DVD player in the context of PlayStation 2

DVD (digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind of digital data and has been widely used to store video programs (watched using DVD players), software and other computer files. DVDs offer significantly higher storage capacity than compact discs (CD) while having the same dimensions. A standard single-layer DVD can store up to 4.7 GB of data, a dual-layer DVD up to 8.5 GB. Dual-layer, double-sided DVDs can store up to a maximum of 17.08 GB.

Prerecorded DVDs are mass-produced using molding machines that physically stamp data onto the DVD. Such discs are a form of DVD-ROM because data can only be read and not written or erased. Blank recordable DVD discs (DVD-R and DVD+R) can be recorded once using a DVD recorder and then function as a DVD-ROM. Rewritable DVDs (DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM) can be recorded and erased many times.

DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVDs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in most of the world in the 2000s. As of 2025, it continues to compete with its high-definition Blu-ray Disc counterpart, while both receive competition as the collective delivery method of physical media by streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and an MPEG-2 decoder (e.g., a DVD player, or a computer DVD drive with a software DVD player). Commercial DVD movies are encoded using a combination of MPEG-2 compressed video and audio of varying formats (often multi-channel formats as described below). Typically, the data rate for DVD movies ranges from 3 to 9.5 Mbit/s, and the bit rate is usually adaptive. DVD-Video was first available in Japan on October 19, 1996 (with major releases beginning December 20, 1996), followed by a release on March 24, 1997, in the United States.

The DVD-Video specification was created by the DVD Forum and was not publicly available. Certain information in the DVD Format Books is proprietary and confidential and Licensees and Subscribers were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The DVD-Video Format Book could be obtained from the DVD Format/Logo Licensing Corporation (DVD FLLC) for a fee of $5,000. FLLC announced in 2024 that "On December 31, 2024, the current DVD Format/Logo License ("License") will expire. On the same date, our Licensing program, which originally started from 2000, will be terminated. There will be no new License program available and thus no License renewal is required."

Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, communications, and recreation. Historically, these products were referred to as "black goods" in American English due to many products being housed in black or dark casings. This term is used to distinguish them from "white goods", which are meant for housekeeping tasks, such as washing machines and refrigerators. In British English, they are often called "brown goods" by producers and sellers. Since the 2010s, this distinction has been absent in big box consumer electronics stores, whose inventories include entertainment, communication, and home office devices, as well as home appliances.

Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver. Later products included telephones, televisions, calculators, cameras, video game consoles, mobile phones, personal computers, and MP3 players. In the 2010s, consumer electronics stores often sold GPS, automotive electronics (vehicle audio), video game consoles, electronic musical instruments (e.g., synthesizer keyboards), karaoke machines, digital cameras, and video players (VCRs in the 1980s and 1990s, followed by DVD players and Blu-ray players). Stores also sold smart light fixtures, network devices, camcorders, and smartphones. Some of the modern products being sold include virtual reality goggles, smart home devices that connect to the Internet, streaming devices, and wearable technology.

A remote control, also known colloquially as a remote or clicker, is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as a television set, DVD player or other digital home media appliance. A remote control can allow operation of devices that are out of convenient reach for direct operation of controls. They function best when used from a short distance. This is primarily a convenience feature for the user. In some cases, remote controls allow a person to operate a device that they otherwise would not be able to reach, as when a garage door opener is triggered from outside.

Early television remote controls (1956–1977) used ultrasonic tones. Present-day remote controls are commonly consumer infrared devices which send digitally coded pulses of infrared radiation. They control functions such as power, volume, channels, playback, track change, energy, fan speed, and various other features. Remote controls for these devices are usually small wireless handheld objects with an array of buttons. They are used to adjust various settings such as television channel, track number, and volume. The remote control code, and thus the required remote control device, is usually specific to a product line. However, there are universal remotes, which emulate the remote control made for most major brand devices.

Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video display interface developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). The digital interface is used to connect a video source, such as a video display controller, to a display device, such as a computer monitor. It was developed with the intention of creating an industry standard for the transfer of uncompressed digital video content.

DVI devices manufactured as DVI-I have support for analog connections, and are compatible with the analog VGA interface by including VGA pins, while DVI-D devices are digital-only. This compatibility, along with other advantages, led to its widespread acceptance over competing digital display standards Plug and Display (P&D) and Digital Flat Panel (DFP). Although DVI is predominantly associated with computers, it is sometimes used in other consumer electronics such as television sets and DVD players.

An articulating screen is a built-in small electronic visual display which is not fixed, but rather can be repositioned using a hinge or pivot. The articulating screen is known under different other names such as flip-out screen, flip screen, adjustable screen, articulated screen, or hinged screen. According to the way it moves, there are five main types:

1. The display moves around one axis, so that it only tilts. It is called tilting screen or tiltable screen.
2. The display tilts horizontally both up and down and also vertically. This type is called double-hinged tilting screen, two-axis tilting screen, three-direction tilting screen or screen with 3-way tilt.
3. The display moves around two axes which are at a right angle to each other, so that the screen both tilts and swivels. This type is called swivel screen. Other names for this type are vari-angle screen, fully articulated screen, fully articulating screen, rotating screen, multi-angle screen, variable angle screen, flip-out-and-twist screen, twist-and-tilt screen and swing-and-tilt screen.
4. The display is mounted on a fully-articulating hinge that itself is attached to a tilting plate. Such display can be extended out from the back of the camera, ensuring it stays clear of the camera's left-mounted ports when flipping it out to the side. This type of articulating screen is called tilt-and-articulating screen.
5. The display moves into a variety of angles; it tilts horizontally and vertically and also rotates to a certain extent while staying aligned with the lens axis. It still can not be turned all the way up, down or to the side to be seen from the front of the camera for self-portraits. This type of articulating screen is called cross-tilt screen, flexible-tilt screen or flex-tilt screen.

