The State of Multimedia on NT

I remember going to an IBM presentation where the speaker ran aWindows-based computer from the podium, but all the Windows computer did wassend signals to a Macintosh system that had been strategically hidden behind thestage. Until recently, Apple Macintosh systems ruled the multimedia world.Windows machines were considered great number-crunchers, but they just didn'thave the power to drive high-end graphics, audio, and video applications.

I wasn't surprised that the IBM speaker used a Macintosh system for abehind-the-scenes workhorse because I've been developing multimedia products forWindows (and even DOS) for a long time--long before multimedia and the MediaControl Interface (MCI) were standard PC fare. Unfortunately, multimediaauthoring under Windows has never been a particularly easy task: You run into "minor"annoyances, such as system instability, conflicting device drivers, and slowperformance. Furthermore, many of the development tools I use are eitherunstable or don't even exist under Windows. So, I have two systems on my desk: aPower Macintosh 7500/ 100 and a 486 DX2. Both systems are loaded with the latestmultimedia hardware and software, but I usually develop large portions ofmultimedia projects on my Macintosh and transfer them to the Windows machineonly if I need to.

The first time I saw Windows NT version 3.1, I decided it was just anotherflavor of Microsoft Windows. I lumped it into that "I'll only use it when Ihave to" category and promptly forgot about it. Earlier this year, though,I was introduced to NT version 3.51, and I decided to reevaluate my opinionsabout Windows multimedia development.

Multimedia Demands
When an NT user told me that NT can offer multimedia developers significantspeed and power advantages, I was intrigued. Multimedia production is a verydemanding application because it pushes your hardware, software, and operatingsystems to their limits. To find out more about what NT had to offer, I borroweda Hewlett Packard Vectra XU 6/150 (a 150-MHz Pentium Pro with 32MB of RAM)running Windows NT 3.51, loaded some of my favorite multimedia applications, andbegan to play.

Time is the enemy in multimedia development, and nothing can consume itmore quickly than media preparation. Every developer can relate to thefrustration you feel as you watch a progress bar crawl across the screen atdeadline as you process an image, 3D animation, or video clip. In some cases, adigital video or 3D rendering can take hours--or even days--to generate a fewminutes of final footage. These kinds of activities are veryprocessor-intensive and account for up to 70% of the total production schedule(and budget). With the kind of speed you find under NT, the time you save overthe length of a project can be quite significant.

The familiar Windows interface greeted me when I started the HP and loggedonto the system. As a test, I started Adobe Photoshop 3.0.5, opened a fullscreen, 16-bit graphic, and played with a few of the filters. I watched how fastthe progress bars moved, and using this highly non-scientific method, Idetermined that NT is just plain fast! (See "Photoshop 3.0.5 for Windows NT"on page 81 for more precise test results.)

Of course, the primary reason for this kind of speed is that NT is a true32-bit operating system, which by itself is a great improvement over the 16-bitWindows 3.x environment. NT also supports RISC technology, which givesmultimedia developers access to some of the fastest CPUs on the market today,including the Alpha AXP, MIPS R4x00, and PowerPC chips. But perhaps even moresignificant is NT's Symmetrical Multiprocessing (SMP). SMP allows oneapplication to take advantage of the computing power of multiple processorssimultaneously.

Stability
I wanted to see how well Windows NT works under stress, so my nextexperiment was to run two of the 16-bit authoring systems that I use the most:Macromedia's Director and Authorware. I'd heard a rumor that these applicationshad problems running under NT; however, not once during my tests did NT hiccupor break a sweat--even during some very complex animation sequences andscripting tasks. I decided to break an NT cardinal rule and use a Dynamic LinkLibrary (DLL) included with Director that tries to directly access my Herculesvideo board. Director came to a screeching halt, but Authorware and NT remainedintact and kept running properly.

