3D Now!
3DNow!™ is an advanced instruction set developed by AMD. It is
composed of instructions which support SIMD floating point, DSP, and
integer operations.
4 or 6 Speaker
An audio selection, this is 4 or 6 downmixed stereo channels (as
opposed to true surround sound).
A3D
Developed by Aureal Inc., it enables 3D audio for use on your PC.
AC-3
Dolby Digital AC-3 is a flexible audio data compression technology capable of
encoding a range of audio channel formats into a low rate bitstream. Eight channel
configurations are supported, ranging from conventional mono or stereo to a
surround format with six discrete channels (left, center, right, left surround,
right surround and subwoofer). The AC-3 bitstream specification permits sample
rates of either 48 kHz, 44.1 kHz, or 32 kHz, and supports data rates ranging
from 32 kbps (kilobits-per-second) to 640 kbps.
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices. It is the world's second largest
microprocessor company.
aspect ratio
When watching DVD, screen ratios are usually 16:9 (widescreen) or 4:3
(TV). The Keep Aspect Ratio option will keep the original aspect
ratio of your video content and window despite modifications.
bob
When watching DVD, video content encoded from an interlaced signal
would use the bob mode, a deinterlacing technique as opposed to
weave. Bob plays video content at twice it's frame rate while each
frame is displayed in only one of the fields. This makes the image
appear to bob up and down a bit, especially when text is displayed,
but doing so eliminates horizontal streaking. The bob mode is only
useful for NTSC/PAL content such as movie trailers.
chapter
For DVDs, chapters make up one title. There are roughly 20+ chapters
for the entire length of one DVD movie.
CSS
Content Scrambling System. A system designed by the motion picture
industry, the consumer electronics industry, and finally the computer
industry, to prevent the illegal copying of content stored on DVD discs.
deinterlace
Deinterlaces interlaced video content, especially from TV signals or
before capturing video content (see interlace for more details).
DirectSound
This application programming interface (API) is the wave-audio
component of the DirectX® API. DirectSound provides low-latency
mixing, hardware acceleration, and direct access to the sound device
all the while maintaining compatibility with existing device drivers.
It also enables wave sound capture and playback, supports property
sets that enable application developers to take advantage of extended
services offered by sound cards and their associated drivers.
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX ® is a set of low-level application programming
interfaces (APIs) for creating high-performance multimedia
applications with its overriding design goal being speed. It includes
DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectSound, DirectMusic, DirectInput, etc..
Dolby Digital AC-3
Refer to AC-3.
Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
True surround sound with 5 discrete audio channels with the .1
representing the subwoofer (digital format).
Dolby Surround
Downmixed stereo audio channels as opposed to true surround sound.
downmix
The process of combining 5 or more discrete digital audio signals
into 2 channels.
DTS
An audio encoding format similar to Dolby Digital, DTS offers theater
system sound with at least six discrete audio channels but is
compressed at a lower rate as compared to Dolby Digital.
DVD
Digital Versatile Disc. DVD is a high capacity CD-size disc for
video, multimedia, games and audio applications.
DVD-ROM
A read-only format, it is similar to the CD-ROM format for compact
discs but holds up to 4.7 GB (current generation).
DVD-Video
This term is usually reserved for DVDs that serve entertainment
purposes, like DVD movie titles. It will replace VHS tapes entirely
this decade.
encoding
To change or translate into code. For software, encoding is used for
video and audio references like encoding analogue format into digital.
FourCC
Four CC is a Windows' designation for the digital video format standard.
frame rate
For video content, the frame rate measures how many still frames per
second. The higher the better when capturing video content with motion.
GOP
Group of Pictures. A MPEG compression technology, the GOP concept
reduces the temporal redundancy across frames (from frame to frame)
for video content and consists of I, B, P frames.
GUI or UI
Graphical user interface. The appearance or outlook of a given
software application. Sometimes is referred to as user interface (UI)
for short.
Hardware
Abstraction Layer
HAL allows developers to access hardware devices without explicit
knowledge of the brand's model or its details and works in
conjunction with DirectDraw.
hardware
accelerator
It eases CPU loading by selecting the hardware to handle the bulk of
a given task. Some features may not be available when selected.
Hardware
Emulation Layer
HEL is where DirectX features can be emulated if the device itself
does not support those features.
IA
Intel Architecture. It is the abbreviation given to technology
developed by Intel Corp.
IA
Streaming SIMD Extensions
It defines a new Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD)
architecture for floating-point operations.
I-frame
A.k.a. intra pictures, I-frame is typically the first frame of each
GOP (apart of video compression technology used by MPEG), is
moderately compressed, and serves as the reference points for random
access and can be likened to images.
instruction
sets
The operating instructions that tell a chip how to perform software
functions and direct operations within the microprocessor.
IDCT
Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform. Is a decoding and spatial
compression technique for DVD playback that uses an arithmetic operation.
interlaced
video content
Describes video content within a given frame where there are 2
imagery data fields, even and odd, that are scanned separately (e.g.
