audio, digital video, and other
digital content.
• The five major elements of digital media are audio, video, graphics,
animation, and web design.
• Examples of digital media include apps on smartphones, video game
console, and medical imaging devices like ultrasonographs.
Multimedia Systems
• A Multimedia System is a combination of hardware and software
designed to create, store, process, and deliver multimedia content,
which includes text, images, audio, video, animations, and
interactive elements.
• These systems integrate multiple forms of media to provide an
enhanced user experience, making them essential in various fields
such as education, entertainment, healthcare, and communication.
Key Elements of Multimedia
Systems
• Hardware: Devices such as computers, storage drives, microphones,
speakers, projectors, and display screens.
• Software: Multimedia authoring tools, editing software, codecs, and
playback applications.
• Storage: Hard drives, SSDs, cloud storage, and databases for
multimedia content.
• Networking: Internet and intranet systems for sharing and streaming
multimedia.
• User Interface: Interactive elements that allow users to engage with
multimedia content.
Types of Multimedia Systems
• Hypermedia Systems – Used in web applications and e-learning (e.g.,
interactive websites).
• Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR) Systems – Used in
gaming and simulations.
• Multimedia Conferencing Systems – Used in video conferencing (e.g.,
Zoom, Microsoft Teams).
• Streaming Media Systems – Used in online video/audio platforms
(e.g., YouTube, Netflix, Spotify).
Categories of Multimedia
• Multimedia can be categorized as linear or nonlinear.
• Linear multimedia progresses sequentially, without navigation control just like
mass media. Nonlinear multimedia allows user interaction and navigation
control. Nonlinear multimedia is also known as hypermedia content.
• Multimedia presentations can be live or recorded.
• The live category allows interaction with the presenter/performer, while the
recorded category only permits interaction via navigation system.
Multimedia Applications
• Multimedia applications are used in areas including entertainment,
communication, education, and private and public sectors.
• Multimedia applications are classified into local or distributed.
• Multimedia applications provide services include information
retrieval, information recording and editing, and interpersonal
communication.
• Some examples of multimedia applications include Video on Demand
(VOD), Multimedia Mail, Multimedia Conferencing, Multicast
Backbone, Multimedia Kiosks, Interactive Television (iTV) etc.
Video on Demand (VOD)
• Video on demand (VOD) is used for the storage, transmission, and
display of archived video files in a networked environment.
• The most popular use is watching movies provided by the cable
service provider.
• VOD includes audio and rich media on demand.
• Examples of VOD services include YouTube, MSN video, Google video,
and content distribution services (CDNs).
• VOD consumes a large amount of computer storage and network
capacity.
Multimedia Mail
• Multimedia mail incorporates text, audio, video, and so on, in mail
document.
• Multimedia Internet Mail Extension (MIME) is an internet standard that
extends the email format to support both text (in ASCII as well as other
character sets) and nontext attachments, message bodies with multiple
parts, and even headers in non-ASCII character sets.
• It consists of several parts, and each part might have different types:
text, audio, video, graphics, image, and so on.
• A typical MIME message must include data in multiple message parts,
definition of content types of individual parts, and boundaries between
the parts.
Multimedia Conferencing
• Multimedia based conferencing and collaboration is used in
integrated services digital network (ISDN) and local area network
(LAN)/Internet-based telephony and conferencing.
• It is also used for telenetworking like in computer-supported
cooperative work (CSCW), a design-oriented work that brings
together academicians of various disciplines.
• All persons can see the same information, as in what you see is what I
see (WYSWIS).
Multicast Backbone
• Multicast Backbone (Mbone) is operated by public domain software.
• The services include: (1) transfer of multimedia data over the Internet
and (2) providing a virtual network based on the Internet.
Multimedia Kiosks
• A multimedia kiosk is a physical structure including a multimedia-
based computer that displays information for people walking by.
• In addition, users can interact by using touchscreens and sound and
motion videos.
• These kiosks allow stand-up or walk-on services
Educational Applications
• Due to the integration of different media, e-learning has a better
impact than conventional learning.
• Some examples where such learning is proving to be useful are:
• CyberMath
• Scientific American
• Discovery Online
• National Geographic
Multimedia Archives and Digital
Libraries
• Multimedia archives link to large repositories of sound, pictures, and
animation files available on the Internet.
