DVD glossary

Table of Contents (TOC)

Lists number of CD tracks, their starting locations, total length of data on the disc, and identification of type of disc. The TOC is placed in Q-subcode in the lead-in area of a CD disc.

Tilt

See deviation.

Track

A physical track consists of one contiguous physical spiral area from inner diameter to outer diameter containing information (dual layer DVD discs have two physical tracks.) Or, the information contained within a single 360 ° rotation of the disc. Or, one contiguous logical element of information, such as a single CD audio track (a song) or computer data region (an information track.) One CD session contains from one up to 99 such logical tracks, each consisting of a pre-gap, user data, and a post-gap.

Track Pitch

Center-to-center distance between two radially adjacent information sequences.

Transition

Recorded information location at a pit-land juncture in CD and DVD. Normally a channel bit ONE.

Teaser Trailer
See Theatrical Trailer

Theatrical Trailer
Hollywood Studios advertise their movies with theatrical trailers and television spots, or "coming attractions". Very short trailers that do not give much away about the plot are called Teaser Trailers, and are often created before the film is even shot! Longer advertisements that tell much more about the story are called Trailers or Theatrical Trailers. Short trailers shown on television are called TV Spots.

Telecine process
The process of turning film into video.

THX
A specification developed by Lucasfilm Ltd, designed to indicate that a product meets the minimum specifications for achieving high performance, to ensure a high-quality playback of a film or video. Encompassing theatrical presentation, home playback, and video mastering, "THX Certification" means many different things. Home theater components, for example, are tuned in such a manner to compensate for differences between theatrical and home playback.

Timbre Matching
Making sure that loudspeakers in a surround sound setup have equivalent tonal characteristics. This helps to ensure that sound is uniform as sound moves between speakers.

Titles and chapters
A "directory" structure that allows video programs to be divided up into titles and chapters. This allows easy navigation to a specific "chapter" or section of a movie for playback.

Toslink
A plastic fiber optic cable used for S/PDIF (e.g. DVD optical output).

Track pitch
Distance along radial vector between adjacent tracks.

Track buffer
In the player model, this unit is responsible for smoothing fluctuations in the user bitstream caused by irregular disc accesses. It also performs any regulation from the 11.08 mbit/sec constant user data rate to a variable rate MPEG stream (mux_rate) ranging anywhere from 1.0 to 10.8 mbit/sec. The mux_rate is always specified as a constant 10.08 mbit/sec, even though the sum of all the multiplexed streams (Video, Audio, Subpicture, VBI) may be much less (and prone to rapid fluctuation).