Glossary

English

Analogue: Sound that has not been turned into numbers. Analogue sound varies, while digital sound has specific numerical values.

These sockets send audio through two channels, the left and right.

Aspect ratio: The ratio of vertical and horizontal sizes of a displayed image. The horizontal vs. vertical ratio of conventional TVs is 4:3, and that of wide-screens is 16:9.

Bit Rate: The amount of data used to hold a given length of music; measured in kilobits per second, or kbps. Or, the speed at which you record. Generally, the higher the bit rate, or the higher the recording speed, the better the sound quality. However, higher bit rates use more space on a disc.

Chapter: Sections of a picture or a music piece on a DVD that are smaller than titles. A title is composed of several chapters. Each chapter is assigned a chapter number enabling you to locate the chapter you want.

Disc menu: A screen display prepared for allowing a selection of images, sounds, subtitles, multi-angles, etc to be recorded on a DVD.

DivX: The DivX code is a patent-pending, MPEG-4 based video compression technology, developed by DivXNetworks, Inc., that can shrink digital video to sizes small enough to be transported over the internet, while maintaining high visual quality.

Dolby Digital: A surround sound system developed by Dolby Laboratories containing up to six channels of digital audio (front left and right, surround left and right, centre and subwoofer).

Dolby Surround Pro Logic II: It is an improved matrix decoding technology that provides better spatiality and directionality on Dolby Surround programme material, provides a convincing three dimensional sound field on conventional stereo music recordings and is ideally suited to bring the surround experience to automotive sound. While conventional surround programming is fully compatible with Dolby Surround Pro Logic II decoders, soundtracks will be able to be encoded specifically to take full advantage of Pro Logic II playback, including separate left and right surround channels. (Such material is also compatible with conventional Pro Logic decoders).

JPEG: A very common digital still picture format. A still picture data compression system proposed by the Joint Photographic Expert Group, which features a small decrease in image quality in spite of its high compression ratio.

MP3: A file format with a sound data compression system. “MP3” is the abbreviation of Motion Picture Experts Group 1 (or MPEG-1) Audio Layer3. By using the MP3 format, one CD-R or CD-RW can contain about 10 times more data than a regular CD.

Multichannel: DVDs are formatted to have each sound track constitute one sound field. Multichannel refers to a structure of sound tracks having three or more channels.

Playback control (PBC): Refers to the signal recorded on video CDs or SVCDs for controlling playback. By using menu screens recorded on a Video CD or SVCD that supports PBC, you can enjoy interactive playback and searching.