ZV port (Zoomed Video port)
The Zoomed Video port (ZV port) is a technology that supports the delivery of full-screen motion video and multimedia to notebook computers. The ZV port allows special software and a version of the PC Card called a ZV Port Card to provide a separate dedicated, point-to-point bus or path from continuously arriving video signals directly to the display controller so that they do not need to be handled by the main bus or the central processing unit . ZV ports are provided in IBM, Toshiba, and other manufacturers' notebook computers.
With the ZV port technology, video signals are sent in compressed files using the MPEG standard. The ZV Port Card decompresses the files and sends the data directly to the video frame buffer managed by the display controller. The technology can also be used for capturing images sent to the display from a video camera and storing them on a hard disk. Combining user input from the computer's regular peripheral component interconnect bus with the video from the ZV port, notebook users can play interactive MPEG-based games.
The specification for the ZV port is an industry standard sponsored by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association .