Anamorphic: The process of compressing widescreen images to fit into a standard 4:3 television screen size. The images are then expanded for viewing in their original format on a widescreen display device. To fill a widescreen TV, a non-anamorphic DVD must be expanded, resulting in loss of resolution and detail. A DVD that is anamorphic, or "enhanced for 16:9," delivers 33 percent more resolution than regular letterboxed transfers and does not need to be expanded on a widescreen set. An anamorphic DVD generally appears clearer letterboxed on a standard 4:3 TV because it does contain greater resolution.
Aspect Ratio: The relationship of width to height in a television set. Traditional Color Television product features a 4:3 aspect ratio. Widescreen and future HDTV products will incorporate a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Audio input: Jack(s) on the rear of a component, such as a receiver, or amplifier, or a recorder that connects using cables to the audio output of a source device (CD player, VCR, tape deck, etc).
A/V input: Jack(s) that connects to another component's output. Usually found on receivers, amplifers, preamps, TVs, VCRs and other products.
A/V output: Jack(s) that connects to another component's input. Usually found on receivers, amplifiers, preamps TV’s VCRs and other products.
Component video: Elements that make up a video signal: luminance, which represents brightness in the image, and separate red and blue signals (expressed as either Y R-Y B-Y or Y Pb Pr). Component video signals are superior to composite and S-video images because of improved color purity, superior color detail, and a reduction in color noise and NTSC artifacts.
Composite video: The video signal combining luminance and chrominance, the burst signal and sync data (horizontal and vertical). A direct video connection using an RCA-type plug and jack; its signal quality is better than the RF type of connection but inferior to S-video and component video.
DTS (Digital Theater Systems): Film and video surround system that incorporates 5.1 channels. It can be built into an A/V receiver or A/V preamp, or purchased as a separate surround processor. DTS is well supported by hardware makers but not by software companies. Their process is available on only a few DVD and CD titles. Proponents believe the sound quality is superior to Dolby Digital, the most common source of surround sound.
IEEE 1394 DV input: High-speed digital video and data interface technology adopted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; For connecting digital television and computers to various components and peripherals, such as Digital VHS, set-top HDTV tuner boxes and digital video camcorders and DVD recorders.
S-video (Y/C): Higher quality video input and output than composite video connection that segregates chrominance and luminance signals for optimum reproduction from high-quality video sources such as SVHS, Hi8 and DVD players. Not as good as component video, but more common.
480i (interlaced): A form of standard-definition digital television (SDTV) that approximates the quality of analog television; not considered high-definition television (HDTV). Even though the native resolution of DVDs is 480p, they are viewed at 480i on an NTSC analog television
480p (progressive): A form of standard-definition television (SDTV) It is not considered high-definition television (HDTV), though it is noticeably cleaner and sharper than (SDTV) analog television. The native resolution of DVDs is 480p, however that resolution can be seen only with a DVD player that outputs a progressive-scan signal and a TV with progressive scan or component video inputs.
Dolby Digital: Digital multi-channel surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories to encode films for theaters and home video; it uses a lossy compression technology to compress the digital audio soundtrack. Dolby Digital is the most common surround sound format used in DVDs and in DTV broadcasting. Dolby Digital is a 5.1-channel system with 3 speakers in front, 2 speakers in the rear and 1 subwoofer. Dolby Digital decoders are built into many newer A/V receivers, A/V preamps and surround processors.
Learning remote: Type of universal remote control that can "learn" IR codes from other remote controls one button at a time.
MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group): Organization that established standards in computerized digital video compression and reproduction. MPEG schemes reduce the data stream by storing only the changes from one frame to another, instead of each entire frame. MPEG compression also removes certain image data that is generally imperceptible to the human eye.
MPEG-1: Video compression scheme used by now outdated CD Video format and for some multimedia applications. Provides a video resolution of 352 by 240 at 30 frames per second (fps), producing a low-quality picture with visible digital artifacts (distortion)
MPEG-2: Video compression scheme used to fit full-length movies on to DVDs; Used to compress programming for storage in personal video recorders (PVR). It offers resolutions of 720 x 480 and 1280 x 720 at 60 fps, with full CD-quality audio. This works for all the major TV standards, including NTSC and even HDTV. MPEG-2 can compress a 2-hour video into a few gigabytes.
MPEG-4: Advanced compression scheme based on the QuickTime file format; finalized in October 1998. Designed to facilitate transmission and reception of high-quality audio and video over the Internet and next-generation mobile telephones; potentially enables mobile videophones, video e-mail and video cameras.
Progressive Scan: Process by which all 525 odd and even scanning lines are "painted" by the Electron Beam every 1/60th of a second reducing flicker and increasing vertical resolution.
Unified remote: Enables user to control a variety of audio and video devices - usually TV, VCR and cable box all from the same manufacturer with a single remote unit.
TV TERMS
A/V input: Jack(s) that connects to another component's output. Usually found on receivers, amplifiers, preamps, TVs, VCRs and other products.
A/V output: Jack(s) that connects to another component's input. Usually found on receivers, amplifiers, preamps TV’s VCRs and other products.
Closed Captioning: Dialogue is displayed on-screen in a manner similar to subtitles in movies. Originally designed for use by hearing impaired individuals, captioned displays may be utilized to improve reading skills and assist in the learning of English as a second language
Comb filter: Device that separates chrominance (C) from luminance (Y) to improve picture resolution, to minimize picture distortion and to reduce distortionary color artifacts, such as dot crawl and shimmering.
