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| 16X9 or enhanced for 16x9 televisions |
With the arrival of HDTV (High Definition Television), DVD became the most compatible format by offering films which are "enhanced for 16x9 televisions" or "anamorphically enhanced." The term HDTV currently can refer to either a digital or analog television set whose aspect ratio is 16:9. The extra resolution provided by this kind of transfer can improve an image up to one third in some cases, but DVDs which are 16x9 enhanced can also be played on regular television sets through a process called "downconverting." Essentially this process adapts the anamorphic image to a standard 4:3 television set, though the picture quality will remain excellent. If you buy a DVD player and find that the image of a movie is "squeezed," i.e., all of the actors look unnaturally skinny and distorted, your player is probably set for 16x9 playback for a standard television set. With the player in "stop" mode, simply go into the basic setup menu and set your video option for standard or 4:3 playback.
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The DVD contains a separate audio track containing the dialogue dubbed into another language.
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The sound recorded on a DVD may be in a number of different formats ranging from mono to Dolby Digital 5.1. The addition of more audio channels (separate streams of sound) often increases the realism and dynamic impact of a program.
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| Cast & Crew Biographies / Talant Profiles |
Background information about the actors, directors, and other crew members on a film is often included on a DVD to provide a more complete picture of the people involved.
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Audio Commentary / Multi-Audio:
"Commentary" or "multi-audio" track is an audio option which allows the viewer to hear relevant participants in a film, such as directors, actors, produces etc (or critics, in some cases), share their thoughts and observations on a program. This alternate audio may include other features as well, such as radio programs or audio books.
Video Commentary:
This is where you see the silhouettes of the people commenting on the movie while you are watching the movie. This is often referred to as MST3K-style commentary because it is similar to the show Mystery Science Theater 3000, in which the principal characters would watch the movie and mock it as it progressed. In order to achieve this effect, one of the subtitle tracks was used. It has been used on the following movies:
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| Deleted Footage / Deleted Scenes |
Scenes are sometimes cut out of a film before its release, either to tighten the pacing of the story or to avoid an undesired MPAA rating. Many DVDs feature unused sequences which the makers feel are worthy of preserving, and sometimes they even include "outtakes," better known as "bloopers," with the cast and crew making humorous mistakes on the set.
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This audio encoding format can apply to any number of audio channels on a DVD, ranging from five discrete channels of sound plus an effects channel for the subwoofer (Dolby Digital 5.1) all the way to simple one-channel mono sound (Dolby Digital 1.0). A number of variations exist in between, such as standard Dolby Surround (2.0 or 3.0), which supplies the same audio signal to both of the rear speakers in a home theater set up. Dolby Digital 5.0 is the same as 5.1 in that separate signals are channeled to the rear speakers, but there is no extra channel for the subwoofer.
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An audio format similar to Dolby Digital 5.1, Digital Theater Systems Digital Surround (DTS) was developed to use a lower compression level for the greatest possible fidelity to the separate audio channels of a DVD. A decoder is required either externally or in the player. Some DVDs include both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, allowing the consumers to choose for themselves. Discs only produced in DTS will play on any regular DVD players but will not play back the DTS signal unless a decoder is present.
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A DVD may contain material accessible only through a DVD-ROM drive on a computer. These extra features may include written material (such as a screenplay), web links, or additional amounts of video information.
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Some discs contain hidden extra features which are not advertised on the packaging. Many of these features may be accessible directly from the main or supplementary menu screens, while others are deliberately difficult to find and for many have become a sport to locate.
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A film originally recorded in another language may be dubbed into English, i.e., English-speaking actors perform the lines of the film in place of the original dialogue. Sometimes a film may be shot in English but without sound (a common practice in countries like Italy), then dubbed later in a studio.
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A reference list of the films by a particular actor or director.
(Can sometimes be part of the "Cast & Crew Bios" or "Talant Profiles").
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The movie image fills up the entire television screen. This film could have been modified (usually cropped) to fill the screen. We list a film as full screen when we are not sure about its original filmed aspect ratio but when we know that the video is presented as 1.33:1.
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This high quality theatrical format using a large, panoramic screen must be played in a special type of movie theater. For home video, IMAX appears as a full frame presentation with a dense amount of visual detail; this format particularly lends itself to visually driven spectacles, such as scientific or educational films.
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A behind-the-scenes film or production journal provides a look at the circumstances going on behind the camera during the production of a program.
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Some DVDs feature the option to change "angles" during playback of a program. These multiple angles may be different versions of the same scene, behind-the-scenes footage, or a number of other variations.
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This program contains "music videos," visual programs designed to accompany a song or other musical composition. These videos often include the performer and may or may not contain a plotline.
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"National Television Systems Committee" -- a committee of the Electronic Industries Association that prepared the standards for commercial television broadcasting in the United States, Canada, Japan, and parts of Central and South America. An NTSC picture is made up of 525 horizontal lines.
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This title contains scenes, such as bloopers, which may not have been included in the original release of the movie.
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| "Phase Alternating Line". The colour TV broadcast system used in the UK, Europe, Australia & New Zealand. A PAL picture delivers a better quality picture than NTSC due to its 625 horizontal lines (sharper picture and better colours). |
The DVD contains an option to prevent children from viewing certain scenes on a disc. The owner can select the age level they wish to block, ensuring that only audiences of a certain age and with access to the code can view the entire film.
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The "Production Notes" feature on a DVD provides a series of screens containing text which details the history of a particular program. Often these notes are supplemented with details about the cast and crew, as well as anecdotes concerning events during production.
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| Still Gallery (Photo Gallery) |
DVD has the ability to display a single video frame at a time, for perfect still images. (This is quickly noticeable when the pause button is pressed during playback.) The best use of this capability is to take a collection of images and allow the viewer to page through them with the remote control skip buttons. Still frame files are generally used for behind-the-scenes photographs, promotional artwork, storyboards or conceptual art. A DVD can easily hold thousands of images or more.
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You do not have to watch a DVD from beginning to end, or use fast forward and rewind to access a particular scene. You may pick from a list of chapters to get to a certain scene, which is usually accessed via the menu, or by pressing the corresponding chapter number on the remote.
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Subtitle stream places text on the screen for the viewer to read, and is essentially used for dialogue. Subtitles can be in any number of languages, So that the viewer who does not speak the native language of the movie can view the movie and read what the actors are saying. DVD allows for up to 32 subtitle tracks.
Closed Captioning: is an extended form of subtitling, wherein additional text is displayed with aural sound descriptions, to aid hearing-impaired individuals better understand action on screen.
H.I (Hearing Impeared): This will display the text of dialogue and sound effects within a film for hearing impeared viewers. The "subtitle" option on the DVD remote activates English subtitles which correspond to the film.
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A preview containing scenes from an upcoming film is referred to as a "trailer" (currently they are shown before a feature in theaters but used to "trail" after them back in the '40s).
Theatrical trailer is the one originally shown to promote the film; a "rerelease trailer" is one shown during a film's return engagement in theaters; and a "video trailer" has been designed to promote the film's release on home video. Some DVDs also include "TV spots," brief coming attractions designed to be shown as television commercials.
Additional Trailers are bonus trailers of other movies, usually of the same genre or released by the same studio.
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THX, a company and process developed by George Lucas, originally began as a certification system for movie theaters to ensure the finest and most accurate audio quality. However, it now also refers to a video transfer system by which THX maximizes the optimum visual and audio quality from the available materials and then offers its approval on the final product.
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