Dynamic range, File extension, ISO 9660 format

Glossary—Continued

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.

File extension

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

Abbreviation for high definition, as in HDTV (high-def- inition TV).

HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection)

The video encryption technology developed by Intel for HDMI/DVI. It’s designed to protect video content and requires a HDCP-compatible device to display the encrypted video.

HDMI

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a high- speed digital interface which has the capability to sup- port standard, enhanced, or high-definition 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.

LFE

LFE refers to the low-frequency effect sounds that are used in Dolby Digital and DTS. Generally, the subwoof- ers function more effectively when these sounds are con- tained in the signal from the disc or other media.

MP3

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

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.

NTSC (National Television Standards Committee)

This is one broadcasting system for color televisions, and is used in the U.S., Korea, Central and South Amer- ica, Japan, and other countries.The system consists of 525 horizontal scan lines, and is divided into 30 frames per second. It uses an interlacing method which skips every other scan line to produce an image (field) with one-half of the full resolution, and displays 60 such fields per second.

PAL (Phase alternation by line)

This is one broadcasting system for color televisions, and is used primarily in Europe.This system consists of 625 horizontal scan lines. It uses an interlacing method with 25 frames (50 fields) per second.The vertical reso- lution is higher than NTSC, however the frame rate is lower.

PBC (PlayBack Control) (Video CD only)

Asystem 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.

Progressive scan video

All the lines that make up a video picture are updated in one pass (compared to interlace which takes two passes to update the whole picture).

Regions (DVD-Video only)

These associate discs and players with particular areas of the world. This unit will only play discs that have com- patible region codes. You can find the region code of your unit by looking on the rear panel. Some discs are compatible with more than one region (or all regions).

Sampling frequency

The rate at which sound is measured to be turned into digital audio data. The higher the rate, the better the sound quality, but the more digital information is gener- ated. Standard CD audio has a sampling frequency of 44.1kHz, which means 44,100 samples (measurements) per second. See also “Digital audio.”

T-D (Theater-Dimensional)

This is a virtual surround-sound technology that was developed by Onkyo Corporation. For details, see page 42.

WMA

WMA is short for Windows Media Audio and refers to an audio compression technology developed by Microsoft Corporation. WMA data can be encoded by using Windows Media Player version 8.