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Glossary & Acronyms: T-Z
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THX® certification/mastered: read this page.
THX® Optimode: read this page.
THX Select®® certification: read this page.
THX® Surround EX: read this page.
THX Ultra® certification: read this page.
Toslink optical digital audio output: a fiber optic digital audio connection used to connect a digital source component (e.g., DVD player, CD player, etc.) to a receiver or pre-amplifier. The data passed is the "raw" digital audio signal using laser (light) pulses. This means of interconnect minimizes the interference and degradation. Also see coaxial digital audio output.
UPS: see uninterruptible power supply.
uninterruptible power supply (UPS): a battery-backup power source, usually with built-in surge protection. This equipment is highly recommended for protection against A/C power under-voltage and voltage surges.
VCD: see Video CD.
VCR: short for video cassette recorder. This usually refers the a VHS or S-VHS VCR.
VHS: short for Video Home System. VHS is the most prevalent videocassette format since the mid 1980's.
Video CD: a digital video disc format that is popular in China using the MPEG-1 video compression standard. In terms of picture quality, it is about the same or slightly better than VHS. Most feature length films spans two Video CDs, and therefore swapping Video CD discs in the middle of a movie is usually required. Also see Super Video CD.
video digital-to-analog converter (DAC): an integrated circuit (i.e., chip) that converts a raw digital video signal to an analog video signal. The output analog video signal is further processed before it can be displayed on a TV. Also see digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
virtual surround sound: any algorithm that simulates a surround sound system with just the two front speakers.
widescreen: refers to screen aspect ratio greater than 1.33:1 full frame. Examples are 1.78:1, 1.85:1, and 2.35:1.
widescreen TV: refers to a TV screen with 16:9 aspect ratio (or 16x9 aspect ratio). The width of the screen is 16 units wide compared to the height of the screen which is 9 units. Widescreen TVs are optimized for viewing anamorphic widescreen DVDs and the wider high-definition TV (HDTV) signal. See 16:9 aspect ratio.
Windows Media Audio (WMA): Developed by Microsoft, Windows Media Audio is a competing compressed audio format to MP3, but with some copyright protection. Microsoft claims that WMA features better audio quality for the same file size as a comparable MP3 file. Files may be recorded on CD-R or CD-RW media for playback in compatible DVD players (e.g., Panasonic 2002 DVD player models) and computers. Files are usually named as "*.wma". Like MP3, sound quality varies as a function of the recording/encoding bit rate. See MP3.
WMA: short for Windows Media Audio.
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