16X9 or enhanced for 16x9: 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.

Aspect Ratio: This term refers to the length of a movie's horizontal image to the length of its vertical image. Thus, a film with a very wide horizontal image, more than twice the size of its vertical height, has an aspect ratio of "2.35:1." A television set has an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, so any film presented with a longer horizontal length is in the "widescreen" format. Many European and Canadian films have an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, which means only slight black bars are necessary to present the entire film image. 1.85:1 is the most common aspect ratio found in theaters and on video, as it adapts easily to all formats. In some extreme cases, particularly movies filmed in processes called CinemaScope or Cinerama, the aspect ratio may be as wide as 2.55:1.

Audio commentary: A "commentary"  track is an audio option which allows the viewer to hear relevant participants in a film (directors, actors & even 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.

Dolby Digital: 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.

Didjunos?: A word 'coined' by us here at LawkiDVD that is used to point out movie 'goofs'. These can be anything from factual errors to obvious errors in filming. Didjuno's? can be a lot of fun and some are extremely revealing.

DTS: 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.

Dual Layer: Many DVDs may contain over four hours of information on a single side thanks to a process called "dual layer" (or "RSDL"), which places a semi-transparent extra layer over the same side of a disc. When the player acknowledges the shift from one layer to the next, the layer change may cause a momentary pause in the playback of the film ranging from an instant to several seconds. A DVD with dual layers on both sides of the disc is referred to as a "DVD-18."

DVD: Alternately referred to as "Digital Video Disc" this video format records information on a disc the size of a compact disc. This format utilizes digital video and audio compression to store as much as 140 minutes of information on each side of a standard DVD, or twice the amount on a dual layered DVD. This format allows for a number of special features, such as multiple audio tracks and interactive video options.

DVD-ROM Content: 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.

Easter Eggs: 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.

Full Frame: A film presented with all visual information available but not requiring letterboxing is "full frame." This can either refer to films made prior to the '50s which were filmed in a regular square shape and therefore adapt perfectly to the TV format, or to films which are shot with an extra "safety area" at the top and bottom of the image. The latter kind of "full frame" presentation, also referred to as "open matte," will contain extra but unimportant picture information compared to a letterboxed version of the same title, which is usually a more accurate portrayal of the filmmakers' intentions.

Full Screen: 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.

Genre Listing: Motion pictures and other programs each fall under different categories, or "genres." Some films may be classified under two or more genres, such as an "action/adventure" and a "comedy." 

IMAX: 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.

Mono: The program audio is contained within one central channel.

OOP - Out Of Print. The releasing studio has discontinued the title. In some instances they are re-released, sometimes with added features. Many times they are not re-released and as such, become a rarity and hard to find, oftentimes commanding much more money than there original release cost.

PCM: An uncompressed digital soundtrack offers the capacity for either standard left and right stereo playback or a mono soundtrack.

Region Code: The different areas of the globe have been divided into eight separate regions to accommodate the varying release patterns of movies by the major studios. Therefore, each DVD player is compatible with a certain region: Region 1 for the United States and Canada, for example, and Region 2 for Japan and Europe. A DVD designated as "Not Regionally Coded" or "All Region" can be played on any player regardless of its nationality.

Stereo: The program audio is contained in two channels, one for the left and one for the right.

Studio: The company releasing the film may be either a large recognizable Hollywood studio or a smaller independent entity; often, a film may pass from one studio to another for various reasons (contractual, financial, etc.), resulting in different studios releasing their own versions of a particular movie.

Surround: The program audio is contained in four channels: a center channel for primary dialogue and effects, left and right front channels for music and additional effects, and a monophonic sound channel sent to two rear speakers for dimensional sound effects. Surround playback requires a decoder in your audio receiver equipped at the minimum for surround output, often referred to as "Dolby Pro-Logic."

THX Certified: 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.

Widescreen or Letterboxed: Since the 1950s, motion pictures shown in movie theaters usually feature an image whose width is greater than its height (a rectangle shape). Movies filmed in Panavision or Cinemascope are much wider, and this process is often referred to as "anamorphic" (due to the type of lens used) or "scope." To be viewed on television, movies must be formatted one of two ways: (1) "Pan and scan," in which the picture information is chopped off the sides to fit the square shape of a TV and the movie "scans" back and forth when necessary to catch important information, or (2) "Letterboxing," which preserves the original "widescreen" appearance of the film by placing black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. When these black bars are present, you are therefore seeing more of the film's image, not less. (See definition of "Aspect Ratio" for different types of letterboxing.)