Harman Kardon DVD 27 Owner's Manual

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Harman Kardon DVD 27 Owner's Manual Manual pdf 6 page image

DVD TERMINOLOGYSince the DVD players share some of the characteris-tics and technology of CD players, many of the termsand operational concepts used in a DVD player aresimilar to what you may be familiar with from CDplayers and changers, or older video disc formats suchas Laser Disc. However, if this is your first DVD player,some of the terms used to describe the featuresof a DVD player may be unfamiliar. The followingexplanations should solve some of the mysteries ofDVD, and help you to enjoy all the power and flexibilityof the DVD format and the DVD 27.Aspect Ratio: This is a description of the width of avideo image in relation to its height. A conventionalvideo screen is four units wide for every three units ofheight, making it almost square. Newer wide-aspect-ratio video displays are 16 units wide for every nineunits of height, making them more like the screen in amovie theater. The program material on a DVD may berecorded in either format and, in addition, you mayconfigure the DVD 27 to play back in either format,depending on the features recorded on a disc.Chapter: DVD programs are divided into chapters andtitles. Chapters are the subsections programmed into asingle title on a disc. Chapters may be compared tothe individual tracks on an audio CD. Press the DiscMenu Button P to see a listing of the chapters ona disc.Component Video: This form of video signaleliminates many of the artifacts of traditional compositevideo signals by splitting the signal into a separateluminance channel (the “Y” signal channel) and twocolor-difference signals (the Pr and Pb signalchannels). With a component video connection, youwill see greater picture resolution and eliminate manypicture imperfections such as the moiré patterns oftenseen on check-patterned cloth. However, in order tobenefit from component video, you must have a videodisplay with Y/Pr/Pb component video inputs. Do notconnect the component video outputs of the DVD 27to the standard composite or S-video inputs of a TVor recorder.JPEG Files: JPEG stands for the Joint PhotographicExperts Group, which developed a standard for com-pressing still images, such as photographs. JPEG filesmay be created on a personal computer by importingimages from a digital camera, or scanning printedphotographs. These files may be burned onto a com-pact disc. The DVD 27 is among the few DVD playersthat are capable of recognizing JPEG files andenabling you to view them on your video screen.MP3 Files: MP3 is an audio compression format thatwas developed by the Motion Picture Experts Groupas an adjunct to the MPEG-1 video compression for-mat. A number of encoding software programs areavailable for transferring CDs and other audio pro-grams into the MP3 format. The main benefit of MP3is that it reduces the size of audio files considerably,depending on the amount of compression selectedduring the encoding process, enabling you to storemany more songs on one compact disc than in thestandard audio CD format. The DVD 27 is capable ofplaying MP3 files using its advanced graphic interface.See page 30 for more information on MP3 files.Multiple Angle: DVDs have the capability to showup to four different views of the same scene in aprogram. When a disc is encoded with multiple-angleinformation, pressing the Angle Button C willenable you to switch between these different views.Note that, at present, few discs take advantage of thiscapability and, when they do, the multiple-angle tech-nology may only be present for short periods of timewithin the disc. Producers will usually insert some sortof icon or graphic in the picture to alert you to theavailability of multiple-angle scenes.Progressive Scan: Progressive scan playback takesthe original video signal on the disc and formats it as ahigh-scan-rate output with twice the scan lines of con-ventional video images. Progressive scan outputs mustbe connected to “digital-ready” or high-definition videodisplays, regardless of the technology of the specificdisplay (e.g., conventional direct-view television, frontor rear projector, plasma display panel or LCD). Insome cases, the displays may have special inputs foruse with high-scan-rate inputs, and in others you mayneed to make adjustments to the display’s setupmenus to make certain that the inputs used are con-figured for an “HD” signal. Although the progressivescan output uses the component video jacks, it isnot compatible with older conventional analog videodisplays, even when they have component inputs.Reading: This is a message that you will see whenyou first press the Play Button 2L. It refers tothe fact that the player must first examine the contentsof the disc to see whether it is a CD or DVD, and thenextract the information about the type of material onthe disc, such as languages, aspect ratios, subtitles,number of titles and more. The slight delay while thecontents of the disc are read is normal.Resume: The operation of the Stop Button 4Non the DVD 27 works differently from what you areused to on CD players. On a traditional CD player,when you press the Stop button, the unit does justthat – it stops playback. On a CD player, when youpress the Start button again, the disc starts from thebeginning. With the DVD 27, however, you have twooptions when playing most discs. Pressing the StopButton 4N once will stop the playback, but itactually puts the unit in the Resume mode. This meansthat you can turn the machine off and, when youpress the Play Button 2L the next time, the discwill resume playback from the point on the disc wherethe Stop Button 4N was pressed. This is helpfulif you are watching a movie and must interrupt yourviewing session but wish to pick up where you left off.Pressing the Stop Button 4N twice will stop themachine in a traditional manner and, when the disc isplayed again, it will start from the beginning.In Resume mode, the Harman Kardon screen willappear, and the RESUME message will appear inthe Information Display B. The resume function isnot available for WMA files. For DVDs, CDs, MP3 files,JPEG files, and VCDs with PBC (Playback Control)only, the resume function will be retained even afterthe DVD 27 has been placed in Standby mode bypressing the Power Off Button 2 U, but not afterthe unit has been unplugged from AC power.Title: For a DVD, a title is defined as an entire movieor program. There may be as many chapters within atitle as the producers decide to include. Most discsinclude only one title, but some may have more thanone, to give you a “Double Feature” presentation or toinclude other special features. Press the Title ButtonS to see a listing of the titles on a disc. When a dischas only one title, pressing the Title Button S mayshow a list of the chapters.WMA Files: WMA (Windows Media® Audio) is anaudio compression format that was developed by theMicrosoft® Corporation for use with its Windows MediaPlayer. WMA files can be even smaller in size thanMP3 files, while maintaining similar quality. TheDVD 27 is among those DVD players capable of play-ing discs containing WMA files. Note that WindowsMedia Player uses other file formats; however, theDVD 27 is only capable of playing files that end in the“.wma” extension. See page 5 for more informationon WMA file support.6 DVD TERMINOLOGY