Blu-ray/Video Glossary

1080p:

1,920 pixels per line which has 1,080 horizontal lines - displayed progressively. Progressive Scanning - each line displayed following another. This is the one you want!

1080i:

1,920 pixels per line which has 1,080 horizontal lines - displayed alternately. Interlaced Scanning - all the odd lines are displayed, then followed by all the even lines.

720p:

1,280 pixels per line which has 720 horizontal lines - displayed thru Progressive Scanning - each line displayed following another.

16×9:

Standardized aspect ratio of HDTV & Widescreen SDTV. It has a width of 16 units & a height of 9 units.

1920×1080:

Refers to a digital sampling structure of 1920 horizontally & 1080 vertically. These images can be scanned either interlaced (1080i) or progressively (1080P).

24P:

24 full frames per second digital video progressively captured. This usually refers to the HD picture format of 1920×1080.

29.97P:

29.97 full frames per second digital video progressively captured.

30P:

30 full frames per second digital video progressively captured.

59.94i:

Interlaced video signal where 1/2 of the total lines of the picture are captured & displayed every 1/59.94th of a second.

59.94P:

Progressive video signal where all lines of the picture are captured & displayed every 1/59.94th of a second.

60i:

Interlaced video signal where 1/2 of the total lines of the picture are captured & displayed every 1/60th of a second.

60P:

Progressive video signal where all of the total lines of the picture are captured and displayed every 1/60th of a second.

720p:

1,280 pixels per line which has 720 horizontal lines - displayed thru Progressive Scanning - each line displayed following another.

480p:

720 pixels per line which has 480 horizontal lines which uses Progressive Scanning each line displayed following another.

480i:

720 pixels per line which has 480 horizontal lines displayed alternately. In other words
Interlaced Scanning where all the odd lines are displayed, then followed by all the even lines.

A/D, ADC:

Analog to Digital Conversion.

Aspect Ratio (Picture):

Ratio of screen width to screen height. Can be Width by Height
(Example: 16×9, 4×3) or a calculated ratio (1.33:1, 1.78:1)
Some common aspect ratios:
1.33 (4×3) Standard Television or Academy Standard
1.78 (16×9) HDTV
1.85 Academy Flat
2.35 Cinemascope

Aspect Ratio (Pixel):

Ratio of pixel width to pixel height. Standard NTSC digital video has rectangular pixels. Computers & HDTV have square pixels.
Analog: The recording of sound that resembles the original.

Bandwidth:

Is the width of a range of frequencies, measured in hertz.

Bitstream:

Name given to a collection of data, (video or audio) that's compressed
to a file or transmitted between devices. Blu-Ray: Blu-ray or Blu-ray disc is an optical disc storage medium. It was mainly developed to be use for recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD). Its physical appearance is the same as a DVD or CD.

Bonus View:

This refers to Blu-ray players with Profile 1.1. They have Built-in persistent memory (64k), local storage capability (256MB), Secondary video decoder (Picture-in-Picture), Secondary audio decoder & virtual file system.

Codecs:

a method of compressing stored audio/video more efficiently. This allows for either
low space usage or quality per megabyte. There are both lossless and lossy compression
techniques. BD-ROM has to support MPEG-2, MPEG4, and SMPTE VC-1 video codecs. Audio
codecs that have to be supported are Dolby Digital, PCM, and DTS Digital Surround.

Component video:

This is color video transmitted with the luminance (Y) on one wire & the color
signals on other wires, or each color on its own wire. Examples: R,G,B; Y(R-Y)/(B-Y), Y/I/Q,Y/U/V, 4:2:2.

Compression:

This is the common process for storing digital data in a smaller space than it would normally take to hold the data.

Digital media:

Refers to both audio and video sources such as audio CD, DVD, and Blu-ray that can store audio and video in the digital format.

DRM:

Digital Rights Management or DRM is used to try and deter piracy
of copyright content such as digital files.

fps:

Frames per second.

Frame rate:

Playback speed as determined in frames per second.

HDTV or High-Definition Television:

It's a method of displaying sharper, wider TV pictures than the present NTSC system. Pictures are shaped into a 16:9 aspect ratio, composed of 1,125 scanning lines, each line with 1,920 pixels.

Infrared:

Red Light that's invisible to the human eye.

Interlacing Scan:

A scanning method which uses two fields to create a frame. One containing all the odd lines in the image, the other containing all the even lines of the image.

Lossy:

Compression method which discards data & degrades the image quality. Result: high degrees of compression are possible.

MPEG-1:

An older digital video compression format developed in the early 1990s by the Moving Picture Experts Group. MPEG-1 video was designed for lower-resolution video played
from CD-ROM and provides picture quality somewhat comparable to VHS (typically 352×240
resolution). Used for Video CD discs.

MPEG-2:

A TV-quality digital video compression format developed in the mid-1990s by the Moving Picture Experts Group. MPEG-2 video provides high-quality full-screen full-rate video
(720×480 resolutions for NTSC) with smaller file sizes than MPEG-1. Used for DVD discs, and
also scales to high-definition resolution and bitrates.

MPEG-4:

video that is designed for a broad range of multimedia applications such as for the web and wireless streaming video. It was developed in the 1990s by the Moving Picture Experts Group.

NTSC:

National Television Standards Committee. American organization that developed the NTSC video standards which ensure that all TV signals in the United States are compatible.

NTSC video:

National Television Standards Committee method used in the U.S. States for electronically creating a color TV signal. The color and brightness aspects of the image travel together on the same wire.

PAL:

This is the phase alternate line—a European video standard which is incompatible with the U.S. NTSC system.

PCM:

Pulse Code Modulation, a second method of recording hi-fi sound with 8mm and Hi 8 VCRs. Unlike AFM, PCM audio can be edited without affecting the picture.
Picture-in-a-picture (PIP): Digital effect where one picture is adjusted smaller and placed over another.

Pixels:

Tiny dots that make up the image on a display.

Posterization:

Visual effect of reducing a picture’s different brightness levels down to just one or two, giving the picture a flat poster-like or cartoon-like look.

Profiles:

“Profiles” are used to catalogue Blu-ray players. Blu-ray Profile 1.0 was the first set of features and functions labeled for discs and players. Then came Profile 1.1, which included
picture-in-picture capability, plus players had a second audio and video codec, along with
256MB of non-volatile memory. The last is Profile 2.0 (BD-Live). It has Internet access for bonus content, and players have 1GB of non-volatile memory. No matter what Profile a players
processes, it will play all Blu-ray discs, but do not support the extra features.
Progressive scan: Method of making a computer image by drawing all the scan lines sequentially from top to bottom.

Region codes:

This is very similar to DVD regional codes in that it PREVENTS certain regions of the world to play the Blu-ray disc. So Blu-ray disc players which are sold in some parts of the world may ONLY play discs which are encoded for that region.The main reasoning behind such a system is to allow the movie studios total control of when a disc is released in different parts of the
world. Often it lets these studios add extra features or bonus material unique to each region.

Regions for Blu-ray standard:
A: East Asia (except Mainland China and Mongolia), Southeast Asia,
North America, South
B: Africa, Europe (except Russia), Southwest Asia, Oceania
dependencies.
C: Central Asia, East Asia (Mainland China and Mongolia only), South
Asia, central Eurasia, plus their dependencies.
Resolution: Picture sharpness, usually measured in “lines”. The greater the number of lines, the
sharper the image.

True color:

Ability of a graphics card or electronic device to display millions of colors, as opposed to just a select 64 or 256 from a palette.