Sonic Solutions Glossary
of Commonly Used Terms
#-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z
16:9 or 16x9: The aspect ratio of a widescreen television
screen (also expressed as 1.78:1 or 1.78).
4:3: The aspect ratio of a standard television screen (also
expressed as 1.33:1 or 1.33).
AC-3, AC3: Another name for Dolby
Digital audio.
AIFF: Audio
Interchange File Format. An uncompressed or compressed
digital audio file format developed by Apple Computer, Inc. Files have
the extension .aif or .aiff.
Analog: A
representation of an object that resembles the original. Film, VHS videotape,
and LP records are examples of analog storage media. The term exists only in
contrast to digital.
Anamorphic: A widescreen (16:9 Aspect Ratio) image that has been
squeezed horizontally to fit into a 4:3 frame. When played
back on a widescreen television or on a PC, the image is stretched to the
correct proportions. On a standard television, the image may be displayed in
its squashed form, letterboxed, or using pan and scan,
depending on how the viewer has set up the DVD player.
Appendable disc: An
appendable, or “open”, disc is made so you can add data at a later time. Before
recording to a write-once DVD disc, you should consider whether you want the
disc left "open" (appendable) or "closed" (non-appendable)
at the end of a recording session. Leaving your disc appendable may reduce
compatibility on other computers. For information on creating and closing
appendable disks, click here.
Aspect ratio: The shape of an image, described as the ratio of the width to the height.
For example, a 4:3 image is
one-third wider than it is tall. This ratio is usually expressed in whole
numbers (for example, 16:9 or 4:3). Compare with pixel aspect ratio.
ASPI: Short for Advanced SCSI Programming Interface, an interface specification developed by Adaptec, Inc. for sending
commands to a SCSI host adapter. ASPI has become a de
facto standard that enables programmers to develop applications and drivers
that work with all ASPI-compatible SCSI adapters.
AU: Sound file format for UNIX systems. File extensions are usually .snd and .au.
Authoring: The process of collecting and linking individual media elements (video,
audio, graphics, and text) to create a DVD.
Authoring media:
A recordable DVD disc that is designed for use in
professional DVD recorders. Authoring
discs let the DVD author write encrypted DVD files to the disc. Compare with General media.
AVI: Audio Video
Interleave. A file format for digital video and audio data
that is defined by Microsoft Corporation. Files have the extension .avi. AVI files can contain video and
audio that is compressed with a wide variety of codecs.
There are two
AVI formats: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 files contain a single stream of interleaved video and audio,
whereas Type 2 files contain separate video and audio streams. DVDit! and MyDVD supports both formats.
B-picture: Bi-directionally predictively coded picture. An MPEG video picture that
contains only the information that is different from previous and subsequent
frames or fields. See also GOP,
I-picture, P-picture.
Bit: Binary digit. The smallest unit of digital information. Eight bits make
one byte.
Bit depth: The number of bits used to represent the color and brightness of each pixel in a bitmap
image, expressed in bits per pixel. A 1-bit image has two (21) colors (black and white), a 2-bit
image has four (22) colors, and
so on. Full-color images are 24 or 32 bits per pixel; 24-bit images can contain
16,777,216 (224) colors,
whereas 32-bit images can contain 4,294,967,296 (232) colors. Also known as color depth.
Bit-rate: Volume
of data transmitted or retrieved. Measured in bits per second.
The bit-rate can greatly effect the quality and amount
of video you can put on a DVD. For more information on this click here.
Bitmap: A
digital image that is represented by a two-dimensional grid of pixels. There
are many bitmap file formats, including Windows bitmap, JPEG, and TIFF.
Bps: Bits Per Second. A unit
of measurement for data rates.
Buffer
underrun: occurs when the
writer's buffer (memory-like RAM-built into the writer to store and organize
data prior to burning) does not contain the data to place on the disc before
the writing process is complete. This leaves the media spinning in the drive
with no data available to be written to it. In turn, the writer essentially
'loses its place' on the disk and usually continuously spins without completion
or kicks up an error describing the failure.
BUP file: A backup
copy of the IFO file
on a DVD-Video disc.
Button: A
graphic object on a DVD menu that links to a movie, a slideshow, or another
menu. When a viewer selects and activates the button, the DVD player displays
the linked material. Each button has a subpicture that changes color and/or
opacity when the button is selected and activated.