NTSC & PAL television signals). This usually poses a problem when
interlaced content meets non-interlaced mediums like computer
monitors, which only displays non-interlaced content.
letterbox
A format for viewing DVDs, letterboxed DVDs are shrunk from original
widescreen aspect ratios to 4:3 (e.g. movies are all filmed in
widescreen ratios of 16:9 or larger) where black stripes become
evident on the top and bottom of a 4:3 screen but preserves the
original aspect ratio (no cropping).
LPCM
Linear Pulse Code Modulation. It is used for audio CD players for
converting digital signals into analogue.
MMX Technology
Developed by Intel, MMX technology is for instruction sets and boasts
3 primary architectural design enhancements as compared to the
previous Pentium processor.
motion
compensation
A decoding technique and advanced video acceleration function found
on some display chips that speed up DVD playback by transferring the
decoding process onto the card itself.
MPEG
Moving Picture Experts Group. A family of international standards
used for coding audio/video information into digital format.
Currently, in the year 2000, MPEG-2 is the standard for digital video
formats and MP3 for strictly digital audio formats.
NTSC
National Television Systems Committee. Is a standard format adopted
by the FCC for television broadcasts in the United States, Japan,
Canada, and Mexico. Specs: 525 lines of resolution per frame at 30
fps.; 60 Hz field frequency; requires a 6 MHz analog channel for transmission.
non-interlaced
video content
Describes video content within a given frame that do not consist of
distinct imagery data fields. (e.g. computer monitors)
PAL
Phase Alteration Line. Is the standard format for television
broadcasts in West Germany, Great Britain and most of the Western
European nations.
pan&scan
A software feature available for certain DVDs where the original
widescreen aspect ratios (1:66 and above) can be altered to a 4:3
letterbox ratio. The user will be allowed to pan&scan during
playback while the black bars will disappear.
quantization
The process of converting a sampled sound into a digital value.
QXpander
QXpander is a 3D soundfield enhancer, i.e. it takes the inherent
stereo sound information (differential stereo content) and applies 3D
processing proportionately. The result is two-channel stereo output
providing a dramatic widening of the perceived sound field.
region
code protection system
Used for DVDs worldwide, it is a six-region copy protection and
locking system to control the timing of theatrical releases worldwide.
resolution
A synonym for sharpness in regards to imagery detail, it is measured
in lines or megahertz.
sampling
rate
Sampling rate determines the sound frequency range (corresponding to
pitch) which can be represented in digital waveform. The range of
frequencies represented in a waveform is often called its bandwidth.
SPDIF Sony/Philips
Digital InterFace.
The SPDIF is an advanced technological Digital Interface, as opposed
to transferring signals via conventional analog interfaces, designed
by the Sony and Philips corporations.
stereo
Two independent audio channels but bitrate remains constant while the
channels' split may vary.
stream
Streams are in the form of video or audio which are transferred
usually on the Internet in real-time or encoded on DVD discs.
subtitles
A translation of words spoken in a motion picture printed at the
bottom of the frames.
surface type
Conveys information as to the current overlay mode.
subpicture
information
In the DVD data stream, subpicture information usually comes in the form of
subtitling, but can also be decoded as graphics that
overlay the video. The additional graphical information may be used to further
illustrate or notate the contents of the video at that particular moment. This
additional feature of DVD playback is completely dependent on the DVD author
and varies from title to title.
system tray
Systray.exe is a tool for system taskbar notifications. The taskbar provides
a location for programs and hardware devices to display icons.
title
DVDs consist of less than 10 titles for every DVD movie. Titles
consist of chapters.
VCD
Video Compact Disc. Generally for video applications employing MPEG-1
technology, video quality is not as detailed as DVD and has similar
technology to that of audio CDs.
video
overlay mode
Video Overlay is the ability to superimpose computer graphics over a
live or recorded video signal and store the resulting video image on
hard disk.
Waveout
Is an API developed by Microsoft but unlike DirectSound, it offers no
hardware assistance, precedes DirectSound in the realm of audio
technology, and is the most basic audio output method employed by all
CPUs running Windows OS.
weave
For deinterlacing content, weave mode the default for DVD titles to
ensure quality. It switches to bob mode if interlaced content is
detected because you may see horizontal streaking when interlaced
content is played (for non-movie data with NTSC/PAL content like
movie trailers).
widescreen
Points to devices with aspect ratios of 16:9 (width:height) or
greater which is better suited and in line with human vision.
Windows Media Format
This format is optimized for streaming and playing back audio, video,
and script data and is primarily used in streaming presentations over
the Internet. The main format used is .WMV in combination with
Microsoft's Windows Media Player.
WMA
Windows Media Audio. A Windows Media proprietary streaming audio
format typically used to download and play files or to stream content.
WMV
Windows Media Video. A Windows Media proprietary streaming
audio/video format typically used to download and play files or to
stream content and is the main streaming format used for Microsoft's
Windows Media Player.
