DVD Help

Dvdmagnet.com Dvd Terms

*All our DVDs are Region 1 DVD.



What is aspect ratio?
Aspect ratio refers to the dimensions of the film image size. There are two standard ratios: fullscreen and widescreen.

Fullscreen (FS) or (FF)
This is the typical square image favoured (until recently) by television presentations. This aspect ratio is expressed as 4:3 or 1.33:1, which means that the frame is 1.33 times as wide as it is tall. Fullscreen presentations fill the entire screen of standard televisions. If a fullscreen image is viewed on a widescreen television, the screen will be wider than image and black bars will be visible on the right and left sides.

Widescreen(WS)
Widescreen is the characteristic rectangular image favored by most film presentations. There are several aspect ratios that may be called widescreen but the most common are (in order of increasing width) 1.66:1, 1.78:1 (also referred to as 16:9), 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. If a widescreen image is viewed in on a standard television, the screen will be taller than the image and black bars visible at the top and bottom. The thickness of these bars will depend on the aspect ratio of the widescreen presentation: the wider the aspect ration, the thicker the black bars.

Audio Video/DVD Terminology

Audio Format
The sound recorded on a DVD may be in a number of different formats ranging from mono, THX, DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, etc. Each one of these audio options gives the viewer increased sound fulfillment. The viewer can feel like he or she is within the movie when hooked up to a surround sound receiver and speakers.

B Movies
Movies made for home video only or movies that did not make much at the box office.

Box Set
DVDs which are packaged with more than two disks are a box set. This could mean that there are multiple movies in one set, multiple disks with additional information, or just a movie that is too long for one disk.

Deleted Footage
Scenes that are cut out of a film before its release, to tighten the plot of the story, due to time constraints, etc. Many of these scenes that are deleted are complete but not in the format for theatrical release. Thus, usually on the DVD they are added as a bonus to the viewer.

Dolby Digital
This is the most common way in which movie theaters play the sound portion of movies. Dolby Digital is now included on DVDs and has grown from Dolby 2.0 to Dolby 6.1. The numbers(2.0 or 5.1) correspond to the number of channels or speakers that you have connected to your home theater. Where 2.0 means you have two speakers attached and 5.1 means that you have 5 speakers attached and a powered subwoofer also attached.

DTS
Digital Theater Sound(DTS) was developed to compete with Dolby by offering a lower compression level for better sound quality in the audio channels of a movie. DTS requires a decoder to organize the channels from the DVD; this decoder is either in a surround sound receiver or in the DVD player itself. DVDs which are only recorded with DTS will play on any DVD player.

Dual Layer
Dual Layer disks are DVDs that have multiple layers. These layers can contain over four hours of information on a single side of the disk. All this means that more information can be held on a dual layer DVD so that you can get more out of the DVD.

DVD-ROM Content
This is a section of the DVD which contains material accessible only through a DVD-ROM drive on a computer. The extra features that are on this DVD-ROM can be the full screenplay of the movie, games based on the movie, etc.

Easter Eggs
Some discs may have extra features which are usually not easily accessible by the main menu. They are supposed to be found from one of the features. Part of the fun of watching your favorite DVD's is trying to find Easter Eggs.

Full Frame (FF)
A square picture in the size and shape of most TV sets.

Full Screen (FS)
This is when the movie image fills up the entire TV screen. The movie image is usually cropped to fill the screen.

IMAX
A new type of movie experience where the picture is usually a few stories high. This is the highest quality format for the movie screen, becomes a full frame presentation with much visual detail when on DVD or video.

Letterbox
Same as widescreen, a rectangle shaped image that has a larger width then height. This is the way in which the image is captured from the movie camera onto film. Due to this black bars appear on the top and bottom of the screen, sometimes called Letterbox. The black bars being present means that the full image that was recored onto film is being shown on the screen.

Making of feature
A behind-the-scenes short feature that gives the viewer a more in depth look at how the movie was made. Sometimes this short feature will follow the cast and crew through a take in the movie or show some of the special effects being made.

Mono
The movies sound is being emitted through one audio channel.

MPAA ratings
The Motion Picture Association of America gives a rating to help determine what age group is right for a movie. "G" suitable for all audiences; "PG" parental guidance suggested; "PG-13" may be inappropriate for viewers under 13; "R" not recommended for viewers under 17 without an adult or guardian present; "NC-17" not suitable for viewers under 17. "NR" Not Rated. A film which is not rated was not sent to the MPAA for a rating designate.

Multi angle
DVDs can include the option to change the angle of a shot of a scene. This allows the user the ability to see the scene from another point of view.

Outtakes
Theses are scenes that were not in the original release of the movie. These scenes can be extra footage of a scene, gag reel, bloopers, etc.

Pan & Scan
When a letterbox image is shown on TV the image is blown up to take the whole screen size but some of the original image from the movie is cut.

Production Notes
A feature on a DVD where the details from the text of how a particular shot was envisioned or the history of how a character or plot segment was developed.

Production Stills
Pictures of the animation, characters, staff, or sets on a movie which highlight the movie-making process.

Region Code
All our movies are Region 1 DVD. Due to the differing times that movies remain in theaters in different countries the producers of DVDs made regions. There are eight regions:
region 1 is the US and Canada.
region 2 is Japan and Europe, etc.
These correspond to the region of DVD players sold in the respective country. Although this technique of region DVDs is still honored, a lot of new DVD players are regionless.

Street Date
Date that new releases are made available to rent or buy.

Stereo
The sound for this DVD is portrayed on two channels.

Surround
The sound of the movie is portrayed in four channels. Each channel corresponds to a speaker, a center channel for dialogue, left and right front channels for music and effects, and two rear speakers for dimensional sounds. Surround sound may require a decoder in your audio receiver.

THX
THX is a George Lucas company, created for optimum video and sound replication in theaters. This has now moved on to DVDs where the sound and video is THX optimized for the best quality.

Tinted
When color processes were in their infancy tinting was done to black and white prints of movies. This allowed a black and white movie to have blue tones tinted into the scene when the characters may be on a boat in the middle of the ocean, etc.



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