Like any paperwork that accompanies portable electronic players, eBay listings and instruction manuals are full of jargon. And, as a DVD player retailer, it’s your job to understand what all the acronyms mean and what all the buttons do. But why? you could ask. There are two simple reasons:
1) You don’t want to look like a complete amateur in front of tech-savvy buyers.
2) You’ll need to be able to explain what it all does in clear, simple language for newbies who don’t really understand what they’re buying.
So to help you out, we’ve put together a list of just about every term you’re likely to come across when selling portable DVDs online.
media formats
MPEG 1, 2, 3, and 4: Audio and video compression standards set by the Moving Picture Export Group. Numbers refer to versions with MPEG 1 as the earliest and MPEG 4 as the latest. MPEG 4 is probably better known as the MP4 format that is used in MP4 players.
MP3: This is perhaps the most recognized audio format designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group. It is a standard for compression of audio files.
WMA: Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression standard developed by Microsoft but widely played on many MP3 and MP4 players from wholesale manufacturers in China. The video version of this format is WMV. DiVX – A compression technique that converts long video streams into smaller segments without losing too much detail. It uses the MPEG-4 compression standard.
XVID – This open source compression technique competes with DiVX for market share and also compresses video to the MPEG-4 standard. The difference between the two is that DiVX is proprietary, while XVID is distributed under Gnu or is free to use.
JPEG: This is the format used for photographs and is used by most digital cameras. Having this allows the user to play images from the camera on the screen of the portable DVD.
disk formats
CD: The shorter and better-known nickname for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM). A CD is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data that can be read by a computer and other players, but cannot be overwritten.
CD-RW: This is a CD that can be written to and read many times. CD-RW can also be used to store different formats of content. This is a bit like a blank VCR from the computer world.
CD-R: A CD-R (recordable) allows content to be written once and read many times. This type of disc stores all kinds of media files – it’s a bit like a blank VCR where you record and then push the tabs to prevent it from recording again. Abbreviation for Video Compact Disc. VCD is a format for storing video on CD. The VCD is like a VCR tape in that you cannot skip chapters or view rich data, only fast forward and rewind.
SVCD: The Super Video Compact Disc. While this successor to VCD was meant to challenge the DVD format, it doesn’t have the quality or storage capacity of DVD and never took off. DVD: digital video discs. They look like CDs, but they store six times more data and can display videos in chapters.
DVD-RW/ DVD+RW/ DVD-RW: Basically three variations of the exact same thing. A DVD RW is like a CD RW in that data can be read from and written to it many times. The + and – and competing standards, although it is generally accepted that + is superior and therefore the industry standard for rewritable discs.
TV encoders
SECAM: This analog color coding system was developed in France for broadcast television. It can still be found in France, parts of Eastern Europe, and some former French colonies. PAL: Phase Alternating Line is an analog color coding system used in television broadcasting in much of the world. PAL encoded DVDs will only play on players that can decode this signal and the PAL and NTSC color encoding systems give security professionals and reversing camera installers no end of headaches.
NTSC – This analog color coding system was developed in the US for television broadcasting and quickly earned the nickname Never Twice the Same Color. It is primarily used in the US, bordering countries, US territories, and parts of South America.
ATSC: The Advanced Television Systems Committee standard defines a digital transmission standard for the US, Canada, Mexico, and one or two other territories.
DVB: The digital video transmission standard is (or will be) the industry standard for more than 130 countries. It is used for satellite, terrestrial, and digital terrestrial for portables (including mobile transmissions).
External Ports
AV output: audio/video output point to connect a DVD player to a home TV, car system, etc. AV Input: Audio/Video input point for connecting external devices such as a camcorder/game drive directly to the portable DVD player
VGA Output: Video Graphics Array is a type of port that was first introduced on computers, but can now be found on many devices with a separate LCD screen.
USB: The Universal Serial Bus is probably the most generic entry you’ll see on computers. With USB, you can connect a large number of devices to the DVD player, including mobile phones, laptops, computers, mp3 and MP4 players, etc.
SD/MMC/MS Card Reader: Secure Digital/Multimedia Card and Memory Stick are all types of flash memory used in portable electronic devices, from MP3/MP4 players, digital cameras, camcorders, mobile phones, etc.
HDMI – High-Definition Multimedia Interface is an audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data. HDMI connects digital audio/video sources such as set-top boxes, Blu-ray Disc players, personal computers (PCs), video game consoles (such as PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), and AV receivers to compatible digital audio devices, computer monitors, and televisions digital
S-Video: Separate Video is an analog video signal that carries video data as two separate signals, lumen (luminance) and chroma (color). S-Video is a middle ground between standard definition and high definition, and S-Video carries standard definition video (usually 480i or 576i resolution), but does not carry audio on the same cable.
Miscellaneous Terms
Aspect Ratio: Aspect ratio is the fractional ratio of the width of an image (or screen) compared to its height. The two most common aspect ratios in home video are 4:3 (also known as 4×3, 1.33:1, or standard) and 16:9.
Screen resolution: Screen resolution refers to the number of rows and columns of pixels on the LCD screen. A screen with a resolution of 800×600 will have 800 pixels horizontally and 600 pixels vertically in each image.
Modulation/Demodulation: This is a method of transferring a digital data stream and converting it to an analog stream.
FFT Pattern: FFT refers to Fast Fourier Transform, which is the algorithm used to decipher the digital signals broadcast by television stations and broadcasters. An FFT pattern is used in DVB-T transmissions.
NES/SNES: The Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System are game consoles released by Nintendo in the early 1990s. Many third-party devices come with these built in, including portable DVD players. ESP Protection: Electronic skip protection basically ensures that audio/video playback is skip-free, especially on mobile devices…for example, in a car. By knowing what the terms mean, you are a long way from becoming the tech guide you need to be to help shoppers through the buying process. So, what are you waiting for? Put your new knowledge to use and start improving your sales today.