Windows NT can offer this kind of resiliency because, unlike Windows 3.x,NT runs all applications in separate memory-address areas (this includes notonly Win32-based applications, but Win16 applications as well). It completelyisolates the operating system from any application code. When an applicationcrashes, it is unlikely that either the system or another application will beaffected.

Under the NT architecture, applications can't directly access hardware, asI confirmed with my Director DLL test. You must access all hardware, includingvideo drivers, CD-ROM drives, audio cards, and multimedia peripherals, throughNT drivers. At first, this might seem like a disadvantage to those developerswho are accustomed to bypassing the operating system for better performance andhardware control. In actuality, NT's approach to managing hardware offers a morestable environment without sacrificing performance.

Under the Hood
NT supports all the Windows 3.1 multimedia extensions and MCI commands. Thismeans you won't have to rewrite titles that use these extensions and commands.(Do I hear a collective sigh of relief coming from multimedia developerseverywhere?) Even so, there are some significant improvements in NT that affecthow multimedia applications perform. The only way many developers will noticethem, though, will come from the enhanced performance of the media applicationsand authoring systems they use every day.

For example, the quality of Video for Windows has been re-engineered for NT3.51 so that it can support both 16- and 32-bit applications programminginterfaces (APIs). Nearly everyone is familiar with the usual signature ofsoftware-based digital video: small size, blocky look, and inconsistentplayback. The major reason for these limitations has been the constraintsimposed by operating under a 16-bit architecture like Windows 3.x. Using 32-bitAPIs significantly improves video performance--You can see this when you use thebuilt-in Indeo and Cinepak coder/decoders (codecs).

3D animators will appreciate another significant advance: OpenGL. We've allseen previews of what it can do--just look at the 3D screen savers included withNT. OpenGL is based on original specifications by Silicon Graphics, and insimplest terms, it allows for fast, very accurate, high-quality 3D modeling andrendering. 3D applications access OpenGL at the software level and are isolatedby the presence or absence of OpenGL hardware acceleration. This means thatOpenGL allows the application to make the best use out of the hardware that isavailable on your system.

Authoring Applications
Generally speaking, if you author on the same platform and operating systemthat your end-users have, you'll significantly reduce the potential conflictsand "quirks" you'll have when you finally test and deliver yourproduct. The bottom line is most end-users are still running Windows 3.x orWindows 95, not Windows NT. Does this prevent developers from authoring onWindows NT?

For the most part, authoring under NT for Windows 95 should present fewproblems, unless you use direct commands for specific device drivers, such asdirect, non-MCI Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) commands. When porting toWindows 3.x from Windows NT, you may need to recompile your presentation with adifferent runtime engine if you used a 32-bit authoring system. You shouldn'thave to recompile if you used a 16-bit authoring system. If you are convertingfrom NT to Macintosh, you'll need to compensate for system differences, such asfonts and digital video standards (e.g., Video for Windows vs. QuickTime).

You should ask yourself which of your favorite multimedia development toolscan run in the NT environment. My own research revealed a mixed bag. (See "MediaApplications" on page 28 for the lowdown.)

Hardware
Because media elements typically contain huge amounts of data, you shouldget as much of them into RAM as possible. This reduces frequent disk access,which can totally negate the performance advantages of NT. Although the NTWorkstation specification recommends a minimum of 12MB, you should consider 32MBof RAM as the absolute minimum.

Now, how about a machine for your development software? My poor 486, thevictim of much past experimentation, was my NT guinea pig. Setup of NT wentrelatively smoothly, and after resolving a couple of driver problems with mynetwork adapter, I was up and running. With only 16MB of RAM, however, theperformance was slow. This was especially noticeable when I tried manipulatinglarge images in Photoshop.

Both my 486 and the HP Vectra were Intel-based computers. Although NToperates on four platforms, the selection of non-Intel applications willprobably disappoint you. Only a few products, including Avid's Elastic Reality,are heavily pursuing the non-Intel markets. Most software vendors considercompliance with Windows 95 a high priority, so many of the applications theydevelop run on Intel-based Windows NT.

