Help Index
WinPlay3 Help Index

Welcome to WinPlay3 V1.0

-- the first real-time MPEG audio Layer-3 player for
IBM-compatible PCs running Microsoft® Windows™

General

What is MPEG Audio Layer-3 Coding?

System Requirements

Supported MPEG Audio Files

Using WinPlay3

Main Window

Output Dialog

Play Dialog

Trouble Shooting

Dos Boxes

Other Topics

About the Authors

How to buy WinPlay3


System Requirements

Processor:

For using WinPlay3 you need at least a 80486 class CPU with a built-in floating-point-unit.

The following matrix shows the real-time performance of WinPlay3 on INTEL machines:

 	Pentium	486DX2-66	486DX-50	486DX-33

MPEG-1 stereo	yes	no	no	no

MPEG-1 downmix	yes	yes	no	no

MPEG-1 mono	yes	yes	yes	no

MPEG-2 stereo	yes	yes	yes	no

MPEG-2 downmix	yes	yes	yes	yes

MPEG-2 mono	yes	yes	yes	yes

"downmix" = mono audio output (l+r)/2 from a stereo file input

Audio Output:

A 16-bit stereo audio output board (e.g. Sound Blaster AWE 32) is recommended. The MCI Driver should support 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz sampling frequencies.

A 8-bit stereo audio output board (e.g. Sound Blaster Pro) is also OK, but then the sound quality lacks much.

Graphics Card:

A standard VGA graphic card is necessary.

Memory:

About 1 MB free physical memory must be available, because WinPlay3 buffers up to 4 seconds of sound data due to limitations of the Microsoft® Windows™ multitasking architecture.

Operating System:

Microsoft® Windows™ 3.1 or higher running in 386 enhanced mode.


MPEG Audio Coding

MPEG describes the compression of audio signals using high performance perceptual coding schemes. It specifies a family of three audio coding schemes, simply called Layer-1,-2,-3, with increasing encoder complexity and performance (sound quality per bitrate) from 1 to 3.

All Layers use the same basic structure. The coding scheme can be described as "perceptual noise shaping" or "perceptual subband / transform coding".

The encoder analyses the spectral components of the audio signal by calculating a filterbank or transform and applies a psychoacoustic model to estimate the just noticeable noise-level. In its quantization and coding stage, the encoder tries to allocate the available number of data bits in a way to meet both the bitrate and masking requirements.

The decoder is much less complex. Its task is to synthesise an audio signal out of the coded spectral components.

You can achieve a data reduction of around

1:4	with Layer-1 (or 192 kbps per audio channel),

1:6..8	with Layer-2 (or 128..96 kbps per audio channel), and

1:10..12	with Layer-3, (or 64..56 kbps per audio channel),

and still the reconstructed audio signal will maintain a "CD-like" sound quality.

WinPlay3 decodes Layer-3 bitstreams (IS 11172-3, "MPEG-1" and IS 13818-3, "MPEG-2") in full quality and real-time.

For more information about MPEG Audio Layer-3, feel free to contact us:

Fraunhofer-IIS	Fax:	+49-9131-776-399 (Harald Popp)

Weichselgarten 3	email:	layer3@iis.fhg.de

D-91058 Erlangen	WWW:	http://www.iis.fhg.de

Germany	ftp:	ftp.fhg.de/pub/layer3


Main dialog
Main Window

Click any control to get more information.

Double-click on any part of the Main Window to toggle between

hiding and showing menu and titlebar


Play

Play a Layer-3 audio track or continue playing if Pause was pressed.

Replay the current track by a double-click.


Pause

Pause playing a Layer-3 audio track.


Stop

Stop playing a Layer-3 audio track.


Last track

Seek to the last Layer-3 audio track of the playlist.


Next track

Seek to the next Layer-3 audio track of the playlist.


Eject

Open the Play dialog.


Track

Displays the current track number.


Time

Displays the current playing time.


Bitrate

Displays the Bitrate of the current track.


Stereo

If current track is stereo recorded, this indicator is lit.


Sample Rate

Displays the sample rate of the current track.


ISO/MPEG Layer

Displays the ISO/MPEG Layer of the current track

(Always "III" in WinPlay3).


Frame Counter

Displays the number of decoded Frames


ISO/MPEG Version

Displays the current ISO/MPEG Version

(ISO/MPEG-1 or ISO/MPEG-2).


Status

Displays wether WinPlay3 is playing or paused


Output Dialog

Click any control to get more information.


Output Frequency

If you have an audio device that does not support the sample rates

of the MPEG audio files (32 kHz, 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz),

or your CPU is 486 class, select Half or Quarter.

User of Pentium CPUs should select Full.

(Default setting when you start WinPlay3 the first time)


Output Resolution

Select 8 bit if you only have an 8 bit audio board.

Otherwise, select 16 bit.

(Default setting when you start WinPlay3 the first time)

Note: Only 16 bit audio boards guarantee full listening satisfaction.


CPU Type

Select the CPU Type of your PC


Play Dialog

Click any control to get more information.


Select File

Specify ISO/MPEG Layer 3 audio files to play.

You can use the CTRL and the SHIFT key to select multiple files.


Select directory

Selects the current directory.


Select filter

Selects the current file extension filter.


Select drive

Selects the current drive.


OK

Confirm and save your selection.


Cancel

Discard your selection.


OK

Confirm and save your output settings.


Cancel

Discard your output settings.


Contacting the author
About the Authors

This software was developed by Markus Werner and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft - Institut für Integrierte Schaltungen - Department Audio/Multimedia in Germany.

If you are a registered owner of WinPlay3, you may get technical support by:

OPTICOM	Fax:	+49-9131-691325

Dipl.-Ing. Michael Keyhl

Am Weichselgarten 7

D-91058 Erlangen

Germany


How to buy WinPlay3

For registration details, please contact:

OPTICOM	Fax:	+49-9131-691325

Dipl.-Ing. Michael Keyhl

Am Weichselgarten 7

D-91058 Erlangen

Germany

More information on ordering WinPlay3 is given in register.txt which is part of the DEMO-package.


Supported MPEG Audio Files

Currently, WinPlay3 supports MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 Layer-3 audio files.

MPEG-2 multichannel extensions are not supported in this version of WinPlay3.


DOS Boxes

DOS boxes influence significantly the multitasking behaviour of Microsoft Windows. Since WinPlay3 requires cooperative multitasking, the use of DOS boxes may cause drops of audio data during a play process, especially on slow machines.


Output Stereo Mode

If you only have a mono output device, or you want to speed up the decoding process,

select Downmix. This is especially necessary on the 486 machines with stereo bitstreams.