Glossary
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
On playback, a
Dolby Digital
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
PBC (PlayBack Control) (Video CD only)
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
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
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
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.
ISO 9660 format
International standard for the volume and file structure of
A system of navigating a Video CD through
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”.
Regions
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”.
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 or Windows Media Player for Windows XP.
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