Editing Multimedia PC

{{Short description|Personal computer configuration standard}}
{{Plain image with caption|Multimedia PC logo.svg|Official logo for the Multimedia PC standard}}
The '''Multimedia PC''' ('''MPC''') is a recommended configuration for a [[personal computer]] (PC) with a [[CD-ROM]] drive. The standard was set and named by the '''Multimedia PC Marketing Council''' (MPMC), which was a working group of the [[Software Publishers Association]] (SPA, now the [[Software and Information Industry Association]]). The MPMC comprised companies including [[Microsoft]], [[Creative Labs]], [[Dell]], [[Gateway, Inc.|Gateway]], and [[Fujitsu]]. Any PC with the required standards could be called an "MPC" by licensing the use of the logo from the SPA.

==Background and reception==
CD-ROM drives were just coming to market in 1990, and it was difficult to concisely communicate to a consumer all the hardware requirements for using "multimedia software", which mostly meant "displaying video synced with audio on a PC via a CD-ROM drive". The MPC standard was supposed to communicate this concisely, so a consumer buying hardware or software could simply look for the MPC logo and be assured of compatibility.

The MPC program had mixed results primarily because of the vast number of PCs sold under different brands, and once [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] became ubiquitous on PCs, specifying minimum or recommended Windows versions and features was often clearer to consumers than the MPC nomenclature. As the standardized term failed to catch on, and as the [[Software Publishers Association]] turned away from consumer software in the late 1990s, interest in the MPC standard vanished. The problem of software labeling continues, especially in the field of [[PC game|computer games]], where a multitude of [[3D computer graphics|3D]] [[video card]]s has been manufactured with an extremely wide range of capabilities, and no common industry labeling standard to let consumers know whether their card is powerful enough to run a particular game.

No further specification beyond MPC Level 3 in 1996 was published; the Multimedia PC Marketing Council dissolved not too long afterward.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Grant |first=Lee |date=May 2022 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2638291236/ |title=The family believed they had bought a new gaming PC. I was the one to decipher the truth |journal=PC Pro |publisher=Dennis Publishing |issue=331 |pages=114–115 |via=ProQuest}}</ref>

==Levels==
=== MPC Level 1 ===
The first MPC minimum standard, set in 1991, was:
* 16&nbsp;MHz [[i386|386SX]] CPU
* 2 [[megabyte|MB]] [[Random-access memory|RAM]]
* 30 MB [[hard disk]]
* [[8-bit color|256-color]], 640×480 [[Video Graphics Array|VGA]] [[video card]]
* 1× (single speed) [[CD-ROM]] drive using no more than 40% of CPU to read, with < 1 second [[seek time]]
* [[Sound card]] (Creative [[Sound Blaster]] recommended as closest available to standard at the time<ref name="english199206">{{cite news | url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue141/82_Sound_Blaster_turns_.php |title=Sound Blaster turns Pro |work=Compute! |date=June 1992 | accessdate=2013-11-11 |author=English, David |pages=82}}</ref>) outputting 22&nbsp;kHz, [[Audio bit depth|8-bit sound]]; and inputting 11&nbsp;kHz, 8-bit sound
* [[Windows 3.0]] with Multimedia Extensions.

=== MPC Level 2 ===
In 1993, an MPC Level 2 minimum standard was announced:
* 25&nbsp;MHz [[Intel 80486SX|486SX]] CPU
* 4 MB RAM
* 160 MB hard disk
* [[High color|16-bit color]], 640×480 VGA video card
* 2× (double speed) [[CD-ROM drive]] using no more than 40% of CPU to read at 1×, with < 400 ms seek time
* Sound card outputting 44&nbsp;kHz, 16-bit [[CD quality]] sound.
* [[Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions]], or [[Windows 3.1]].

=== MPC Level 3 ===
In 1996, MPC Level 3 was announced:
* 75&nbsp;MHz [[Pentium (original)|Pentium]] CPU
* 8 MB RAM
* 540 MB hard disk
* Video system that can show 352×240 at 30 [[Frame rate|frames per second]], 16-bit color
* [[MPEG-1]] hardware or software video playback
* 4× CD-ROM drive using no more than 40% of CPU to read, with < 250 ms [[seek time]]
* Sound card outputting 44&nbsp;kHz, 16-bit [[CD quality]] sound
* [[Windows 3.11]] or [[Windows 95]]

== See also ==
* [[PC System Design Guide]]
* [[Windows Sound System]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19970109103524/http://www.spa.org/mpc/default.htm MPC Home Page]
* [http://support.gateway.com/s/SOUND/U00647/U0064725.shtml MPC Level 3 detailed spec (Gateway support site)]
* [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/106055/en-us Multimedia PC Level 1 and Level 2 Specifications (Microsoft support site)]

[[Category:Multimedia]]
[[Category:IBM PC compatibles]]