Byte: A unit
of data containing eight bits.
Digital data storage is usually measured in bytes, whereas digital data rates
are usually measured in bits (per second).
Capturing: The process of recording video or images onto digital media such as a
hard disk or DVD. MyDVD has the ability to capture
video and then create your DVD. For information on what capture devices are
supported, click here. For tips on DV capture, click
here.
CBR encoding: Constant bit-rate encoding. A method of encoding MPEG
video streams by allocating the same number of bits to every second of video,
regardless of its complexity. Redundant data is added to the stream when
there is little action, and greater compression is applied (resulting in lower
quality) as the video complexity increases. Compare with VBR encoding.
CGMS-A:
Copy General Management System Analog; a method
for controlling the copying of broadcast media content that allows only one
generation of copying.
Channel: Part of an
audio track containing information that is heard through a particular
loudspeaker -- for example, the left or right channel in a stereo soundtrack.
Chapter button: A menu button that links to a chapter point within a title.
Chapter point: A marker in the video stream. Chapter points let viewers navigate to
specific locations or scenes in the video. The DVD format allows up to 99
chapter points in a title.
Chapter selection menu: A DVD menu containing buttons
that link to chapter points in a title. Also known as a scene
selection menu.
Clip: A file
containing a video and/or audio stream.
Closed GOP: A group of pictures whose B- and P-pictures can reference other pictures
only within the same GOP. MPEG streams
with closed GOPs can be edited, whereas streams with open
GOPs cannot.
Codec: Coder/decoder
or compressor/decompressor. Software that is used to
compress video, audio, and graphics files to save space, and to decompress the
files for playback.
Color depth: See bit depth.
Component video: An analog or digital video system where the picture information is
maintained as three separate components -- for example, red, green, and blue (RGB), or brightness and two
color components (YUV).
Component video is considered superior to composite video and S-video.
Composite video: A video system where all the picture information is mixed into a single
signal. On most capture cards and video players, it is the yellow plug in
addition to the red and white plugs (red is the right channel,;
white the left) for stereo audio. It is considered inferior to component video
and S-video.
Compression: A method for making data files smaller. There are two forms of
compression: lossless and lossy. Lossless compression, such as that used in PNG
image files, does not change the data; it only removes redundancies. Lossy
compression involves removing some of the data, based on knowledge of how
humans perceive images and sound. Examples of lossy compression include MPEG
video, JPEG images, and Dolby Digital audio.
D1: Uncompressed component
digital videotape format used for professional-quality video.
Data rate: See bit-rate.
Decode: To
process digital data to reconstruct the original (analog) source.
Defragment: To combine file fragments on a hard disk together to make complete files.
Over time, as files are added, edited, and deleted, individual files become
fragmented into thousands of scattered blocks. This
makes it hard for Sonic applications to read and write
large amounts of data quickly. By defragmenting the disk (on your PC: Start
menuàProgramsàAccessoriesàSystem Tools—>Disk defragmenter), you make existing files easier to
read, and you create a single large block of free space where applications can
write new files.
Digital: Represented
by discrete numbers (digits). In general, digital is synonymous with binary because
computers store and process information encoded as combinations of binary
digits (bits). Compare with analog.
DirectShow: A software standard developed by Microsoft Corporation for playing
digital video and audio on Windows-based PCs.
Disc or Disk: When spelled with a "c," it refers to an optical disc such as a
CD or DVD. When spelled with a "k," it refers to a computer disk
drive or removable disk. (Computer disks were developed in America Europe and Japan
Disc
Image: All the information stored on a CD, DVD, or project is converted it into
a single file called a disc image. That image file can then be
used to reproduce the original disc. This is useful when you need to make
several copies of the same disc.
DivX: A codec for creating
extremely compressed video files.
DMA: Direct memory
access. A method for transferring data directly to a device such as a hard disk
without using the CPU. This greatly speeds up applications that need to write
large amounts of data to the device. For information of how to enable/disable
DMA, click here.
Dolby Digital: A high-quality compressed audio format developed by Dolby Laboratories,
Inc. Dolby compression can deliver up to six channels of surround sound;
however, MyDVD Deluxe Editions and DVDit! 5.0 supports stereo Dolby audio only.
