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Like all new technologies, DVD has given rise to its own terminology, adopted by the press and reflected on the DVDs themselves. The following gives a brief explanation of the most common terms. Those highlighted can also be found as separate entries.


AC3	The original name for Dolby Digital surround sound.

ANAMORPHIC	The technique of squeezing a picture whilst recording it, so that when it is replayed, it is expanded to fill a widescreen image, optimising picture quality on widescreen TVs. Anamorphic DVDs are often referred to as ‘widescreen enhanced’. This technique does not affect the picture’s presentation on conventional TVs, where the image is seen as letter-boxed.

ASPECT RATIO	The shape of the picture when displayed on your TV. Conventional TVs have a 4:3 shaped screen, and the most common picture format matches this shape (4 units wide by 3 units high). But increasingly common is a widescreen ratio, usually described as 16:9 (16 units wide by 9 units high). On conventional TVs, these widescreen pictures are seen as letter-boxed (with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen). Most Decca and Philips widescreen DVD titles have been released in the anamorphic form.

AUTHORING	The term used for the process of designing and structuring a DVD programme. A professional skill, usually associated with encoding.

DOLBY DIGITAL	The most popular system for recording soundtracks, invented by Dolby Laboratories for presenting stereo and surround sound in cinemas and on home video. It is often used as a term for surround sound or AC3. Most Decca and Philips DVDs feature a Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound, in addition to LPCM stereo.

DOLBY STEREO	The compressed stereo format commonly used on feature film DVDs. Uses much less disc space than LPCM stereo, allowing for multiple language soundtracks and greater programme lengths. For classical music titles, however, the higher-quality, uncompressed LPCM stereo is generally preferred.

DTS	The rival and more recent cinematic surround sound (and stereo) system to Dolby Digital. Typically using less compression than Dolby Digital, DTS (Digital Theater Systems) is sometimes preferred for classical music programmes. Most Decca and Philips DVDs feature a DTS or Dolby Digital surround sound.

DUAL-LAYER DISC	A disc which features two layers, one positioned above the other. The laser reads the bottom layer, before refocusing on the layer above it. The use of two layers increases the capacity of the disc almost two-fold, and will result in better picture quality on long programmes. For this reason, most Decca and Philips discs are dual-layer (also known as DVD 9). However, the presence of two layers requires a layer-break.

DUAL-STANDARD	Used to describe a TV, video recorder or DVD player that is capable of playing both PAL and NTSC material. In the last ten years, such equipment in Europe has increasingly become ‘dual-standard’.

DVD-ROM	The successor to CD-ROM, with ‘dedicated’ DVD-ROMs typically used to store information or games. However, DVD videos can also include a DVD-ROM section (such as Decca’s Bond: Live). This section is used to contain extra material for use on a PC, such as screensavers and web links. Currently, DVD-ROM material can only be accessed by computers, not by DVD players.

DVD 5 / DVD 9	Codes which refer to the two formats of single-sided DVDs. DVD 5 refers to a single-layer disc, while DVD 9 refers to a dual-layer disc.

ENCODING	The process by which all the video and audio material are digitally converted into the formats used by DVD. Usually undertaken by the same company responsible for authoring. See also MPEG.

LAYER-BREAK	The transition between the two layers of a dual-layer disc, when the laser refocuses to read the second layer on the disc. Typically, this process takes up to a half-second (depending on the player), during which the picture and sound freezes. To minimise this effect, layer-breaks are situated, whenever possible, between acts or scenes (and are therefore undetectable). Otherwise, they are situated where both the picture and sound have come as close as possible to a pause.

LETTER-BOXED	The presentation of a widescreen picture on a conventional TV. To retain as much of the original image as possible, the widescreen image is ‘slotted’ into a conventional TV’s screen area, leaving black bars at the top and bottom of the screen.

LPCM STEREO	The official term (sometimes abbreviated to ‘PCM’) for the high-quality stereo soundtrack found on most music DVDs. It refers to the most common digital recording process, first introduced with CD. In fact, DVD supports higher-resolution versions of LPCM than CD, the most common of which is 48kHz/16 bit (as opposed to CD’s 44.1kHz/16 bit). It should be noted that LPCM Stereo is ‘uncompressed’, offering higher quality than such ‘compressed’ alternatives as Dolby Stereo (commonly used for feature films).

MPEG	The name for the process by which video (and also audio) is digitally-encoded for storage on disc or for digital broadcasting. DVD uses the second generation of this process, known as MPEG2.

NTSC	The television system used in North America, most of South America, Japan and the Far East. This is one of the two TV systems in use around the world, the other being PAL (used in Europe). The two systems are incompatible. However, in Europe consumer electronic items, such as TVs, video recorders and DVD players, have increasingly become dual-standard, enabling them to replay NTSC material. The majority of Decca and Philips DVDs are NTSC, and are designed for world-wide playback.

PAL	The television system used in Europe, Africa and Australasia. This is one of the two TV systems in use around the world, the other being NTSC (used in the Americas and Far East). The two systems are incompatible. However, in Europe consumer electronic items, such as TVs, video recorders and DVD players, have increasingly become dual-standard, enabling them to replay NTSC material. The majority of Decca and Philips DVDs are NTSC, and are designed for world-wide playback.

REGION CODING	DVDs can be coded so they play only in selected parts of the world. The world is divided into six regions, of which Region 1 is North America and Region 2 is Europe and Japan. However, most music DVDs are not region-coded. These are either described as ‘Region 1-6’ , ‘Region 0’ or ‘Region-free’. Almost all Decca and Philips DVDs are region-free and therefore can be played anywhere in the world. Note that region-coding is not necessarily related to NTSC or PAL.

SUBTITLES	DVD has the capacity to include multiple language subtitles. If these are present, they can switched on or off via the disc’s on-screen menus or via the DVD player’s remote control. All Decca and Philips operas include these optional subtitles, with the selection of languages available printed on the back of the DVD. Currently, the most typical selection of subtitles available on Decca and Philips titles includes English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese.

SURROUND SOUND	Multi-channel sound that puts the viewer ‘in the audience’ by reproducing the sounds customarily heard behind the viewer as well as in front of him. This can be very effective when watching a DVD that presents a live performance of an opera, ballet or concert. The most popular form of surround sound on DVD is Dolby Digital (also known as AC3). The surround sound description usually includes a set of figures, such as ‘5.1’ or ‘5.0’. These indicate the number of channels of audio that make up the surround sound. The ‘.1’ refers to a low frequency effects (LFE) channel, sometimes omitted on classical music titles. Most Decca and Philips DVDs feature a Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound.

WIDESCREEN ENHANCED	An alternative term for anamorphic.

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