The Multimedia PC Working Group, a special interest group of the Software Publishers Association, has released the Multimedia PC Level 3 Specification, a enhanced standard for Multimedia personal computers. The Group said the standard includes improved sound and video performance requirements so users will gain from a richer multimedia experience. Minimum requirements for the new standard include support for MPEG-1 as well as software-implemented video coder/decoders, 75MHz Pentium or similar processor, quadruple speed CD-ROM drive, and wavetable sound. The requirements will provide end users with hardware that provides full-screen, full-motion video and enhanced CD-quality sound while playing the more demanding multimedia programs. Software titles that run on MPC- and MPC2-compliant hardware will also run on MPC3-compliant hardware. The group, a unit of the Interactive Multimedia Special Interest Group of the Software Publishers Association, will provide hardware test suites this summer. The association is the principal trade association of the personal computer software industry. It has 1,150 members.