Articulating screens are used in a variety of electronic devices such as laptops, camcorders, digital cameras, desk phones, mobile phones, DVD players and others; also TV screens and computer monitors can be articulating screens.

A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital optical disc data storage format. CD players were first sold to consumers in 1982. CDs typically contain recordings of audio material such as music or audiobooks. CD players may be part of home stereo systems, car audio systems, personal computers, or portable CD players such as CD boomboxes. Most CD players produce an output signal via a headphone jack or RCA jacks. To use a CD player in a home stereo system, the user connects an RCA cable from the RCA jacks to a hi-fi (or other amplifier) and loudspeakers for listening to music. To listen to music using a CD player with a headphone output jack, the user plugs headphones or earphones into the headphone jack.

Modern units can play audio formats other than the original CD PCM audio coding, such as MP3, AAC and WMA. DJs playing dance music at clubs often use specialized players with an adjustable playback speed to alter the pitch and tempo of the music. Audio engineers using CD players to play music for an event through a sound reinforcement system use professional audio-grade CD players. CD playback functionality is also available on CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive-equipped computers as well as on DVD players and most optical disc-based home video game consoles.

TOSLINK (Toshiba Link) is a standardized optical fiber connector system. Generically known as optical audio, the most common use of the TOSLINK optical fiber connector is in consumer audio equipment in which the digital optical socket carries (transmits) a stream of digital audio signals from audio equipment (CD player, DVD player, Digital Audio Tape recorder, computer, video game console) to an AV receiver that can decode two channels of uncompressed, pulse-code modulated (PCM) audio; or decode compressed 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound audio signals, such as Dolby Digital and DTS. Unlike an HDMI connector cable, a TOSLINK optical fiber connector does not possess the bandwidth capacity to carry the uncompressed audio signals of Dolby TrueHD and of DTS-HD Master Audio, but it can carry up to 8 channels of PCM audio when used to connect two devices that use the ADAT Lightpipe standard.

Although the TOSLINK connector supports several media formats and physical standards, the most common digital audio connectors are the rectangular EIAJ/JEITA RC-5720 (also CP-1201 and JIS C5974-1993 F05). In a TOSLINK connector, the optical signal appears as a red light, with a peak wavelength of 650 nm. Depending on the type of modulated signal being carried, other optical wavelengths can be present.

Vehicle audio is equipment installed in a car or other vehicle to provide in-car entertainment and information for the occupants. Such systems are popularly known as car stereos. Until the 1950s, it consisted of a simple AM radio. Additions since then have included FM radio (1952), 8-track tape players, Cassette decks, record players, CD players, DVD players, Blu-ray players, navigation systems, Bluetooth telephone integration and audio streaming, and smartphone controllers like CarPlay and Android Auto. Once controlled only from the dashboard with a few buttons, today they can be controlled by steering wheel controls and voice commands.

Initially implemented for listening to music and radio, vehicle audio is now part of car telematics, telecommunications, in-vehicle security, handsfree calling, navigation, and remote diagnostics systems. The same loudspeakers may also be used to minimize road and engine noise with active noise control, or they may be used to augment engine sounds, for example, making a small engine sound bigger. Vehicle audio systems have begun to move to digital platforms utilizing bus networks and optical cables for signal transfer rather than traditional analog cables.

An integrated amplifier (pre/main amp) is an electronic device containing an audio preamplifier and power amplifier in one unit, as opposed to separating the two. Most modern audio amplifiers are integrated and have several inputs for devices such as CD players, DVD players, and auxiliary sources.

Vintage integrated amplifiers commonly have dedicated inputs for phonograph, tuner, tape recorder and an auxiliary input. Except for the phono input, all of the inputs are line level, thus, they are interchangeable. The phono stage provides RIAA equalization.

An audio/video receiver (AVR) or a stereo receiver is a consumer electronics component used in a home theater, home audio, or hi-fi system. Its purpose is to receive audio and video signals from a number of sources, and to process them and provide power amplifiers to drive loudspeakers, and/or route the video to displays such as a television, monitor or video projector. Inputs may come from a TV, FM, or AM tuner, satellite receiver, DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, VCRs or video game consoles, among others. The AVR source selection and settings such as volume, are typically set by a remote controller.

Line level is the specified strength of an audio signal used to transmit analog sound between audio components such as CD and DVD players, television sets, audio amplifiers, and mixing consoles.

Generally, line-level signals sit in the middle of the hierarchy of signal levels in audio engineering. There are weaker signals, such as those from microphones (Mic Level/Microphone Level) and instrument pickups (Instrument Level), and stronger signals, such as those used to drive headphones and loudspeakers (Speaker Level). The "strength" of these various signals does not necessarily refer to the output voltage of the source device; it also depends on its output impedance and output power capability.