Double-layer or Dual-layer: Each side of a DVD can have one
or two data layers. Discs with two data layers are called
"dual-layer" if commercially pressed, and "double-layer" if
recordable. Dual/double-layer DVDs hold nearly twice as much data as
single-layer DVDs (8.4 GB versus 4.7 GB).
When burning
a double-layer DVD, the recorder writes half the project onto one layer,
starting at the center and working outward. It then refocuses its laser on the
second layer and writes the second half of the project back toward the center.
The point
where the laser refocuses when recording or playing back the DVD is called the
"layer break." During playback, a short pause in the video may be
noticed when the laser refocuses.
Drop-frame/non-drop-frame timecode: NTSC-format video contains either drop-frame or
non-drop-frame timecode.
The NTSC
frame rate is 29.97 fps. Timecode counters cannot count anything less than a
whole frame, so NTSC timecode counters increment the second count after every
30 frames. This means that each second on the timecode counter is slightly
longer than a real second (0.03 frames, or about one-thousandth of a second
longer). This does not sound like much, but over time, the timecode counter
will gradually become more inaccurate -- after 100 minutes, the timecode will
be off by six seconds. This is the effect of non-drop-frame timecode.
Drop-frame
timecode keeps the timecode count accurate. In drop-frame video, frames 0 and 1
are omitted (dropped) from the timecode count at the start of every minute
except 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 minutes, so that for example, the timecode
count jumps from 00:00:59:29 to 00:01:00:02 instead of to 00:01:00:00. (The
actual frames are not dropped, just the numbers.)
Since the PAL frame rate is a whole
number of frames (25 fps), PAL timecode counters are always accurate.
DV: Digital Video (note
the capitalization). A high-quality compressed component digital videotape
format developed by a consortium of companies.
DVCAM, DVCPRO: Professional devices that use the DV format for encoding video signals.
DVD: DVD stands for
Digital Video Disc, or Digital Versatile Disc, or nothing, depending on who you
ask. An optical disc storage technology developed by a consortium of companies,
the DVD format includes standards for storing video, audio, and general data.
DVD Volume: A disk or folder containing all the data that should go on a DVD disc.
The DVD volume contains a VIDEO_TS
folder, as well as other data files and folders that will go on the disc. The
DVD volume can be tested by playing it with a software DVD player before it is
burned onto a disc.
DVD+R:
DVD-Video "plus" Recordable. A DVD disc
that can be recorded once.
DVD+RW: DVD-Video
"plus" Rewritable. A DVD disc that can be recorded and erased about 1,000
times. DVD+RW discs let users overwrite parts of the existing data without
making the remaining data unusable, similar to the way that videotape works.
DVD+VR: DVD+RW
Real Time Recording Format. A video recording format intended for set-top DVD
recorders using DVD+RW or DVD+R media. Discs are compatible with most set-top
DVD players.
DVD-9: Industry
code for single-sided, dual-layer DVDs. Generally used when referring to
commercially-pressed discs. Other industry codes include DVD-5 (single-sided, single-layer),
DVD-10 (double-sided, single-layer), and DVD-18 (double-sided, dual-layer).
There is also a DVD-14 format with one single-layer side and one dual-layer
side.
DVD-R: DVD-Recordable.
A DVD disc that can be recorded once.
DVD-RAM: DVD-random
access memory. A DVD disc that can be recorded and erased about 100,000 times.
DVD-RAM is designed for faster access to random areas of the disc.
DVD-ROM: DVD-read-only
memory. The basic format of DVD, from which all other formats are derived.
DVD-ROM discs can contain any form of digital data.
DVD-RW: DVD-Rewritable. A DVD disc that can be recorded and erased about 1,000
times.
DVD-VFR: DVD-Video
Format Recording. A video recording format intended for set-top DVD recorders
and DVD camcorders. Finalized discs are compatible with most set-top DVD
players.
DVD-Video: A standard for storing and playing high-quality video with audio.
DVD-Video discs can be played either on set-top players or in computers that
have a DVD drive and player software. A DVD-Video disc can contain up to 99
titles.
DVD-VR: DVD-Video
Recording. A video recording format intended for set-top DVD/VCD recorders
using DVD-R, DVD-RW or DVD-RAM media. Discs are not compatible with normal
set-top DVD players.
DVR-MS: A
proprietary file format used for recording video in Windows Media Center
Elementary stream: A single digital stream of either video or audio. Compare with program stream.
