Oct. '00 Headlines

There's no doubt MPEG-4 has been a hot topic in the computer world as of late. This new form of compression takes already "packaged" DVD data, and shrinks it up to 1/13th the original filesize.

With this in mind, a user can take a mainstream DVD title and in some cases shrink it to 700 MB in size... This ultimately allows some DVD titles to fit on a standard CD-ROM disc, which is a more "universal" medium for the PC community.

For those without a DVD-ROM drive, this technology is a new venue for watching Hollywood films on the PC. However, MPEG-4 streams require a moderately responsive system. We here at CALROG.COM recommend at least a 500 MHz Pentium III CPU (or 566 MHz Celeron) for fluid playback of film content.

If these requirements make certain users shake, the requirements for the MPEG-4 "encoding system" are much higher. In order to rip a DVD title to an MPEG-4 file, a PC will need at least 800 MHz clock speed, and 256 MB SDRAM. Even with this above system configuration, it would take up to 7 to 8 hours to rip a 2-hour DVD film at a relatively "respectful" 704x576 resolution.

However, for those hardcore users with a passion for compressing data, this is yet another tool to add to the repertoire. In reality, This type of MPEG may become as popular for film viewing as MP3s did for digital audio. After all, one can rip a DVD film, and copy it to a $1 piece of storage media...

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