Sony boxes run Mediamatics(this author says). How do they do it with no cache? Hardware CSS chip?
ijumpstart.com
Other than including Celeron processors, which do not have L2 cache, in the two low-end desktops, Sony is not compromising on features relative to the line's pricing. The entry-level PCV-E201 will come with a 266 MHz processor, 32 MB of SDRAM, a 24X CD-ROM drive, a 56Kbps modem, ATI Technologies Inc.'s Rage Pro and a PCI audio chip from ESS Technology Inc. [ESST]
The company is one of the last holdouts on DVD-ROM but will include a 5X Sony drive on the mid-range (model PCV-E203) and high-end (PCV-E205) systems.
James Jackson, Sony technical marketing engineer, said the company has passed on the feature to date because of the lack of driver support in Windows 95.
"With Windows 95, you're running it above the kernel and taking a big hit on performance," he said.
The company could be putting its reputation for video quality on the line with the selection of Mediamatics Inc. [NSM] software for MPEG-2 decoding, but Jackson does not think so. He contends the software decoder with Windows 98 and a 300 MHz processor offers better performance than the hardware decoders running on Windows 95 today. (Sony, 408/ 432 -1600)
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