Well, we return with yet more questions on the state of the DVD / MPEG-2
multi-media world and how it might effect one's choice of hardware.  One's
choices and the different technical solutions seem not to be evolving, but to
be exploding into a bewildering avalanche of sales materials.  Hopefully, the
calm voice of experience might lead us through this puzzle.

     We are shopping for a new laptop.  A primary purpose of the acquisition
is to use it to run CD-ROM's and DVD's through a big screen television
installed onto a Dolby surround capable stereo home theater system,
particularly interactive educational CD-ROM's for group use.  Throughout the
year, magazine reviews and technical articles on the web have remarked of the
advantages of having a hardware DVD controller that can perform the MPEG-2
decoding by comparison to a software solution even on systems with the new
faster 400 MHz plus CPU's.  The latter is observed by some to present more
instances of irregular video on play-back and "dropped frames".   However, in
our inquiries to system manufacturers whose materials emphasize multi-media
capacities - oddly, this sampling includes IBM, Gateway, Sony & Compaq - they
insist that either scheme is satisfactory and, in a nod to partisanship, most
seem unaware of which approach is incorporated in their current offerings.

     Likewise, some insist that the quantity of onboard video chip memory is
not a significant consideration as the AGP 2X bus protocol provides
effective, direct access to sufficient amounts of system memory to buffer any
mutli-media input for excellent display and audio performance.  Wow!  This is
by telephone to ATI itself.  Might that be correct?

     There also seems to be some significant confusion regarding the
preferred output ports for a system that might be devoted largely to these
tasks.  Some insist that an S-video output connection to a television or home
theater receiver is a must;  others, that 3 RCA out ports (Video - Audio R -
Audio L) is preferred.

     For sound, some insist that the same S-video output port cabled to the
television or to a home theater receiver will output a signal that is played
as Dolby surround 5.1;  others that it is 2 channel stereo only and that it
should be attached directly to the television.  Those of the other school
insist that one must utilize three RCA out plugs to the television or to the
receiver and that this will communicate a signal that may be presented either
as 2 channel stereo or as Dolby 5.1.

     The sales personnel at our local home theater store appear pretty
knowledgeable about the solutions that they offer, but clueless if a laptop
is the source of the multi-media signal.  Listmembers, have you any
experience with this and any opinions regarding the better choices?

Tommy Holmes, Jr.
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