The 15 Guiding Principles of Intel® DHCAT

1. In Intel® DHCAT 1.5 a scenario can be comprised of a maximum of four primitives. From this universe of four primitive scenarios, DHCAT applies the following guidelines to select the final set of scenarios:
2. Remove all scenarios that are practically or ergonomically impossible to achieve on a digital home platform. For example, watching 2 video streams at the same time.
3. All scenarios will have a primitive that displays video (e.g. Playback or Live TV) while the scenario is tested.
4. Remove duplicate scenarios that perform the same work from a benchmark’s perspective. For example, Watch TV on channel 1 & Record on Channel 2 vs. Watch TV on Channel 2 and Record on Channel 1.
5. In DHCAT 1.5, the maximum number of Record TV primitives in a scenario is set to two.
6. In DHCAT 1.5, only one Record HDTV primitive can exist in a scenario.
7. In a scenario with multiple instances of a primitive, all instances have the same characteristics. For example, in a scenario that involves two Record TV primitives – the target recording format will be the same (MPEG-2, Windows*Media, or DivX). The scenarios are then classified into three Usage Groups – Basic, HD and Connected. All scenarios in the Basic group have at least one DH primitive that uses standard definition video or audio. In the HD group all scenarios have at least one primitive using High Definition video or High Definition audio. The Connected category’s focus is to measure the users’ experience in streaming videos from the test PC to a DLNA compliant networked media player device.

   After applying the above guidelines, Intel® DHCAT 1.5 constitutes the following 25 scenarios.

8. A scenario will be run in all formats for which codecs are present on the test system. (DHCAT currently supports MPEG-2, Windows* Media Video, QuickTime*, H.264 and DivX* codec formats) Example –Play Video scenario will have five instances - - Play Video in MPEG-2. - Play Video in Windows*Media. - Play Video in DivX.
9. In scenarios with multiple DH primitives, all primitives will utilize the same codec stack.

   Example –Play Video and Record to High compression scenario will be tested in two instances:

   - Play Video in Windows*Media and Record TV in Windows*Media Video format.

   - Play Video in DivX*and Record TV in DivX*format.

10. All scenarios defined in the Connected Usage Group will be measured based on the test system’s capabilities to extend media to a DLNA compliant networked media player device.
11. The networked media player device emulated in IDHCAT to test the Connected scenarios is based on a device that conforms to the mandatory requirements in DLNA Home Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines 1.0 .
12. Intel® DHCAT will test a scenario only if all the hardware and software platform components required for the user to actually perform the scenario are present on the test system. The following table lists the platform requirements verified by Intel® DHCAT for each scenario.
13. In calculating the Platform Capabilities Score, a video-based primitive with an Acceptable user experience level is given a score of 1. Primitives which are performed at Good and Excellent experience levels are given a score of 2 and 4 respectively.
14. In a scenario with multiple primitives, the overall experience grade of the scenario is equal to the lowest of the experience grades achieved by the primitives in the scenario. For example, the overall user experience grade of Play Video and Record TV scenario will be Acceptable, if the Play Video achieved an Excellent grade and the Record TV achieved an Acceptable experience level.
15. In cases where a scenario is tested in multiple instances (e.g. based on content formats), the overall experience grade of the scenario is equal to the experience grade of the highest experience grade achieved by the scenario instances. For example, the overall user experience grade of Play Video scenario will be Excellent, if the three instances - Play Video in MPEG-2, Play Video in Windows*Media, and Play Video in DivX*– achieve Excellent, Good, and Acceptable grades respectively.