Encode: To
transform an analog signal into digital data. This often involves some form of compression. See
also decode, transcode.
Exact
Copy: The Exact Copy project makes a duplicate of your master disc, transferring the disc layout
of the original disc to your CD or DVD media.
FAT32: A
version of the File Allocation Table file system developed for Windows 98 and
later. FAT32 allows files up to 4 GB in size.
Field: A set of television scan lines. Two fields make a complete frame. One
field contains the odd-numbered lines (top field); the other field contains the
even-numbered lines (bottom field). The fields can be displayed using interlaced scanning
on a standard television or using progressive
scanning on a computer monitor or high-definition television.
field order: The order in which the fields in a video stream should be displayed. This
is either top field first, or bottom field first (DV video is bottom field
first). If video is encoded using the wrong field order, it will display
correctly on a PC, but will appear jittery when viewed on a TV. Also known as
field dominance.
file system: The logical structure that an operating system like Windows uses to keep
track of files on a disk. The most commonly used file systems under Windows are
FAT32 and NTFS.
Finalize: Finalizing
a disc "closes" the disc so that no more data can be added to it, or
it is not longer appendable. Usually a disc cannot be read by set-top players
or mounted on a PC until it has been finalized. This is the opposite of leaving
a disc appendable.
Firewire: A
standard created by Apple Computer, Inc. for transmitting digital signals
between various devices including DV cameras and computers. Also known as
IEEE-1394 and i.LINK. For tips on capturing with firewire, click here.
Firmware: Software that is embedded in a piece of hardware (such as a DVD or CD
writer) that allows functionality of device. If the firmware is removed or
damaged, the device will be unusable. Firmware cannot add features to a device
(i.e. enabling a CD writer to burn DVDs or increase write speed), but can
improve over all efficiency within the hardware’s physical limitations. For
more information on firmware, click
here.
First play: An instruction on a DVD that tells the DVD player what to do when the
disc is inserted into the player. The instruction usually tells the player to
automatically display a specific menu or title.
Format: 1. To initialize media (hard drive,
CD, DVD, etc.) This is usually required
before data can be written to the media.
Most applications do this automatically.
This process will erase all data from the media. 2. Refers
to the type of an object. Example: different video file formats are .AVI, QuickTime,
and MPEG.
FPS: Frames Per
Second. The measurement of the rate at which video or film images are displayed
to produce the illusion of movement.
Frame: A single
complete image in video or film. In interlaced video, a frame consists of two fields.
Frame rate: The rate at which video or film images are displayed, measured in frames
per second (fps). Film has a frame rate of 24 fps, the NTSC video frame rate is
29.97 fps, and the PAL video frame rate is 25 fps.
Frame size: The size of the video frame, measured in pixels. Also known as
resolution.
G: Standard abbreviation for
giga (billion). When used in units of measurement such as bits or Hertz, it
means one (American) billion (1,000,000,000 or 109). When used for measuring bytes of computer data, it means
1,073,741,824 or 230.
GB: Gigabyte. In a
computer, this is 230
(1,073,741,824) bytes.
In a DVD disc, this is 109
(1,000,000,000) bytes.
General media: A recordable DVD that is designed for use in consumer DVD recorders. You cannot
record DVD data that has been encrypted with the Content Scrambling System
(CSS) onto General discs (almost all Hollywood DVDs are CSS-encrypted). Compare
with Authoring media.
GHz: Gigahertz.
1,000,000,000 cycles per second. A unit of measurement for frequencies.
GOP: Group of
Pictures. A unit of MPEG video, the GOP is a block of video frames of different
types. Every GOP begins with an I-picture,
followed by a repeating pattern of P-pictures and B-pictures.
I B B P B B P B B P B B P B B P I B B P...
^ ^ Start of GOP Start of next GOP
In MPEG-2
video, the I-, B-, and P-pictures can contain either frames or fields. In
MPEG-1 video, they contain only frames.
The I-picture
contains all the image information for a single frame or field, and is thus
only moderately compressed. B-pictures and P-pictures contain only information
that is different from the previous or next frame/field, and reference the
nearest I-picture for the remaining information. This means they are much more
highly compressed than I-pictures.
See also chapter point, sequence header.
GOP size: The
number of frames or fields in a group of
pictures (GOP).