Keep an eye on the Alpha platforms. In light of Digital's recent alliancewith Microsoft, the Alpha chip could soon become a major player in NTmultimedia, especially for high-end graphics and 3D applications. For example,Autodesk's 3D Studio MAX, is written only for Windows NT and currentlysupports only Intel and Alpha.

For the most part, existing video cards, audio cards, and other multimediahardware should function under NT. Once again, NT does not support DOS or Win16device drivers, so make sure you get a Windows NT driver for any card or otherdevice that you want to use. Microsoft has a "Windows NT HardwareCompatibility List" that will help you determine if drivers are availablefor your specific device.

The Future of NT Multimedia
A recent Microsoft article that compared NT and Windows 95 states: "Youcan plan for the future by making all new hardware purchases compatible withWindows NT." It appears that Windows 95 is part of a plan to migrateWindows 3.x users toward a future version on NT and that NT lies in the futureof Windows multimedia. In fact, certain elements of Windows 95 can offer NTusers a glimpse into the future of multimedia on NT. In particular, look for newmultimedia APIs, the introduction of the RenderMorphics Reality Lab 3D graphicsengine, and software-based MPEG video. According to Microsoft, the company willinclude all these advancements in a future release of NT.

The multimedia APIs that ship with Windows 95 generally show an integratedapproach to multimedia and allow software and hardware to work together easily.Known collectively as the Windows 95 Game SDK, the Direct Draw,DirectSound,DirectInput, and DirectPlay APIs allow developers to directlycontrol multimedia devices and obtain high performance from multimedia elementswithout having to delve into device-specific programming. Although these APIswere designed primarily for game developers, they will benefit other multimediadevelopment that demands high media performance.

Microsoft developers also plan to put 3D APIs in place for Windows NT. Aversion of OpenGL already exists on NT: It's designed for high-end 3Dapplications where accuracy is critical. As a complement to OpenGL, theMicrosoft Reality Lab API is aimed at creating high-speed, real-time,interactive 3D graphics. It is an object-oriented, 3D rendering library thattargets consumer-level or business multimedia titles where precise rendering isnot too important. It's due to be released for Windows 95 during the firstquarter of this year.

Anyone who has developed for the MPEG video codec knows that the MPEG "specification"is really more like a suggestion. MPEG video is processor-intensive and normallyrequires a hardware decoding board on the end-user computer. Although they arerelatively inexpensive, these boards are often do not comply with the MPEG "standard."During May, 1995, Microsoft made plans with Mediamatics to includesoftware-based MPEG decompression in a future version of Windows: This couldreduce or even eliminate dependencies on decoding boards.

And the Verdict Is
For now, I'll be keeping my Macintosh for most of my media preparation andauthoring: Macs still have more applications and multimedia hardware than doesWindows NT. However, I'll probably establish my 486 as a Windows 95 testmachine, and I'll push to get a Pentium NT machine for the majority of myWindows authoring. (All I want is dual processors with 256MB of RAM!)

I still have a way to go before I consider NT for the bulk of mydevelopment. Many of the major multimedia applications won't really takeadvantage of NT's capabilities--or even be available under NT--for at least thenext six months. Even so, Windows NT will still play a key role in multimediaproduction by taking on the burden of digital video editing and 3D animation.

Windows NT is superior in most respects to Windows 95, and in almost allrespects to Windows 3.x. It makes sense that NT is Microsoft's operating systemof the future: It'll gain multimedia capabilities that will go beyond whatWindows 95 will ever have. On top of that, I can get comparable workstation-likepower under NT for a fraction of the cost of a Silicon Graphics machine. As forthe Macintosh? Well, I admit I'll always be a little biased, but even I admitthat NT seems poised to overtake Apple as the leader in multimediatechnology--and many hardware and software vendors are just now taking advantageof this operating system's potential in the multimedia arena.

So, don't ask: "Can NT handle multimedia?" But instead ask: "Canmultimedia handle NT?"

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