DVD Recorders Glossary

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A

Analog Media

A support that holds and playbacks audio/video signals in their original form. The original sound/image is reproduced through analog waves, usually on magnetic tapes. Compare to Digital Media.

Archive

A collection of recordings stored on various media, analog or digital. The act of dubbing on permanent media, for re-viewing.

Artifact

Anomaly that occurs when playing a video recording, analog or digital. The problem could be with the media type, the quality of the recording, the player's outputs, the playback mode etc.

Authoring

The act of creating a movie on DVD support.

A/V receiver

Audio & Video receiver. A box that captures and decodes audio/video signals and delivers the amplified audio signals to the speakers.

B

Burning (a DVD)

The process of recording video material onto a DVD disc.

Bandwidth

The range of frequencies a device operates within. The amount of data that can be transferred or processed in a given time.

Bit Rate

A unit for measuring the bandwidth, reading the bit per second (bps) ratio.

Blue Ray

The next generation DVD recording format, that uses large capacity discs and a different laserwave length.

C

Chasing Playback

A function featured on some DVD recorders and all DVRs. It allows the user to watch the recording of the beginning of a TV show while the unit finishes the recording.

Camcorder

Portable camera recorder.

Component Video

An interface between the source of a video signal (the DVD recorder in this case) and a video display (the TV screen). It uses three RCA jacks that carry out three separate color component signals: RGB (red, green, blue) or color difference (YCbCr, YPbPr, YUV). The picture quality provided through component connection is state-of-the-art. But only few TV displays feature component inputs.

Composite Video

The most common connection between a video-source and a video-display, residing in a single, RCA cable.

Constant Angular Velocity (CAV)

A DVD recording style; the laser pick-up moves at the same speed over the disc surface, from the center towards the exterior-margin. With every rotation, no matter its diameter, the same amount of information is written.

Constant Bit Rate (CBR)

In a video material, each recorded frame (picture) is allocated the same amount of data. This means the image quality will vary, according to the complexity of the recording (motion, color spectrum, misty backgrounds etc).

Chrominance

The color information of the overall video signal.

Combo Unit/Drive

A device that combines more decks. In this case 'combo' could refer to a DVD recorder with a VCR, a DVD recorder with a TV set or a DVD recorder with a Tivo box/ DVR unit etc.

Content Scrambling System (CSS)

A content encoding form that prevents the copying of commercial DVD discs.

D

Digital Media

A recordable audio/video support that holds a sample of the analog wave. The analog wave is at first transformed in discrete intervals and then into numbers. The A/V quality is much better and lasts longer, even with repeated playback sessions.

DVD

Digital Video Disc (Digital Versatile Disc); the media used on DVD recorders, DVD players and DVD-ROM units. A medium that stores digital data. The advantages versus a video tape are: longer life-span, better A/V quality, random access.

Double-Sided Disc

A DVD disc that can be recorded on both sides, with double data storing capacity (about 8.74 GB).

Dual-Layer Disc

A DVD disc with two layers of data recorded on the same side. The second layer is accessed by changing the laser-beam's angle; in the new position, the upper layer is transparent, and the first one can be read.

DVD-ROM

The name of a DVD drive on a computer unit.

Dolby Digital (5.1)

The standard surround sound format for DVD Video. It consists of five independent & discrete channels, and each output a full frequency sound. A sixth channel (named “subwoofer”) will output only deep bass frequencies.

Digital Video Recorder (DVR)

Also known as Personal Video Recorder (PVR), this device records a digital video stream from a video source, storing it on a hard disc drive (HDD). The TiVo box is the most popular DVR. Among most common features: simultaneous viewing and recording, time slip, programmable over-writing.

E

Electronic Programming Guide (EPG)

A TV guide that is broadcast via GemStar, that owns TV Guide. It contains the names of the shows, date and hour of broadcast, for movies — episode title, actors cast, ratings. You can program recordings by titles, performers or ratings, at your choice.

F

FireWire

The standard for transmitting digital data between the DVD recorder and peripherals. ON DVD recorders also known as i.Link™ or IEEE-1394.

Formats (referring to physical DVD discs)

The standards for storing (recording) data on a DVD disc.

H

Hard Drive

A data storage-component that is built-in the DVD recorder. Its storing capacity can range from 40GB to 400GB.

Home Theater

A handful of audio & video components that work together to combine the theatrical movie experience with the comfort of your home. A DVD-based home theater consists of: DVD player/recorder; television; audio/video receiver; five speakers that create the digital surround-sound; an optional subwoofer. (Also see Dolby Digital).

High Definition Television (HDTV)

A TV set that outputs an image with twice as better resolution than that of conventional television. (By doubling the number of horizontal and vertical resolution lines).

I

Interlaced Scanning

The conventional DVD interlaced picture that alternates the odd-numbered lines with the even-numbered ones, showing half of the picture at each pass, at a refresh rate of 30 times per second. See also Progressive Scanning.

IEEE 1394 Input

See FireWire

I.Link™ Input

See FireWire

IR Blaster

See Time Shift

M

Macrovision

A technology that applied to VHS tape and DVD support prevents unauthorized duplication.

MPEG

Moving Picture Experts Group. A standard by which movie and film picture is compressed, maintaining the high quality playback.

MP3

The most popular format used for compressing audio files.

N

NTSC

The acronym for "National Television System Committee"; the institution that established back in 1953 the standards for commercial television broadcast in the United States. See also PAL and SECAM.

O

Optical Digital Audio Output

An optic fiber that connects a home theater component (DVD player or recorder) to a receiver or pre-amplifier. Also called Tosslink.

P

PAL

Phase Alternating Line system. The European video standard that has 625 horizontal scan lines and 25 frames per second. See also NTSC and SECAM.

Parental Lock

A feature that allows you to put a four digit password on recorded shows or parts of the show, which you consider unsuited for your children to watch. The password is easy to set-up from the remote control.

Progressive Scanning

A video scanning system that shows all the lines of a video-frame at each pass. The refresh rate is 60 times per second, double than Interlaced Scanning.

Personal Video Recorder (PVR)

See Digital Video Recorder (DVR).

R

Receiver

A single box that performs the function of a tuner, pre-amplifier and power-amplifier.

Resolution

The width and height of a video frame, measured in pixels, or resolution lines.

Regional Encoding

The DVD specifications require that a commercial DVD cannot be played in another region than the one it is designated for.

S

SECAM

Sequential Couleur A'Memoire, a color television standard developed and used in France. It has 625 horizontal scan lines and 25 frames per second, just like PAL, the European standard. It is also used in Russia, Greece and other countries. See also NTSC and PAL.

SDTV

Standard Definition Television / traditional television that outputs an image with a resolution of 700 x 480 pixels.

S-Video

An video-source to video-display interface that carries luma (luminosity information a.k.a. luminance) and chroma (color information a.k.a. chrominance) signals separately.

T

Time Slip

The ability to pause a live viewing of a show and, when coming back later, watching the recording up to the end, even if the unit is still recording it.

Time Shift

The ability of a DVD recorder to automatically switch channels for recording various shows. This ability is given by an IR (infra-red) blaster.

TiVo

A TV receiver box, and a program guide service that allows you to watch recordings of your favorite shows which are broadcast at hours that don't suit you.

V

Variable Bit Rate (VBR)

The opposite of Constant Bit Rate (CBR). The system allocates more resources on the disc for pretentious scenes, while the static scenes get less. This way the image quality remains constant throughout the movie.