Glossary

DV-SP404.404E_En.book Page 52 Wednesday, June 7, 2006 1:50 PM

Analog audio

An electrical signal that directly represents sound. Com- pare this to digital audio which can be an electrical sig- nal, but is an indirect representation of sound. See also “Digital audio”.

Aspect ratio

The width of a TV screen relative to its height. Conven- tional TVs are 4:3 (in other words, the screen is almost square); widescreen models are 16:9 (the screen is almost twice as wide as it is high).

Digital audio

An indirect representation of sound by numbers. During recording, the sound is measured at discrete intervals (44,100 times a second for CD audio) by an analog-to- digital converter, generating a stream of numbers.

On playback, a digital-to-analog converter generates an analog signal based on these numbers. See also “Sam- pling frequency” and “Analog audio”.

DivX*1

DivX is a media technology created by DivX,

Inc. DivX media ﬁles contain compressed video. DivX ﬁles can also include advanced media features like menus, subtitles, and alternate audiotracks.

Dolby Digital*2

Using a maximum of 5.1 channels of audio,

this high quality surround system is used in many of the ﬁner movie theaters around the world.

The on-screen display shows which channels are active, for example showing 3/2.1. The 3 being the two front channels and the center channel; the 2 being the sur- round channels, and the .1 being the LFE channel.

DRM

DRM (digital rights management) is a type of server software developed to enable secure distribution of paid content over the web, recently incorporated by WMA (Windows Media Audio).

DTS*3

DTS stands for Digital Theater Systems. DTS is

a surround system different from Dolby Digital that has become a popular surround sound format for movies.

Dynamic range

The difference between the quietest and loudest sounds possible in an audio signal (without distorting or getting lost in noise).

Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks are capable of a very wide dynamic range, delivering dramatic cinema- like effects.

*1. DivX, DivX Certiﬁed, and associated logos are trademarks of DivX, Inc. and are used under license.

*2. Manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories. “Dolby” and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laborato- ries.

*3. “DTS” and “DTS Digital Out” are registered trademarks of Digital Theater Systems, Inc.

EXIF (Exchangeable Image File)

A ﬁle format developed by Fuji Photo Film for digital still cameras. Digital cameras from various manufactur- ers use this compressed ﬁle format which carries date, time and thumbnail information, as well as the picture data.

File extension

A tag added to the end of a ﬁlename to indicate the type of ﬁle. For example, “.mp3” indicates an MP3 ﬁle.

HDMI*4

HDMI (High-Deﬁnition Multimedia Interface) is a high- speed digital interface which has the capability to sup- port standard, enhanced, or highdeﬁnition video plus standard to multichannel surround-sound audio on a sin- gle digital connection. HDMI features include uncom- pressed digital video, a bandwidth of up to 5 gigabytes per second and communication between the AV source and AV devices such as DTVs.

ISO 9660 format

International standard for the volume and ﬁle structure of CD-ROM discs.

JPEG

A ﬁle format used for still images, such as photographs and illustrations. JPEG ﬁles are identiﬁed by the ﬁle extension “.jpg” or “.JPG”. Most digital cameras use this format.

MP3

MP3 (MPEG1 audio layer 3) is a compressed audio ﬁle format. Files are recognized by their ﬁle extension “.mp3” or “.MP3”.

MPEG audio

An audio format used on Video CDs and some DVD discs. This unit can convert MPEG audio to PCM format for wider compatibility with digital recorders and AV ampliﬁers. See also “PCM (Pulse Code Modulation)”.

MPEG video

The video format used for Video CDs and DVDs. Video CD uses the older MPEG-1 standard, while DVD uses the newer and much better quality MPEG-2 standard.

PBC (PlayBack Control) (Video CD only)

A system of navigating a Video CD through on-screen menus recorded onto the disc. Especially good for discs that you would normally not watch from beginning to end all at once—karaoke discs, for example.

PCM (Pulse Code Modulation)

The most common system of encoding digital audio, found on CDs and DAT. Excellent quality, but requires a lot of data compared to formats such as Dolby Digital and MPEG audio. For compatibility with digital audio recorders (CD, MD and DAT) and AV ampliﬁers with digital inputs, this unit can convert Dolby Digital, DTS and MPEG audio to PCM. See also “Digital audio”.

*4. HDMI, the HDMI logo and High-Deﬁnition Multimedia Inter- face are trademarks or registered trademarks of HDMI licens- ing LLC.