Harman Kardon HS 250 Owner's Manual

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Harman Kardon HS 250 Owner's Manual Manual pdf 5 page image

TERMINOLOGY 5ENGLISHTerminologySince they share some of the characteristics andtechnology of CD players, many of the terms andoperational concepts used in a DVD player aresimilar to what you may be familiar with fromCD players and changers, or older video disc for-mats such as Laser Disc. However, if this is yourfirst DVD product, some of the terms used todescribe the features of a DVD player may beunfamiliar. The following explanations shouldsolve some of the mysteries of DVD, and helpyou to enjoy all the power and flexibility of theDVD format and the DVD.With the arrival of DVD, disc data capacity hasincreased dramatically. On a DVD Video discmost of this capacity is taken up by MPEG 2video and the multichannel movie soundtrack inDolby Digital and/or DTS.This information is compressed.Aspect Ratio: This is a description of the widthof a video image in relation to its height.A conventional video screen is four units widefor every three units of height, that’s why theratio is called ”4:3”. Newer wide aspect ratiovideo displays are 16 units wide for every nineunits of height, making them more like thescreen in a movie theater. The program materialon a DVD may be recorded in either format and,in addition, you may configure the DVD to playback in either format, depending on the featuresrecorded on a disc.High Definition Multimedia Interface(HDMI): HDMI has emerged as the digitalstandard for connecting High Definition devices,displays and components, and provides for thepristine transmission of high-definition digitalvideo and digital audio via a single cable. HDMIis the first and only digital interface forConsumer Electronics devices that can carryuncompressed high-definition video, compressedor uncompressed multi-channel audio and com-mand data, allowing customers to obtain puredigital picture and sound directly from thesource (as it was meant to be seen and heard).USB On-The-Go: Due to its widespreadacceptance, USB is becoming the de factoindustry standard for connecting peripherals toPCs and laptops. Many of the new peripheralsusing USB are also portable devices.As these portable devices increase in popularity,there is a growing need for them to communi-cate directly with each other when a PC is notavailable, for instance in consumer electronicsproducts. The USB On-The-Go technologyaddresses this need for mobile interconnectivity.Title: For a DVD, a title is defined as an entiremovie or program. There can be as many chapterswithin a title as the producers decide to include.Most discs include only one title, but some mayhave more than one, to give you a “DoubleFeature” presentation.Chapter: DVD programs are divided intochapters and titles. Chapters are the sub-sec-tions programmed into a single title on a disc.Chapters may be compared to the individualtracks on an audio CD.RGB Video: This is a new form of video signalthat eliminates many of the artifacts of tradition-al composite video signals by splitting the signalinto the three fundamental colors Red, Greenand Blue (RGB). With an RGB connection (viaSCART), you will see greater picture resolutionand eliminate many picture imperfections suchas the moiré patterns often seen on checkeredpatterned cloths. However, in order to benefitfrom RGB video, you must have a video displaywith an RGB compatible SCART input.Progressive scan: DVD offers progressive scanvideo outputs for use with compatible high-reso-lution televisions and projectors. Before DVD, noconsumer medium could store, transmit or dis-play video with full resolution. To conserve band-width, analog compression (interlacing) isemployed: first the odd-numbered lines of aframe are displayed, followed by the even-num-bered lines. The result is that only half of thevideo image is drawn at one time; the viewer'sbrain must reassemble the complete image. Thisis acceptable, if the monitor is not too large andif there is not too much motion in the image.Large displays and fast-moving images reveal thelimitations of this system. Thanks to DVD'simmense data capacity, images are now storedintact (progressively), so that all the lines in eachframe (odd and even) are shown at the sametime. But because most TV's cannot handle aprogressive signal, all current DVD players gener-ate an interlaced output for compatibility. Now,the Harman Kardon DVD is among the select fewDVD players with true progressive scan videooutput (NTSC and PAL) for use with compatibleTV's and CRT projectors and with all plasma, LCDand DLP display devices via the component videooutput. The result is 40% greater light outputthan a conventional TV and a stunningly detailedhigh definition image, along with an almost com-plete absence of visible scanlines and motionartifacts. Of course, traditional Y/Pr/Pb compo-nent video, SCART,S-Video and composite video outputs areincluded for use with conventional televisionsand projectors.Multiple Angle: DVDs have the capability toshow up to four different views of the samescene in a program. When a disc is encoded withmultiple-angle information, pressing the Anglebutton will enable you to switch between thesedifferent views. Note that at present, few discstake advantage of this capability and, when theydo, the multiple-angle technology may only bepresent for short periods of time within the disc.Producers will usually insert some sort of icon orgraphic in the picture to alert you to theavailability of multiple viewing angles.Reading: This is a message that you will seeafter you´ve loaded the disc and the tray hasclosed. It refers to the fact that the player mustfirst examine the contents of the disc to see if itis a CD or DVD, and then extract the informationabout the type of material on the disc, such aslanguages, aspect ratios, subtitles, number oftitles and more. The slight delay while thecontents of the disc are read is normal.Resume: The operation of the Stop Button onthe DVD works differently from what you areused to on CD players. On a traditional CDplayer, when you press the Stop button, the unitdoes just that: it stops playback. On a CD player,when you press the start button again, the discstarts from the beginning. With the DVD,however, you have two options when playingDVD discs. Pressing Stop once will stop play-back, but it actually puts the unit in the Resumemode. This means that you can turn the machineoff and, when you press play the next time, thedisc will resume or continue from the point onthe disc where the Stop button was pressed. Thisis helpful if you are watching a movie and mustinterrupt your viewing session but wish to pickup where you left off. Pressing the Stop buttontwice will stop the machine in a traditionalmanner and, when the disc is played again, itwill start from the beginning.In resume mode, the cover of the DVD will bedisplayed, if available. Otherwise, theHarman Kardon screen will appear.DivXDivX is the name of a revolutionary new videocodec which is based on the MPEG-4 compres-sion standard for video. This DVD player willplayback discs created with DivX software. TheDVD player’s playback functionalities of DivXvideo discs will vary depending on the DivX soft-ware version used for creating your movies.For more information about the differentsoftware versions of DivX, please go towww.divx.comTerminology