Hard to Make Simple

“User interfaces are easy to make hard, and hard to make simple.”

- Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things

The Intel® DHCAT project has had some pretty lofty goals from the get-go: we’re trying to change the way the world views PC platform performance, get past raw speed, and measure quality of experience. Much easier said than done. This was compounded by the complexity of Media PCs, and we learned that while the platform may be complex, measuring it shouldn’t be.

In DHCAT versions 1.x and 2.x, the tool required that the system have:

• A TV tuner card installed
• A media installed and correctly configured
• Third-party software installed, such as DivX and an MPEG-2 decoder

Based on user feedback, Intel® DHCAT 3.0 no longer requires the presence of a TV tuner card or a media server. The tool now only needs to have the DivX * video codec (current version 6.7) and a commercial MPEG-2/H.264 decoder like CyberLink*’s PowerDVD* Max or Ultra (current version 7). These are both available online, and can be found here:

DivX* Pro

PowerDVD* 7 Max or Ultra

Couple of things to note: These applications should be installed BEFORE you install DHCAT 3.0. The installer will check to see if they are there, and if not, will let you know. You can get the trial versions of both pieces of software, and they will work with DHCAT 3.0.

The trial version of DivX* Pro is free to use for 14 days, and will work just fine with DHCAT 3.0. However, if you’re planning on testing multiple systems, we would recommend purchasing a full version of DivX* Pro to make testing easier.

Currently there are no free or trial versions of H.264 decoders available on the market. To get H.264 decode functionality, you will need to purchase a full version of PowerDVD* 7 Max, which costs about $60 USD direct from Cyberlink’s web site. The trial versions of these applications do not include the H.264 decode. So you do have to shell out $60 bucks to test your system with DHCAT 3.0. The good news is that you get yourself ready for that blue laser optical drive you’ve been thinking about adding. Keep reading, because soon you’ll be able to get a good estimation of your system’s media capabilities for free right here at ICF.