Additional Information
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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, DTS and
MPEG audio to PCM. See also
Digital audio
.
PBC (PlayBack Control) (Video CD/Super
VCD only)
A system of navigating a Video CD/Super
VCD through on-screen menus recorded
onto the disc. Especially good for discs that
you would normally not watch from begin-
ning to end all at once—karaoke discs, for
example.
Regions (DVD-Video 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 fre-
quency of 44.1kHz, which means 44,100
samples (measurements) per second. See
also
Digital audio
.
DTS
DTS stands for Digital Theater Systems. DTS
is a surround system different from Dolby
Digital that has become a popular surround
sound format for movies.
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.
File extension
A tag added to the end of a filename to
indicate the type of file. For example, “.mp3”
indicates an MP3 file.
MP3
MP3 (MPEG1 audio layer 3) is a compressed
audio file format. Files are recognized by
their file extension “.mp3” or “.MP3”.
MPEG audio
An audio format used on Video CD/Super
VCD and some DVD discs. This unit can
convert MPEG audio to PCM format for wider
compatibility with digital recorders and AV
amplifiers. See also
PCM
.
MPEG video
The video format used for Video CD/Super
VCD and DVDs. Video CD/Super VCD uses
the older MPEG-1 standard, while DVD uses
the newer and much better quality MPEG-2
standard.