For example, a
GOP size of 10 looks like this
if the I-, B-, and P-pictures contain whole frames:
I B B P B B P B B P
and like this
if the I-, B-, and P-pictures contain fields:
I P B B B B P P B B B B P P B B B B P P
GOP structure: The number of B-pictures before each P-picture in a group of pictures.
Typical GOP structures are I B P (one B-picture) and I B B
P (two B-pictures).
Hz: Hertz. Cycles
per second. A unit of measurement for frequencies.
IEEE-1394: The formal name for a standard for transmitting digital signals between
various devices including DV cameras and computers. Also
known as Firewire or i.LINK.
IFO file: One of
the files on a DVD-Video disc. The IFO file contains instructions that tell the
DVD player how to play the VOB
files on the disc. Because the disc could become unplayable if the
IFO file is damaged, a backup copy with the extension .BUP is always included in a separate
location on the disc.
Interlaced scanning: A method for displaying an analog video signal on a television screen.
This method was developed because video images flicker when displayed on
televisions at 25 or 29.97 frames per second -- each frame fades away before
the next one appears.
To prevent
flickering, each video frame is divided into two fields. One field contains all
the odd-numbered scan lines in the frame (the "top" field); the other
contains all the even-numbered scan lines (the "bottom" field). The
television displays one field (one set of lines), followed by the next, at
59.94 fields per second for NTSC or 50 fields per second for PAL. At these
frequencies, human persistence of vision causes the fields to be perceived as a
single image.
Compare with progressive scanning.
I-picture: Intra-picture. An MPEG video picture that contains all the information necessary to
create a single frame or field. Every GOP in an MPEG video stream starts with an I-picture,
which provides a reference point for the B-pictures and P-pictures in the GOP.
i.LINK: Sony
Corporation's term for the IEEE-1394
standard.
Jacket picture: A picture that shows the disc's Title menu (or the first non-black frame of
the video in discs that do not have menus). The jacket picture is displayed
onscreen when the disc is played in a player that supports the jacket picture
format.
JPEG: A lossy compressed bitmap
graphics format developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group. Files have
the extension .jpg or .jpeg.
k: Standard
abbreviation for kilo (thousand). Used as a prefix in units of measurement such
as kbps (kilobits per second) and kHz (kilohertz).
K: Standard abbreviation
for 1,024 (210). Used as a
prefix in measurements of computer bytes.
KB: Kilobyte. 1,024 (210) bytes.
Kbps: Kilobits
(1,000 bits) per
second. A unit of measurement for bit-rates.
kHz: Kilohertz.
1,000 cycles per second. A unit of measurement for frequencies.
Layer break: The point on a dual/double-layer DVD where the
recorder or player's laser stops recording/playing one layer, refocuses on the
second layer, and continues recording/playback. There is always a short pause
in the material at this point.
Letterbox: A method for displaying widescreen (16:9) material on a standard (4:3)
television screen. The entire image is displayed in its proper aspect ratio
across the center of the screen. Horizontal black bars (mattes) are added to
the top and bottom of the image to fill the gaps between the image and the top
and bottom edges of the screen. Compare with pan and
scan.
Lossless: Refers to compression
methods that do not throw away any data.
Lossy: Refers
to compression methods that involve throwing away some data to achieve very
high compression levels.
M: Standard abbreviation for
mega (million). When used in units of measurement such as bits or Hertz, it
means one million (1,000,000 or 106).
When used for measuring bytes of computer data, it means 1,048,576 or 220.
MB: Megabyte. 1,048,576 (220) bytes. A unit of
measurement for computer data.
Mbps: Megabits
(1,000,000 bits) per second. A unit of measurement for
bit-rates.
Menu: A screen
containing buttons that link to specific locations in a DVD-Video presentation.
The viewer activates buttons to display the linked material.
MHz: Megahertz.
1,000,000 cycles per second. A unit of measurement for frequencies.
Motion menu: A DVD menu that has a video background and/or animated button images.
Movie: A title containing a single video clip. It
may also have an audio track. A movie can also contain up to 99 chapter points.
MPEG: A set of
standards for compressing video and audio, developed by the Moving Pictures
Expert Group. The DVD-Video standard is based on MPEG-2 video compression; the
standard also permits the use of MPEG-1 video.
