Car Video Systems Jargon Buster

August 30th 2006

Car Video Systems Jargon Buster

A quick quide for beginners to the common abbreviations and jargon associated with car DVD entertainment systems.

Car DVD systems have gained popularity mainly thanks to enthusiasts of car "modding" — so as you might expect with anything combining hobbyists with technical geekery, there’s a fair bit of jargon to cut through if you’re a mobile video newbie.

Changer
= a CD changer; a device which holds several CDs and plays them on demand without having to eject or manually sort discs. Needless to say you can now get DVD changers too.
Crossover
= a device that limits the range of frequencies sent to different speakers.
DIN
= just stands for "Deutsches Institut fÃ¼r Normung" (DIN, the German Institute for Standardization), similar to ISO. The relevance for car DVD systems is that DIN means a standard sized dashboard slot, so 1 DIN means the device takes up one slot, and 2 DIN means the unit is ‘double-decker’ and uses the space of two slots.

DTS
= "Digital Theater Systems" multichannel audio — basically another surround-sound standard like Dolby Digital 5.1 — Pretty pointless in your car but it’s another thing to boast about.
DVD-A
= DVD audio — just like a music CD, except more features and higher quality.
RF
= Radio Frequency — probably talking about the wireless headphones. RF is generally better than Infra Red because you don’t have to be in the ‘line of sight’ of the transmitter.
Inverter
= A power supply device you can plug into your dashboard cigarette lighter to supply AC to power-hungry devices.
In-dash
= a device such as a DVD player installed in your dashboard, typically in the place of your old car radio.
GPS
= Global Positioning System — in your this means navigation / map display software linking to a signal receiver and a readout on your screen.
GUI
= Graphical User Interface — i.e. you can control the device using on-screen menus, often with a touchscreen
Headliner
= the coverings that make the ceiling inside your car. Example picture here: http://silveresv6.tripod.com/pics/headliner.JPG
Modulator
= An FM transmitter that turns an audio input source, e.g. an MP3 player or audio line-in, into a radio signal for you to tune into using your car stereo.

Monitor
= a screen that receives a signal from e.g. a DVD player or TV tuner — if a product is described as a Monitor it typically means it does NOT include the actual input player, e.g. DVD player unit. This is fine if you are buying that separately or you are building an in-car PC.
Motorized
= where the TFT screen of a display, usually in a dashboard unit, cunningly folds and slides inside its housing when not in use.
Power port
= a grand name for the little dashboard cigarette lighter socket
RCA
= those red and white (for audio) and yellow (for video) connectors used for e.g. connecting your DVD player to your home TV
RDS
= Radio Display (/Data) System — the function where your radio can display rich data such as the name of the station or the track name, for FM radio signals.
Receiver
=(confusingly enough) the device that transmits your video signal to a screen, e.g. a car DVD player
S-Video
= high quality video connector that can be quickly recognised by looking at the various pictures here: http://images.google.com/images?q=s-video&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images
Sub
= subwoofer
Toslink
= (1) a type of connector for optical fibre data cables; (2) a URL to an adult website.
Versatile
= a vague term that generally just means â€œfeature richâ€?, e.g. a car DVD player that also has a built-in radio and connects with external storage devices.