4:3 (also see Pan & Scan)
This is the ratio of the width to height of standard television screens and some other displays. When viewing DVD titles meant for widescreen (16:9) playback the sides of the image may be chopped off (Pan & Scan). However this can be avoided using a Letterbox playback mode.

Bitstream
This is the digital form of multiple channel audio data (e.g., 5.1-channel) before it is decoded into its various channels.

Chapter
This is the smallest division on DVD-Video and is roughly equivalent to a track.

Compression
Setting that increases the average volume of Dolby Digital audio when playing a DVD.

Dolby Digital (5.1 channel, formerly called AC-3)
This is a method of coding digital signals developed by Dolby Laboratories, Inc. that gives movie theater ambience to a DVD video player's audio output when connected to a processor/decoder or amplifier with Dolby Digital 5.1ch or Optical (Toslink) input jacks. A large amount of audio information can be recorded on one disc using this method and most DVD-Video discs now contain Dolby Digital soundtracks. However, it does require a decoder, either in the player or in an external receiver to fully broadcast the surround/separate audio channels.

Dolby Pro Logic
A surround system where a 4-channel audio track is recorded as 2 channels and then is restored to 4 channels for play. The surround channel is monaural and can reproduce up to 7 kHz.

DTS (Digital Theater Systems)
Digital Theater Systems Digital Surround is a DVD audio encoding format similar to Dolby Digital. It requires a decoder, either in the player or in an external receiver. Developed by Digital Theater Systems, Inc. it is also used in many movie theaters around the world. Six audio channels are used to create accurate sound field positioning and realistic sound.

Dynamic range
Dynamic range is the difference between the lowest level of sound that can be heard above the noise of the equipment and the highest level of sound before distortion occurs.

Field
One frame is made up of 2 fields. A regular television shows these fields one after the other to create frames.

Frame
Frames are the still pictures that go together to make a moving picture. There are about 30 frames shown each second.

Frame still and field still
A still is shown when you pause a moving picture. A frame still is made up of 2 alternating fields, so the picture may appear blurred, but overall quality is high. A field still is not blurred, but it has only half the information of a frame still so picture quality is lower.

Group
This is a set of tracks on DVD-Audio.

I/P/B
MPEG 2, the video compression standard adopted for use with DVD-Video, codes frames using these 3 picture types.
I: Intra coded picture (I-picture) This is the standard picture and is a complete picture in itself. This means it has the best picture quality and is the best to use when adjusting the picture.
P: Predictive coded picture (P-picture) This picture is calculated based on past I or P-pictures.
B: Bidirectionally-predictive coded picture (B-picture) This picture is calculated by comparing past and future I and P-pictures so it has the lowest volume of information.

Letterbox (LBX)
A video playback mode that shows black bars at the top and bottom of the image to allow playing of widescreen (16:9) DVD movie without cutting off any sides of the image on a standard 4:3 TV or display. This is achieved by reducing the overall image scale/size and thus height producing the familiar black bars at the top and bottom of the TV screen.

Linear PCM (pulse code modulation)
PCM is the usual digital method used for music audio playback of music CDs. DVDs have a greater volume so they use Linear PCM, which has a higher sampling rate. Compressed PCM signals are called packed PCM (PPCM).

Minijack
Standard 1/8" jack/plug connector that is commonly used for connecting and trasmitting signal to headphones or other audio components.

Optical or Digital Optical (Toslink)
A cable-interconnect standard using a fiber-optic cable (sometimes called Toslink) that was developed to cleanly transmit full surround sound audio data to a DTS or Dolby 5.1 home theater system receiver capable of decoding the data and separating it into individual channels with minimal signal loss, distortion and interference.

Pan & Scan
Pan & scan means the thinner TV "window" is panned and zoomed across the wider movie picture, chopping off the sides. Letterbox viewing mode will prevent the sides from being cut off.

Parental level
Setting that makes it possible to control the types of scenes that can be played by the DVD video player. This setting helps to keep children from viewing adult material.

Playback control (PBC)
This method of controlling disc play is included on version 2.0 Video CDs (VCD). You are able to interact with the disc through menus. Using these menus to play Video CDs is called "menu play" in these operating instructions.

RCA (cable/connector)
A common, standard connection method used to transmit analog audio and video signals between devices. Commonly used on most receivers, televisions, satellite receivers, VCR's, game console systems and speakers.

Region number
Number identifying a geographic region of compatibility for a DVD. more about regions...

S-video
A round (DIN) style cable connector/port used to digitally transmit video signal. Commonly found on some higher end televsion monitors, DVD players, satellite receivers, and video editing cards.

Super Picture Logic
A video playback technology developed by Sharp that enhances the fine detail of the video image and outlines of the objects.

Title
This is the largest division on DVD-Video.

Track
This is the smallest division on DVD-Audio Video CDs, and CDs and usually equates to a single song.

View Angle
Some DVDs have recordings from multiple angles, so you can select a view angle when playing the disc.

Virtual Surround Sound (V.S.S.) / QSurround
Provides rich surround sound by down-mixing Dolby Digital 5.1 channel and Dolby Surround (Pro Logic) to 2-channel audio (L/R).