Glossary of Terms

DD stands for Dolby Digital the marketing name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Dolby Digital technologies are used for Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Digital Surround EX, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby TrueHD.

A DVD is like a CD but it gives you eight times the storage power. The Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc is an optical disc storage media format that is used primarily to store data, movies and software.

HD or High Definition can refer to high-definition video, high-definition television, or High Definition Audio. High definition video and television have a higher resolution than that of normal video and TV sets. The higher resolution results in far greater quality pictures. High Definition Audio is an Intel product that gives you high quality and allows you to playback more channels. This is used by operating systems such as Microsoft's Windows Vista. Linux,Mac OS X v10.4 and OpenBSD.

HD-DVD - The same technology used in a DVD has been used to create the HD DVD (High Definition Digital Video Disc). Just like the DVD, the HD DVD is used to store data, movies and software. The major differences between the two discs are the disc space available to users with a HD DVD offering nearly 4 times more space to store data. The HD DVD is also designed specifically for High Definition Television.

HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. This is an audio/video connector that transmits uncompressed, encrypted digital streams. This is used when connecting a digital audio/video source (eg: set-top box, video game console) to a compatible digital audio device and/or video monitor like your digital television.

LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. LCD technology isn't new. You have seen it in things like digital watches for years. Because of the lightness of these screens the technology has been used for computer monitors and now for large flat screen television screens to watch all your favourite movies on. Historically the LCD screens have been smaller than Plasma screens but technology is improving and the gap in sizes is getting smaller.

THX is a high fidelity sound reproduction system that has been designed to reproduce any film soundtrack as near as possible to what the engineers intended you to hear. This technology is also used home theaters, computer speakers and car audio systems.

RGB is the colour model that helps provide us with colour vision. The Red, Green and Blue are combined with light and different technologies to produce our colour pictures.