The aim of the Multimedia Laboratory is to educate and perform research on transmission, storage and delivery of multimedia information and services. The infrastructure gathered in the laboratory makes it possible to demonstrate how to organize teleconference systems and multimedia data servers. These systems can be accomplished in IP networks as well as experimental environments built over ATM system. Video on Demand service and integration of digital and analog television with a computer network can also be investigated in our laboratory.
The laboratory should be the base for the development of:

modern distributed system architectures,
network multimedia systems,
novel network services.

Sun Ultra 1

The equipment of the Laboratory consists of ten Sun Ultra 1 workstations, supplied with UltraSparc processors. The processors are 64 bit, four-channel superscalar architecture units supporting Visual Instruction Set (VIS) for multimedia services.
Moreover, Sun Ultra workstations have the following characteristics:

64-bit data bus Sbus with 133 MB/sec bandwidth,
SCSI fast/wide 20 MB/sec interface,
multimedia kit optimized for video processing,
Fast Ethernet 100 Mbps interface compatible with 10 Mbps,
ATM network interface.

Sun MediaCenter

Sun Media Center Server is a novel tool in multimedia processing. It is a powerful unit (Sun Ultra Enterprise server) supplied with software that supports its role as a video server. Part of this software is a special version of Solaris that is optimized for the demands of continuous-media storage and display. Its main features are:

very good quality of the display for 50 clients, delivered simultaneously by multimedia streams ranging from 50 to 400 Mbps,
50 GB SPARCstorage MultiPack enclosures,
simultaneous storage of multimedia data and delivering the stream to recipients (playthrough capability),
Fast Ethernet or ATM connection,
application of IP, AAL5 or native ATM communication interfaces,
software interface (API) for the design of platform-independent multimedia applications,
SNMP agent which enables remote control of Sun MediaCenter servers.

Fore Systems AVA 300

Fore Systems AVA 300 unit conducts real-time conversion of an analog TV signal into a digital stream of ATM cells. It is supplied with:

ATM OC-3c/STM1 (SONET) multimode interface 155 Mbps,
ATM signaling: UNI 3.0, ILMI, SPANS, AAL5,
six video input ports - PAL, SECAM or NTSC,
six mono or three stereo audio input ports - A-Law (8kHz, 8-bit), m-Law (8kHz, 8-bit), CD quality (44.1 kHz), DAT quality (48 kHz),
MJPEG compression system,
full speed and size of display,
RS-232 port which enables camera controlling,
possibility of connecting up to three AVA modules to one ATM interface.

Fore Systems ATV 300

Fore Systems ATV 300 unit conducts real-time conversion of a digital stream of ATM cells into an analog TV signal. It is supplied with:

ATM OC-3c/STM1 (SONET) multimode interface 155 Mbps,
ATM signaling: UNI 3.0, ILMI, SPANS, AAL5,
six video input ports - PAL, SECAM or NTSC,
one audio input port - A-Law (8kHz, 8-bit), m-Law (8kHz, 8-bit), CD quality (44.1 kHz), DAT quality (48 kHz),
MJPEG decompression module,
four outputs for simultaneously decoded video streams,
PiP remote controlled mode.

Telemedia Systems N-point Ethernet CTV unit conducts real-time conversion of an analog audio/video signal into a digital, MPEG-1 compressed, one and transmits it over the Ethernet network. It is supplied with:

Ethernet (10 Mbps) or Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) interface,
one video input port - PAL or NTSC,
one audio input port - CD quality (44.1 kHz), DAT quality (48 kHz).

Philips 32PW9611 TV set

32 inch screen,

16:9 display (Movie Expand),

digital control of the display with automatic optimalization,

TV frame frequency - 100 Hz,

7-step sharpness control,

Picture in Picture (PiP) mode,

NICAM digital audio system,

Dolby Pro Logic,

three euro interfaces.

Panasonic NV-HS1000EGC video cassette recorder

four rotary heads,

video horizontal resolution - more than 240 lines (VHS/SP), more than 400 lines (S-VHS/S-Video Socket),

audio and video editing capability,

signal-to-noise ratio - more than 90dB,

audio frequency response - 20Hz-20kHz,

audio non-linearity - 0.005 % Wrms/Hi-Fi,

TV S-VHS Panasonic NV-M9000EN movie camera

four rotary heads,

CCIR television system, 625 lines, 50 fields PAL color signal,

video horizontal resolution S-VHS - more than 400 lines, VHS more than 250 lines,

signal-to-noise ratio - Hi-Fi, more than 47dB, normal: more than 43dB,

audio frequency response - Hi-Fi: 50-20000Hz, normal: 80-8000Hz.

Nokia DVB 9500 D-Box

Nokia DVB 9500 D-Box unit receives and decodes digital satellite TV programs. Its main features are:

receiving and decoding a MPEG-2 signal (Astra satellite provides over 390 channels ie. TV Wisła and TV Polonia),
compatible with Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) signaling,
multimedia terminal function - interactive TV,
built-in modem,
SCSI interface (interface to digital recording units),
"over air" function - software is updated over satellite transmission,
RS 232 infra-red and "smart card" ports,
analog satellite receiver connection possibility.

The scheme of connections between devices in the Laboratory is given below. The devices are divided into three groups:

cluster of ten SUN Ultra units connected via the ATM network,
PC computer group connected via the Ethernet switch to ATM network,
group of devices controlling the connection of computers with multimedia stream sources such as: satellite and conventional TV, cameras, video recorders, etc.

The scheme of connections in the Multimedia Laboratory