Terminology - Harman Kardon DMC 250 Owner's Manual

Terminology

Terminology
Since they share some of the characteristics and
technology of CD players, many of the terms and
operational concepts used in a DVD player are
similar to what you may be familiar with from CD
players and changers, or older video disc formats
such as Laser Disc. However, if this is your first
DVD product, some of the terms used to describe
the features of a DVD player may be unfamiliar.
The following explanations should solve some of
the mysteries of DVD, and help you to enjoy all
the power and flexibility of the DVD format and
the DVD.
With the arrival of DVD, disc data capacity has
increased dramatically. On a DVD Video disc most
of this capacity is taken up by MPEG 2 video and
the multichannel movie soundtrack in Dolby
Digital and/or DTS. This information is
compressed.
Aspect Ratio: This is a description of the width
of a video image in relation to its height.
A conventional video screen is four units wide for
every three units of height, that's why the ratio is
called "4:3". Newer wide aspect ratio video
displays are 16 units wide for every nine units of
height, making them more like the screen in a
movie theater. The program material on a DVD
may be recorded in either format and, in
addition, you may configure the DVD to play
back in either format, depending on the features
recorded on a disc.
Component Video: This form of video signal
eliminates many of the artifacts of traditional
composite video signals by splitting the signal
into a separate luminance channel (the "Y"
signal channel) and two color-difference signals
(the Pr and Pb signal channels). With a
component video connection, you will see
greater picture resolution and eliminate many
picture imperfections such as the moiré patterns
often seen on check-patterned cloth. However, in
order to benefit from component video, you must
have a video display with Y/Pr/Pb component
video inputs. Do not connect the component
video outputs of the DMC 250 to the standard
composite or S-video inputs of a TV or recorder.
Group: The individual tracks on a DVD-Audio
disc may be combined into Groups. There may be
more than one Group on a disc. Depending on
the way a disc's producers create the program,
the Groups can contain different program
material, or they may repeat the disc's content in
different audio formats, such as 5.1 audio or
high-resolution stereo.
4 TERMINOLOGY
HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content
Protection): HDCP is the specification for
protecting digitally encoded content from
unauthorized copying when it is transmitted from
a DVD player (or other video source) to a video
display using HDMI or DVI connections. In order
to take advantage of the high-resolution output
of the DMC 250 via its HDMI output, your display
must be HDCP-compliant. Virtually all displays
with HDMI inputs are HDCP-compliant, but not
all DVI-equipped displays are. If you are using the
DMC 250 with an optional HDMI-to-DVI cable or
adapter, check the owner's manual for your
display to determine whether it is
HDCP-compliant.
HDMI ™ (High-Definition Multimedia
Interface ™ ): HDMI is a serial-bus form of
communication between the DVD player and the
video display or audio/video receiver. With 5Gbps
of bandwidth, it is capable of passing
uncompressed digital audio and high-definition
digital video using a single cable. With HDMI, the
DMC 250 is capable of outputting high-
resolution (720p or 1080p) video and
5.1-channel Dolby Digital or DTS digital audio,
with the convenience of just a single cable
connection.
JPEG Files: JPEG stands for the Joint
Photographic Experts Group, which developed a
standard for compressing still images, such as
photographs. JPEG files may be created on a
personal computer by importing images from a
digital camera, or scanning printed photographs.
These files may be burned onto a compact disc.
The DMC 250 is capable of recognizing JPEG
files and enabling you to view them on your
video screen.
Title: For a DVD, a title is defined as an entire
movie or program. There can be as many chapters
within a title as the producers decide to include.
Most discs include only one title, but some may
have more than one, to give you a "Double
Feature" presentation.
Chapter: DVD programs are divided into
chapters and titles. Chapters are the sub-sections
programmed into a single title on a disc.
Chapters may be compared to the individual
tracks on an audio CD.
RGB Video: This is a new form of video signal
that eliminates many of the artifacts of
traditional composite video signals by splitting
the signal into the three fundamental colors Red,
Green and Blue (RGB). With an RGB connection
(via SCART), you will see greater picture
resolution and eliminate many picture
imperfections such as the moiré patterns often
seen on checkered patterned cloths. However, in
order to benefit from RGB video, you must have
a video display with an RGB compatible SCART
input.
Progressive Scan: Due to the immense data
storage capacity of DVD, images are nowadays
stored progressively (intact, rather than
interlaced). This allow all of the lines in each
frame (odd and even) to be shown at the same
time. DMC 250 comes with true progressive scan
video output resulting in a 40% greater light
output than a conventional TV and a stunningly
detailed, high definition image with absence of
visible scanlines and motion artifacts.
WMA Files: WMA (Windows Media
an audio compression format that was developed
by the Microsoft ® Corporation for use with its
Windows Media Player. WMA files can be even
smaller in size than MP3 files, while maintaining
similar quality. The DMC 250 is among those
DVD players capable of playing discs containing
WMA files. Note that Windows Media Player
uses other file formats; however, the DMC 250 is
only capable of playing files that end in the
".wma" extension. See page 27 for more
information on WMA file support.
Multiple Angle: DVDs have the capability to
show up to four different views of the same
scene in a program. When a disc is encoded with
multiple-angle information, pressing the Angle
button will enable you to switch between these
different views. Note that at present, few discs
take advantage of this capability and, when they
do, the multiple-angle technology may only be
present for short periods of time within the disc.
Producers will usually insert some sort of icon or
graphic in the picture to alert you to the
availability of multiple viewing angles.
Reading: This is a message that you will see
after you´ve loaded the disc and the tray has
closed. It refers to the fact that the player must
first examine the contents of the disc to see if it
is a CD or DVD, and then extract the information
about the type of material on the disc, such as
languages, aspect ratios, subtitles, number of
titles and more. The slight delay while the
contents of the disc are read is normal.
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