Other MPEG
formats include MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3) audio and MPEG-4 video. These are not part
of the DVD or VCD standards.
MPV: MusicPhotoVideo.
An open standard developed by the Optical Storage Technology Association for
describing the contents of physical media such as a DVD. The MPV standard makes
it easier for applications and devices to organize and play back large
collections of music, photo, and video files.
Multiplex: To combine separate video and audio streams together into a single data
stream. Often abbreviated to "mux".
NTFS: New
Technology File System. A file system developed for
Windows NT, 2000, and XP. Its main advantage for video editors is that there is
no limit on file sizes. Windows 98 and ME do not
support NTFS, but Fat32.
NTSC: National
Television Systems Committee. The television standard used in the United
States, Canada, Japan, and a few other countries. NTSC television uses 525 scan
lines (480 lines contain picture information) transmitted at 29.97 frames
(59.94 fields) per second. Compare with PAL.
OHCI:
Open Host Controller Interface. A standard that
allows software applications to control OHCI-compliant devices such as DV
camcorders. For example, Sonic Solutions only supports Firewire cards (and
drivers) that are OHCI compliant . Video or audio cards with firewire inputs
are usually not OHCI compliant. To make sure your firewire drivers are compliant, follow the
steps in this article.
Open GOP: A group
of pictures whose B- and P-pictures can reference pictures from another GOP.
MPEG streams with open GOPs cannot be edited. Compare with closed GOP.
OpenDVD: A
standard developed by Sonic for creating DVD-Video discs and VCDs that can be
edited by OpenDVD-compliant applications or devices.
Overburn: Overburn
is a technique some CD recorder manufacturers use to squeeze a bit more data
onto a CD-R disc. RecordNow! implements this feature on supported recorders. To
engage Overburning, go into the options menu (the wrench in RecordNow!) and
choose GeneralàAdvanced.
Check “Overburn by Sectors”. Then set the desired amount to be overburned by
typing the number into the active text
box.
Caution: Overburning a disc can cause
recording errors and problems reading the disc in CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives.
Please consult your burner manufacturer to see if Overburning is supported.
This function is not available for DVD authoring software.
Overture: See first play.
P-picture: Predictively coded picture. An MPEG video picture that contains only the
information that is different from previous frames or fields. Each P-picture
provides a reference point for B-pictures
and subsequent P-pictures in a GOP. See also I-picture.
Packet
Writing Utility: A packet writing
utility, such as Sonic’s DLA, allows users to drag-and-drop files from the hard
drive to the CD or DVD recorder as easily as they would to a floppy disc. Files can be saved directly to the CD or DVD
recorder from within many Windows applications.
PAL: Phase Alternate Line. The television standard used in most of Europe and
the rest of the world. PAL television uses 625 scan lines (576 lines contain
picture information) transmitted at 25 frames (50 fields) per second. Compare
with NTSC.
Pan and scan: A method for displaying widescreen (16:9) video on a standard (4:3)
television screen. The widescreen image is cropped to fit the 4:3 aspect ratio.
Compare with letterbox.
Pass-through: Using the analog input of a DV camera, a user can “pass” the analog video into the
camcorder and output it “through” the Firewire port to
be captured digitally. This is only available with cameras that have analogàDV abilities. For more information, review this article.
PCM: Pulse Code Modulation. An uncompressed digital audio format. The quality
of PCM audio depends both on the sample
rate (a 48 kHz sample rate is better than 44.1 kHz) and on the sample size (16
bits per sample is better than 8 bits).
PICT: Graphics
file format developed by Apple Computer, Inc.
Pixel: One of
the dots that makes up a digital image. The size of an image is measured in
pixels (width x height).
Pixel aspect ratio: The ratio between a single pixel's width and its height. This is usually
expressed as a decimal number.
Pixels on a
computer monitor are square and have a pixel aspect ratio of 1. Pixels on a
television screen are rectangular: on a standard NTSC television, each pixel is
slightly taller than it is wide, with a pixel aspect ratio of 0.9; on a
standard PAL television, each pixel is slightly wider than it is tall, with a
pixel aspect ratio of 1.0666. This is why standard NTSC and
PAL televisions have the same 4:3 aspect ratio even though
they use a different number of scan lines.
For
widescreen (16:9) televisions, the pixel aspect ratios are 1.2 for NTSC and
1.4222 for PAL.
