Glossary. Pioneer HTZ-55DV

13 Additional 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).

Chapter

(DVD only)

Just as a book is split up into several chapters, a title on a DVD disc is usually divided into chapters. See also Title.

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

A surround sound system developed by Dolby Laboratories containing up to six channels of digital audio (front left and right, surround left and right, center and low-frequency channels). See also DTS.

DTS

A surround sound system developed by Digital Theater

Systems as an alternative to Dolby Digital. DTS discs contain up to eight channels of digital audio. See also Dolby Digital.

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.

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.

Optical digital output

A jack that outputs digital audio in the form of light pulses.

Connect components with optical digital jacks using a special optical cord, available from good audio dealers.

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.

For compatibility with digital audio recorders (CD, MD and

DAT) and AV amplifiers with digital inputs, this unit can convert Dolby Digital and MPEG audio to PCM. 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.

Regions

(DVD only)

These associate discs and players with particular areas of the world. This unit will only play discs that have compatible region codes. You can find the region code of your unit by looking on the rear panel. Some discs are compatible with more than one region (or all regions).

Sampling frequency

The rate at which sound is measured to be turned into digital audio data. The higher the rate, the better the sound quality, but the more digital information is generated. Standard CD audio has a sampling frequency of 44.1kHz, which means

44,100 samples (measurements) per second. See also Digital

audio.

Title

(DVD only)

A collection of chapters on a DVD disc. See also Chapter.

58

En