[e2e] TOEs and DVDs

[Craig Partridge]

Hi folks:

I was rethinking the TOE discussion in my head earlier this week and hit
a question that I thought someone here might know the answer to.

It seems to me that playing a DVD on a computer is a very similar problem
to sending or receiving networking data, in the sense that typically the
data is going from one peripheral to another with the processor mediating.
And one of our problems is that the stuff (memory infrastructure) around
mediating processor is slow relative to the data rates we wish to achieve
between peripherals.

Now, today, I suspect that DVD bandwidth doesn't stress a memory system.
But it surely did a few years ago.  What did the video crowd interested
in making general puropse computers into competent DVD players do in
response?  Something like a TOE -- something else?

Thanks!

Craig

E-mail: craig at aland.bbn.com or craig at bbn.com