Playlist: An
edited selection of sections from one or more titles on a
DVD VR disc. Not all VR discs have playlists. Because a playlist contains only
pointers to different locations in the titles, it uses almost no disc space.
However, if you import a playlist into a DVDit! project, all the video
referenced by the playlist will be imported.
PNG: Portable
network graphic. A versatile lossless compressed bitmap graphics format.
Files have the extension .png.
Program stream: A stream containing multiplexed video and audio. Compare with elementary stream.
Progressive scanning: A method for displaying a video signal on a computer monitor (and on
high-definition television). In a progressive scanning system, each scan line
is displayed in sequence. To prevent flicker, the scanning frequency must be
twice that of a standard television, but this produces a higher quality
picture. Compare with interlaced
scanning.
Project file: The file that tells DVDit! where all the video, audio, and graphics in a
DVD/VCD project are located, and how to assemble and process them to create a
disc. This file has the extension .dvd-dvi.
QuickTime: A software standard for creating, organizing, and playing video and
audio. Developed by Apple Computer, Inc.
R.A.I.D.:
Redundant Array
of Independent/Inexpensive Disks/Devices. A method
of providing data redundancy, improved performance and/or quick data
recoverability from disk crashes, by spreading or duplicating data across
multiple disk drives. Commonly used RAID types include RAID 0 (Data Striping),
RAID 1 (Disk Mirroring) and RAID 5 (Striping with Distributed Parity). RAID
configurations typically require SCSI disk drives (not IDE/EIDE) and may
require identical drives (same capacity, brand, etc.). RAID arrays appear to
the operating system as a single device.
Region code: Hollywood producers release movies
at different times in different regions. To prevent the DVD version of a movie
from becoming available before it appears in theaters in a particular region,
the DVDs have an embedded region code. Every DVD player is supposed to read
these codes and only play a disc if its code matches a code embedded in the
player.
Home DVD
recording has no use for region codes. All DVDs recorded in DVDit! and MyDVD
are "region-free" and will play anywhere.
Resampling: The process of converting a digital image from one resolution (size) to
another.
Resolution: The size (width x height) of a digital image, measured in pixels.
RGB: The
red-green-blue color model used in computer monitors. The color of each pixel
in an image is made up of a red component, a blue component, and a green
component, because these are the three colors that the human eye can perceive.
In a full-color (24 bits per pixel) image, each component can be one of 256
values, from zero (darkest) to 255 (lightest). If all three components have a
value of zero, the pixel is perceived as black. If all three components have a
value of 255, the pixel is perceived as white. Compare with YUV.
Sample rate: The number of times per second that a digital sample is taken of an
analog audio source. Expressed in kHz. Higher sample rates result in a more
accurate reproduction of the original sound. The sample rate for audio CD and
VCD is 44.1 kHz; for DVD-Video, the sample rate is 48 kHz.
Sample size: The number of bits allocated to each digital sample of an analog audio
source. Larger sample sizes result in greater dynamic range and better
reproduction of the original sound. DVD-Video supports sample sizes of 16, 20,
or 24 bits.
SAP: Secondary Audio
Program. An extra audio track that is broadcast with some television programs.
The SAP track may contain the same program audio in a different language (for
example, English-language sports programs in the U.S. sometimes use the SAP
track for Spanish commentary), or it can be used for other services such as
video descriptions for the visually impaired. Some DVD VR recorders let you
record both the main and SAP audio tracks and switch between them on playback.
Scan line: One of the horizontal lines on a television screen. NTSC
and PAL televisions have different numbers of scan lines
although the screens are the same shape.
SCSI: Short for Small Computer System Interface, a parallel interface standard
used by Apple Macintosh computers, PCs, and many UNIX systems for attaching
peripheral devices to computers. Nearly all computers come with a SCSI port for
attaching devices such as disk drives and printers. In the past few years, SCSI
are slowly being phased out in favor of USB and firewire
ports.
SECAM: Séquentiel
Couleur Avec Mémoire (sequential color with memory). A television transmission
standard that is similar to PAL. The DVD-Video standard does not support SECAM, so DVD players in SECAM countries play PAL-format
discs and transcode
the signal to SECAM.
Sequence header: Part of an MPEG video stream. Contains information about the video
stream, such as aspect ratio, bit-rate, picture resolution, and frame rate. The
DVD specification requires a sequence header before every GOP.
