Glossary

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Audio Track, Copyrighted: In the US, music is protected under the Copyright Act of 1976. This law provides protection for songs and other musical works, as well as sound recordings of those works. The law grants copyright owners the exclusive right to use and authorize various uses of their works. All audio and music used in aVinci movies has been properly licensed and fees are paid for each movie you purchase.
Burn: The process of recording (copying) digital information (such as music, video, images and special effects) to a recordable CD or DVD. Once you submit your movie to be produced, the aVinci fulfillment center burns your movie to a DVD, and prints a label on the DVD. The word "burn" describes the process of copying data to a DVD, in which a laser light etches, or "burns," the data into the material of the DVD.
Case Cover: (See DVD Case Cover.)
Digital Photo: (See Image.)
Downsample: The process of reducing the size of an image. For example, a digital camera may produce image files with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels (or much larger), but a standard DVD movie supports a maximum resolution of only 720 x 480 pixels. Were the original image not downsampled (made smaller), the image would more than fill the screen when the DVD movie is played, showing only part of the image. The image is reduced in size in order to fit nicely within the other elements of the movie, such as the background and other supporting images.

Downsampling involves a careful process of "sampling" the pixels of an image, dropping pixels in a manner to retain the quality and accuracy of the original as much as possible.
DVD Case Cover: The photo-quality cover on the outside of the plastic case that protects your DVD, usually displaying one or more of your personal photos.
DVD Label: The printed label on a DVD. Depending on the aVinci product, you may be given the option to select one or more personal photos to be printed on the label.
Image: A more general term for picture or digital photo. An image can be created by a digital camera, made by a scanner when you scan an old printed photograph, or made in an image editing program. Your digital photos are combined with images of the theme you've selected to create a finished DVD movie.
JPEG(.JPG): In computing, JPEG is a common standard of compression for photographic images. The most common file extension for this format is .jpg, although .jpeg also used. Many digital cameras create files in JPEG format. aVinci also supports images in GIF, BMP, and PNG formats.
Media: The term media, or perhaps more precisely multimedia as used with aVinci technology, refers to the text, audio, graphics, animation and video that are combined and used in a DVD movie to inform and entertain an audience, and to evoke the desired emotion and memories. Some of the media is built into the selected movie theme, and the rest, such as personal pictures and a movie title, are provided by the movie creator. (The term media is also used in many other ways, such as to refer to recording media such as a physical DVD or CD, and to print media such as communication delivered via paper.)
Menu: Sometimes referred to as the "navigator," the menu is a table of contents for what is on the DVD. It is from the menu that the movie or other contents of the DVD are started by selecting an option using a DVD player's remote control, a mouse on a computer, or a button the a DVD player. On the menu is usually shown the movie's title and subtitle. The menu will usually have a video playing behind the menu text that loops until an option is selected. In aVinci movies, menu options include the movie itself and sometimes a slideshow of the user's pictures.
Navigator: See Menu.
Pixel: A pixel (short for "picture element") is a single point, a dot of color, on a graphic picture, usually considered the smallest single component of an image. Potentially millions of pixels combine to make up a digital image, such as a picture from a camera, and as displayed on a computer screen. The number of pixels in an image determines its resolution. An image consists of a number of columns of pixels and a number of rows. Most digital cameras now take images much higher than one megapixel (an image about 1280 pixels across, and 800 pixel top to bottom). Each pixel will be one color, a mixture of red, green and blue. (See also pixelated.)
Pixelated / Pixelation: When a digital picture is "blown up" (made larger) than its original size, the image becomes blurry or "pixelated." Because a digital picture is made of tiny dots of color, if you increase the size of the image, what used to be one pixel of one color now becomes multiple adjacent pixels of the same color, and you begin seeing a blotchy and sometimes a jagged stair-stepping effect in the image. Some image editing software programs do their best to minimize the effect by adjusting the colors of pixels next to each other, but in all cases you'll get an inferior image.
Print: The process of reproducing digital images and text on a paper or other printable surface, such as your DVD movie's case cover, label, and thumbnail insert.
Production: The output, such as a DVD, photo book or poster, created by combining your content (your pictures, and text such as a movie title) with the media of the theme you've selected to produce a finished product.
Render: The process of combining media such as music, sounds, pictures, special effects and image backgrounds, into a usable format. The result of a rendering may be the digital content created at a fulfillment center in preparation for burning a DVD.
Resolution: Describes the detail of an image, or how many pixels are in your digital file. The more pixels the image has, the better chance you have quality photos. For example, an image with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels (3,145,728 total pixels, or "3.1 megapixels," where "mega" means "million"), will provide much finer detail (which usually means image quality), than the same image captured at a resolution of 1280 x 800 (1,024,000 pixels, or "1.0 megapixels"). Although you should work with the best quality images when making a move production of any kind, the resolution of a DVD movie is only 720 x 480 pixels. When compared side by side to your original photos, your photos as seen within the finished DVD movie will likely appear at a lesser quality than the original.
Soundtrack: Background music (see Audio Track) heard while a movie is playing.
Spin-up: The first thing a viewer sees when a DVD containing a movie is inserted in a player, usually before the movie menu appears. It usually contains a logo for the company that created the DVD, and may include text such as the movie title and producer.
Stock Media: Professional audio, visual and text elements used to enhance the presentation of the pictures in your movie, that has been purchased or developed to be reused in aVinci movies. This includes all the media you see and hear in your movie that enhance your pictures and assist to evoke the emotion of your pictures. All stock media used in aVinci movies and other productions are licensed by aVinci.
Storyboard: A storyboard is a blueprint of a story's main events and their flow, most frequently used in filmmaking and animation. For an aVinci movie, a storyboard is the sequence of scenes and their backdrops, transitions and special effects that are used to create the storyline into which your photos will be placed. aVinci storyboards include an introductory scene to set up the emotion for your movie, a closing scene, and interim scenes to properly display your pictures and tell your story. Each theme uses a different storyboard that aVinci artists have created.
Streamable Media File: A playable media file that is prepared and optimized for delivery over a remote network, such as the Internet. The file might be accessed via progressive download (file can begin playing before download completes) using a standard HTTP server, or it can be sent directly to a streaming media player on a remote computer by means of a streaming media server.
theme: The term used in MomentsCaptured for the theme you select into which your photos will be placed. The theme is the look, feel and presentation of a movie. The theme uses a storyboard to tell the story of the event that your pictures portray, and includes an appropriate soundtrack for the theme.
Thumbnail: A small, pictorial representation of a larger or more complex image. (See also Thumbnail Insert below.)
Thumbnail Insert: The printed "shot sheet" on photo paper that shows a small "thumbnail" version of each photo used in an aVinci movie. It is inserted into the clips inside the cover of a DVD movie case.
User Media: Personal audio, images and text (media) used to create a multimedia Production (such as a DVD movie, poster or photo book). All aVinci productions allow you to include your own photos, and usually include some of your own text, such as a title. (See also Image and Audio Track.)