all_about_DVD

FireWire

A fast connection for devices that need high a data transfer rate.

FireWire, iLink and and IEEE1394 are technically identical.

iLink

Like IEEE 1394 and Firewire, iLink is just another name for the same thing:

A way to plug your DV-cam into your computer.

IEEE-1394

The ISO standard's name for one fast connection between devices.

Also known as FireWire or iLink.

USB

A way to connect devices to computers.

Very common for printers, scanners, PDAs etc. For video needs, FireWire/iLink is prefered.

Which cable do I need

4 pin plug on one end, 6 pin on the other. Most cams come with one.

Otherwise available in shops for $ 15-20.

DV

Standard for camcorders. Has 720 x 480 pixels and compresses 5:1.

One second requires 3.6 MB of storage space so one GB holds 4.6 minutes.

NTSC

Television format used in the US and Japan.

Resolution is 720 x 480 with 29,97 frames per second.

PAL

Television format used in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Resolution is 720 x 575 using 25 frames per second.

SECAM

Television format used in France and Canada.

Same resolution and framerate as PAL (720 x 576, 25).

AC3

Also known as Dolby Digital, it's a digital audio format from Dolby Labs'. It can support up to 5.1 channels of audio.

AVI

Audio Video Interleave. The video format most commonly used on Windows PCs. It defines how video and audio are attached to each other, without specifying a codec.

Codec

COder/DECoder. It is a small piece of software that allows you to make/play movie/audio compressed in a certain format. MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX are all codecs.

Container

Lots of Video Formats like AVI can contain different video- and audio-codecs plus different information as subtitles – The construct to contain this data is called Container

DivX

DivX is a video encoding format based on the MPEG-4 video compression standard, developed by DivXNetworks in conjunction with open source developers.

MPEG

Moving Picture Experts Group. Defines standards for digital video as MPEG1, MPEG2 and MPEG4

MPEG4

MPEG4 should become the next standard in digital video.
Mainly for picture phones, streaming media on the internet and more

MPEG-Video

Compression used on DVDs.
Finalized in 1996, MPEG2 is a major improvement compared to MPEG-1.

DVD

A CD-shaped disc that can hold about 10 times the data.

DVD is mainly used to store video.

DVD+RW

A version of DVD on which data can be recorded once.

DVD-RAM

Used mainly to store data, in some recorders also used for video.

DVD-RW

Official standard by the DVD-Forum. RW is for rewritable.

SVCD

Super Video CD – CD-Format that uses MPEG2-Video.
It's playable on computers and most low cost DVD-players

Bitrate

In a bit stream, the number of bits occurring per unit time, usually expressed in bits per second

Compression

Technology to store large amounts of digital data in a relatively small amount of space. Most videoformats use lossy compression that brings a loss of quality.

CSS

Content Scrambling System. Prioprietary scrambling system for video DVDs. Designed to stop people from making copies of DVDs.

Encoding

The process of taking a raw uncompressed file and compressing it to an encoded form while maintaining the quality.

Framerate (fps)

Like film video, consists of a stream of pictures, called frames.
The number of frames used per second (fps) is the framerate.

Keyframe

A frame that has very little compression, which the other frames compare themselves to. Compression records the change in movement from one frame to the next; the keyframes act as a reference point for the compressor.

Resolution

The amount of pixels used in a frame.

DV and NTSC uses 720 x 480, PAL & SECAM 720 x 576 pixels in a frame.

Streaming Video

Streaming video can be played over an internet connection, that is simultaneously played and downloaded.