Apple MPEG Media System - Forcedperfect.net

The Apple MPEG Media System is a set of hardware and software released by Apple Inc. in 1995 to add MPEG-1 video decoding to Macintosh computers equipped with an LC-style PDS (Processor Direct Slot). The Apple MPEG Media System is compatible with the LC/Performa 580 series, 630 series, in addition to the PowerPC based 5200 series, 5300 series, 6200 series and the 6300 series (excluding the 6360). DOS Compatible models (such as the Quadra 640 DOS Compatible) are not supported as their processor direct slots are occupied with the DOS co-processor card.

An Apple Video System or Apple TV/Video System is also required to use the card. Due to this requirement the LC/Performa 575 series and other models, which include an LC-style PDS, however, have no connector for the Apple Video System board are not supported.

The card provides hardware based MPEG-1 video decoding with 16 bit, 44 kHz stereo sound. Utilizing an MPEG decoder chip manufactured by C-Cube Microsystems the card is capable of playing back video at 320 by 240 pixel resolution with 24-bit colour and 30 frames per second. A technique known as pixel doubling - a form of interpolation - increases the resolution to 640 by 480.

By using hardware decoding the card allows full playback of MPEG-1 video on even a 33 MHz 68LC040 Macintosh while leaving ~70% of the processing capacity available to other programs. Hardware based decoding also allows interactive games such as Return to Zork (included). Software decoding is possible on PowerPC systems using the QuickTime MPEG extension; however, the early PPC systems require almost the entire processing power of the machine to be tied up decoding video. Other limitations of software decoding include lower frame rates, lower quality and inability to play interactive video titles.

The card also has the ability to play VCD titles using the supplied Apple Video Player software. as they use MPEG-1 video compression. One cannot play SVCD titles as they rely on the MPEG-2 standard, which is not supported using this hardware.

The rather colourful box comes with all the gear and software you'll need to get started.	The back of the box has lots of useful information.
The actual card itself has a single PDS connector and a second connector to interface with the Apple Video System card.	The back of the card has no components. I surmise no LC PDS cards are allowed to have components on the back.
Here you can see the CL450-P160 MPEG decoder manufactured by C-Cube Microsystems and released in 1992. This chip appears to be manufactured in 1995 as with other components.	This Texas Instruments TMXE320AV110PBM DSP (Digital Signal Processor) is found on other boards which use the C-Cube CL450-P160 MPEG decoder.
Here is the Apple firmware ROM chip.	The text on the board shows part 820-0642-A.
This AMD 341S0140-A is tricky to identify. It is copyrighted Apple 1995, so it could be some form of custom chip.	This TMS44C256DJ appears to be a single 256 KB DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chip running at 80ns.
The second memory chip on the board - marked HM514260AJ8 - is manufactured by Hitachi and appears to be an additional 256 KB of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory).	This standard design Apple CD-ROM contains the Apple Video Player software and QuickTime components.
One of the VCDs included in the box is a collection of two Twilight Zone episodes: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (starring a young William Shatner) and Eye of the Beholder.	Also included is Return to Zork - an interactive game with full MPEG video sequences.

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