Pioneer XV-DV505, S-DV505 manual Additional information Glossary, MP3

11Additional information

Glossary

Analog audio

An electrical signal that directly represents sound. Compare this to digital audio which can be an electrical signal, but is an indirect representation of sound. See also Digital audio.

Aspect ratio

The width of a TV screen relative to its height. Conventional 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 Sampling frequency and Analog audio.

Dolby Digital

1

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.

DTS

DTS stands for Digital Theater System. 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.

File extension

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

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.

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.

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. See also Digital audio.

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.

70

En