Glossary of Terms

    On this page we'll try to cover all the terms and acronyms that are used throughout the site, and the consumer electronics industry in  general.

DVD: Digital Versatile Disc. Most common use is for movies either rented or purchased.

CD: Compact Disc. Most common use is for music, but also used for data copied from a computer.

A/D conversion: Analog to digital conversion. The method of converting electrical analog pulses to digital binary code.

D/A conversion: Digital to analog conversion. The method of converting digital binary bitstream to electrical analog pulses.

DVD Audio: Multi channel audio stored on a DVD disc.

SACD: Super Audio Compact Disc. Music encoded on CD with higher and lower frequency response which results in higher     fidelity sound.

AC-3: Simply means Dolby Digital. Broken down, it means Audio Coding version 3. There is also AC-1, and AC-2. They are prior versions to what is commonplace in the electronics industry. It is an encode/decode process that allows for multiple channel audio to be sent digitally (bitstream) through a fibre optic cable or coaxial digital cable.

DTS: A similar process to Dolby Digital in that it uses an encode/decode process to send the information. Developed by Digital Theatre Systems in the early 90's and first used in theatres for Jurassic Park. The film is on the reel, but the audio is synced on CD-ROM with the film. This makes the audio soundtrack much cleaner and clearer, allowing for a fuller movie theatre experience. DTS is widely used in movie theatres.

Woofer: The speaker component which recreates bass signals.

Midrange: The speaker component which recreates middle frequency signals.

Tweeter: The speaker component that recreates the high frequency signals.

Subwoofer: Commonly a speaker that recreates low bass that a normal speaker would have difficulty recreating. A subwoofer is usually self powered, although passive subs are still available. Subwoofers are given their own dedicated power amps because they tend to take alot of power from the amplifier and would detract from the sound quality of your speakers and amplifier.

Interlaced: Is the way all standard televisions display a picture. Regular TV's can display up to 480 interlaced scan lines. This means that first they display lines 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 etc. Then, they display lines 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 etc. The lines change position every 60th of a second so our eyes don't see the change.

Progressive scan: Is the native format of DVD discs. They contain 480 progressively scanned lines of video. Progressive scanning displays the scan lines in order. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. So, you get the best possible picture your DVD player can display. Unfortunately, only HD capable televisions let you take advantage of this valuable feature. 

HDTV: High Definition Television is the highest quality of television broadcasting available in North America. We will cover HDTV in a later version of the monthly article. Most HDTV capable televisions are capable of displaying up to 1080 interlaced scan lines. Although, some are capable of up to 1080 progressively scanned lines.

DTV: Digital Television is NOT the same as HDTV. There are 18 different standards that a broadcast must meet in order to be called HD. If the source broadcast is lacking only one, it will be downgraded to DTV. Which, incidentally is still a very good picture!

EDTV: Enhanced Definition Television is capable of displaying up to 480 progressively scanned lines. Your DVD player is an EDTV device. Many televisions that are HD capable are EDTV displays.

SDTV: Standard Definition Television is the TV broadcast that most of us receive now. 480 interlaced scan lines. All televisions are SDTV.

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