Set-top player: A consumer DVD player designed for use with a television as part of a
home theater system.
Stream: Data
that must be read and processed in a linear sequence, such as digital video and
audio. Also known as a track.
S-video: A video
connection standard that has separate brightness and color signals and uses a
four-pin mini-DIN connector. S-video quality is better than composite video
but not as good as component
video.
Subpictures: Simple 4-bit images that are displayed on top of video. In DVD menus,
subpictures are used to create button highlights that change color and/or
opacity when the button is selected and activated.
TARGA: A bitmap
graphics file format developed by Pinnacle Systems, Inc. Files have the
extension .tga, .vda, .icb,
or .vst.
Television standard: Each country or world region has a television standard. Generally, North America has NTSC; Europe , PAL; and the Middle East , SECAM.
For more information on supported countries, check out Sonic’s KnowledgeBase article
on this topic.
Temporary Directory (a.k.a. Temp Directory/Folder): This directory is used for temporarily storing
transcoded video and/or audio files and are placed in this folder while
creating a disc. For video discs they are created while capturing and building
a DVD/VCD and temporarily storing transcoded files. For audio CDs, they are
created from files that need to be converted to make playable discs from MP3,
.WMA or other files.
Thumbnail:
A small picture that represents the contents of a
video or image file.
TIFF: Tagged
Information File Format. A versatile bitmap graphics format. Files have the
extension .tif or .tiff.
Timecode: The
location of a video frame relative to the start of the video file or scene.
Timecode values generally use the format hh:mm:ss:ff
(hours:seconds:minutes:frames).
Title: A movie
or slideshow. The DVD-Video and DVD-VR formats allow up to 99 titles on a disc.
The DVD+VR format allows up to 49 titles (movies only). Each title can contain
up to 99 chapter points.
Title menu: The highest-level menu in a DVD menu hierarchy. Viewers can display the
Title menu at any time during playback by pressing the Title button on the
remote control.
Track: See stream.
Transcode: To convert digital video or audio data from one format to another -- for
example, from AVI to MPEG.
Transition: The change from one slideshow image to another. This can be abrupt, or can
involve digital effects such as fading the end of the first slide into the beginning
of the next slide.
Trim: To edit
a movie to remove unwanted material from the beginning and/or end.
UDF: Universal Disc
Format. A standard developed by the Optical Storage Technology Association for
creating discs that can be used in any computer or other digital device.
USB: Universal
Serial Bus. A standard for transmitting digital signals between various devices.
VBR encoding: Variable Bit-Rate encoding. A method of encoding MPEG video streams by allocating
more bits to complex sections of video and fewer bits to less-complex sections.
This results in higher quality video than CBR encoding
at the same overall bit-rate, or the same level of quality as CBR encoding at a
lower overall bit-rate.
VBV: Video Buffering
Verifier. This MPEG video encoding parameter sets the maximum number of bits
that can be used to encode a single video frame. If a video file contains a
frame that exceeds this figure, DVD players may not be able to decode the
frame.
VIDEO_TS: The file
directory on a DVD disc (or in a DVD volume folder) where DVD-Video data are
stored.
VOB file: Video
Object File. The basic media file of the DVD-Video format. VOB files contain
multiplexed video and audio.
WAVE audio: Uncompressed or compressed digital audio file format developed by
Microsoft Corporation. Files have the extension .wav.
Widescreen: Generally used to describe televisions that can display full 16:9 aspect ratio
images.
WMA, WMV: Windows
Media Audio and Windows Media Video. Proprietary audio and video file formats
developed by Microsoft Corporation and based on MPEG-4 compression standards.
WMA and WMV files can be copy-protected, which prevents them from being used on
any device that is not licensed to play them. Such copy-protected files cannot
be used in DVDit! projects.
Write speed: The maximum amount of data that a
DVD or CD recorder can successfully transfer per second. Usually expressed as a
multiplier -- 1x, 2x, 4x, 48x, and so on. Generally, a larger number means a
faster drive.
CD and DVD
discs also have speed ratings. These ratings usually appear as a range of
recorder speeds the disc can support. If you put a fast disc in a slow
recorder, your recording may fail. To prevent failures, make sure that the disc
speed and format are compatible with your recorder.