• Digital libraries are collections stored in digital format and are
accessible by computer.
Media Editors
• Media editors are software packages used to create multimedia
presentations and packages.
• Some examples are:
• Authorware by Adobe Systems
• Director by Adobe systems
• Flash by Adobe systems
• Producer by Microsoft
Web 2.0 Technology
• Web 2.0 embodies the changing trends in the functionality of the World Wide
Web (WWW) as we know it, that is, Web 1.0.
• Web 2.0 is the evolution of Web use from passive use of content to interactive
use by allowing participation, creation of content, and content sharing.
• Users can thus coauthor data in Web 2.0 and exercise control over it.
• The capabilities of Web 2.0 include the following:
• Providing information search using keywords
• Allowing authoring capabilities by creating and updating content created by other users
• Using single word tags to categorize content
• Providing extensions for automation of pattern matching
• Use of real-time syndication (RSS) signals to update users about changes in content
Social Media
• Social networking on social media uses the Internet to connect users
with their friends, family members, and acquaintances.
• The most popular social media platforms are WhatsApp, Facebook,
Twitter (X), LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Mobile Media
• Multimedia content like audio, images, and video can be captured and
shared through mobile media
Multimedia Building Blocks
• The multimedia object element supports different media types
including:
• Text,
• Images
• Graphics
• Audio
• Video
• Animation
Hypertext and Hypermedia
• For typical text, for example, a book, one must read from the first
page or chapter to the next page or chapter, and so on, in a sequential
fashion.
• However, for hypertext, one can jump or navigate from one portion of
the text to another portion with the help of links.
• The addition of other media types, such as audio, video, and so on, to
hypertext is referred to as hypermedia.
• Hypertext and hypermedia are essential components of a multimedia
system.
Components of Multimedia
Systems
• A typical multimedia system consists of five components:
• 1. Connecting devices
• 2. Input devices
• 3. Output devices
• 4. Storage devices
• 5. Communicating devices
Connecting Devices
• Popularly used connecting devices are:
• Small computer system interface (SCSI) is a set of standards for physically
connecting and transferring data between computers and peripherals.
• The media control interface (MCI) typically consists of four parts: (i) AVI
video, (ii) CD audio, (iii) sequencer, and (iv) waveaudio, with each of
these devices playing certain types of files.
• The integrated drive electronics (IDE) interface is a standard way for
storage devices to connect to a computer.
• These first three devices have become obsolete and currently the USB is
used.
• The universal serial bus (USB) is a serial bus standard for interface
devices.
Input and Output Devices
• An input device is a hardware mechanism that sends information
from the outside world to the computer, whereas an output device is
hardware used to communicate the result of data processing carried
out either by the CPU or the user.
• Examples of input devices include keyboards, pointing devices (e.g.,
mouse, joystick, touchscreen, and so on,) wired gloves, scanners, and
microphones for audio.
• Examples of output devices include are speakers, monitors,
projectors, and printers
Storage Devices
• The two main technologies available for storage are magnetic storage
and optical storage.
Communication Devices
• Communication Devices are needed to ensure collaboration between
designers, writers, artists, musicians, and clients.
• Examples of communication devices include modems, ISDNs, and
cable modems.
• Communication Devices for Video Interface include HDMI and DVI
HDMI and DVI
• Present-day video interfaces to televisions and computers use high-
definition multimedia interface (HDMI), digital visual interface (DVI),
or DisplayPort.
• VGA is obsolete and now replaced by digital connections such as
HDMI, DVI, or DisplayPort.
Multimedia Workstation
• A multimedia workstation is a computer with special capabilities for
handling multimedia objects like audio, video, image, and graphics.
Sound and Graphics Cards
• A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal computer
expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to
and from the computer under the control of computer programs.
• A video card, graphics card, or graphics adapter is an expansion card
that generates output images to a display.
Questions and Discussion
Assignment
• Discuss the main components of Multimedia Systems with examples.
• Identify and describe the uses and importance of the following
devices in multimedia systems; giving three examples of each:
• Input devices
• Output devices
• Storage devices