Hardware: Logical multimedia computer

• The left represents peripherals connecting to a host computer, using analog communication with the real world.
• The right represents computer connections to storage devices and networks.
• The Host System represents a traditional computer or workstation.
• The Multimedia Subsystem is often more complex than many computers.
  • The Analog to Digital Converter and Digital to Analog Converters deal with translations from/to external analog devices.
  • Incoming data is sampled, converted to digital values through quantization, and after possible compression, encoded in a digital form for transmission as a stream.
  • A high speed bus is needed and must be managed.
  • A decoder and dequantizer reverse the effects of encoding and quantizing, and are useful prior to output to analog devices.
  • Streams, especially audio, can be mixed together before output. Thus, rhythm and voice might be combined, or effects and harmony.
  • Special processors are often needed for high speed graphics, as occurs with DVI or in VR systems. One type deals with effects, such as audio equalization, or video warping and texture mapping.
  • Ultimately, the audio and display devices must be managed and data for them put in proper form, with suitable buffering. In the case of displays, several screen buffers may be used so that every 30th of a second, a new buffer is ready for viewing.