Component video: Elements that make up a video signal: luminance, which represents brightness in the image, and separate red and blue signals (expressed as either Y R-Y B-Y or Y Pb Pr). Component video signals are superior to composite and S-video images because of improved color purity, superior color detail, and a reduction in color noise and NTSC artifacts.
Composite video: The video signal combining luminance and chrominance, the burst signal and sync data (horizontal and vertical). A direct video connection using an RCA-type plug and jack; its signal quality is better than the RF type of connection but inferior to S-video and component video.
Digital comb filter: Device that separates the chrominance and luminance parts of a video signal in the digital domain to provide enhanced color purity and reduced dot crawl.
HDTV monitor: This is a monitor without ATSC or digital tuner that will present vertical scanning lines to meet the 720 progressive (720p), 1080 interlaced (1080i), and 1080p formats. It must be capable of displaying a 16:9 image at the specified vertical resolution of 540p or higher to meet the definition of HDTV.
LCD TV: Television that employs a liquid crystal display screen rather than a cathode ray tube (CRT); used primarily in portable video equipment, small, and personal TVs; Now being developed for larger displays, for a cleaner, sharper and higher resolution images.
Lines of resolution: Method of comparing the relative amount of detail in a television picture, usually measured by counting the number of horizontal lines that can be reproduced from top to bottom of the television screen. It is not the same as scanning lines that form a picture. DVD incorporates 480 lines of resolution In (SDTV) analog television, with 525 scanning lines, lines of resolution vary: VHS has 240 lines and SVHS has 400 lines. Analog broadcast television use 330 lines of resolution.
MTS (multichannel television sound): Standard governing stereo television broadcasting. A major feature of stereo TVs and VCRs, it is used to receive Dolby Pro Logic surround sound and stereo broadcasts. It equires a decoding chip built in to the TV
Picture Preference Provides the user 3 picture settings: NORMAL- restores all picture functions to present factory settings. MEMORY- recalls Menu and changes made to the picture settings. THEATER- activates circuits designed to compress and add contrast to brightest aspect of color video signal, duplicating the image you would view on a movie screen
S-video (Y/C): Higher quality video input and output than composite video connection that segregates chrominance and luminance signals for optimum reproduction from high-quality video sources such as SVHS, Hi8 and DVD players. Not as good as component video, but more common
Scan velocity modulation: Circuit that increases the speed of electrons to their respective phosphor dots. Often produces an artificial "hard edge," that may be visible to the viewer as sharpness to the television picture.
V-chip: Technology imbedded in all televisions with 13-inch or larger screens built after July 1, 1999, that enables programmable parental control over TV viewing based on a TV rating system.
1080i native high-definition: The ability of a television to display 1080i resolution without having to "upconvert" a lower-resolution signal to create an artificial, 1080i-like picture.
16:9 Sometimes expressed as 16 x 9 or 16 by 9 (also known as 1.78:1),is DTV's standard widescreen television screen size, or aspect ratio -- 16 arbitrary units wide by 9 arbitrary units high, as compared to a standard TV aspect ratio of 4:3. The phrase describes the shape of a TV, not an actual measurement. (See aspect ratio) 4:3 Standard square type screen size ratio of an NTSC TV -- four arbitrary units wide by three arbitrary units high. Known as the Academy Ratio prior to 1954, when the widescreen aspect ratio was introduced; Its aspect ratio is 1.33:1.
Learning remote: Type of universal remote control that can "learn" IR codes from other remote controls, usually one button at a time.
DIGITAL CAMERA TERMS
CMOS or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor CMOS image sensors are less expensive to manufacture than CCDs (charged-coupled devices). CMOSs also require less power to operate, bringing down the cost of digital cameras that use it. CMOS chips also can convert the analog image to digital and manage basic camera controls.
CCD (Charge-coupled device): A solid-state image pick-up device that converts light into an electrical charge; used as the image sensor in digital cameras. It is the chip within a digital camera or digital camcorder that converts the brightness and color information from the lens into digital data. It is typically housed in larger cameras and is more expensive that CCDs.
Digital zoom: Method used to increase a camcorder's or camera's zoom ratio to focus in on a distant subject, as opposed to optical zoom, that uses lens movement and has a limited range. Digital zoom enlarges the pixels in a digitized image reducing its resolution.
Interpolated Resolution: Enhances the resolution of the image using software. The software estimates what the image would look like at a higher resolution based on samples of the image produced from the original scan. These estimations are then incorporated into the image resulting in an image with a significantly increased resolution.
Flash memory: Type of permanent RAM storage usually used in battery-powered or portable electronic or digital data storage devices, such as digital cameras. We typically install 8MB. Forms of removable media include SmartMedia, CompactFlash or Memory Stick.
JPEG: (Joint Photographic Experts Group) An internationally recognized organization responsible for compression standards for digitized still images; the encoded format defined by this organization is among the most common formats for compressed digital still images used on the Web (the other being GIF). It incorporates a variable compression scheme that allows users to select varying degrees of image integrity vs. file size.
Megapixel: Refers to one million pixels. Cameras with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 and above are in the megapixel category. Double-megapixel refers to cameras with 2 million pixels. These cameras yield near photo-quality prints.
Megapixel resolution: Term usually applied to the capability of a digital camera to produce an image consisting of more than one million pixels.
HOME THEATER TERMS
Home Theater in a Box (HTiB): Prepackaged audio/ dvd video system designed to create an "instant" home theater; typically yields a greater value than if all components purchased separately.
