Dictionary

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1
1080i: 1080i is ATSC high definition 1920 x 1080 interlaced video format where a frame of
video is delivered in two fields. The first field contains the odd lines of the image, while the
second field contains the even lines. Each field is updated every 1/60th of a second resulting in
30 frames of video per second.
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1080p: 1080p is ATSC high definition 1920 x 1080 progressive scan video format where a
complete frame of video is delivered at either 60 or 24 frames per second.
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16:9: Aspect ratio of an HDTV signal which is 16 units by 9 units, whatever size those units may
be. In the film trade aspect ratios are described in relation to one, which means this aspect ratio
is described as 16/9 or 1.78:1.
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2
2:2 pull-down: Method for transferring 24 frame-per-second film to PAL/SECAM video running
at 25 frames per second.
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2:3 Pull-Down: 2:3 pull-down, commonly called 3:2 pull-down, converts film footage to NTSC
video. Film footage is shot at 24 frames per second (FPS) and NTSC video is shot at 30 FPS. 3:2
pull-down refers to the electronics needed to convert 24 FPS to 30 FPS so that it can be viewed
on a NTSC video device. To accomplish this, 4 frames of film are converted to 5 frames of video
by inserting an extra field of film frame every other frame:
Video Frame 1 2 3 4 5
Video Field a B a b a b a b a b
Film Frame 1 2 3 4
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3
3LCD: Common 3 color system for projecting images via LCD or liquid crystal display. Uses
dichroic mirrors to separate the RGB components of white light coming from a projection lamp.
Each color is feed to separate LCD panels which control the about of colored light that passes
through. The light from each LCD is recombined using a dichroic prism before going out the lens
and on to a screen.
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4
480i: 480i is ATSC Standard Definition Television (SDTV) 720 x 480 or 640 x 480 interlaced
video format where a frame of video is delivered in two fields. The first field contains the odd
lines of the image and the second field contains the even lines. Each field is updated every
1/60th of a second resulting in 30 frames of video per second.
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480p: 480p is ATSC Enhanced Definition Television (EDTV) 720 x 480 progressive scan video
format where a complete frame of video is delivered at either 30 or 24 frames per second. 480p
also refers to a display format comprised of 854 x 480 pixels, 16:9 widescreen.
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7
720p: 720p is an ATSC high definition 1280 x 720 progressive scan video format where a
complete frame of video is delivered at either 60, 30 or 24 frames per second.
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8
802.11a: An IEEE specification for wireless networking that operates in the 5 GHz frequency
range (5.725 GHz to 5.850 GHz) with a maximum 54 Mbps data transfer rate. The 5 GHz
frequency band is not as crowded as the 2.4 GHz frequency, because the 802.11a specification
offers more radio channels than the 802.11b. These additional channels can help avoid radio and
microwave interference.
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802.11b: International standard for wireless networking that operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency
range (2.4 GHz to 2.4835 GHz) and provides a throughput of up to 11 Mbps. This is a very
commonly used frequency. Microwave ovens, cordless phones, medical and scientific equipment,
as well as Bluetooth devices, all work within the 2.4 GHz frequency band.
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802.11g: Like the earlier 802.11b standard, it operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency range (2.4
GHz to 2.4835 GHz) but provides a throughput of up to 54 Mbps. Compatible with 802.11b
devices at the 802.11b data speeds. Many other devices operate in the 2.4 GHz range where
there is greater risk of interference. This can affect data throughput adversely.
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8VSB: 8 level Vestigial Side Band. Amplitude Modulated (AM) broadcast system developed to
carry the MPEG 2 transport stream(s) of DTV at 19.2 Mbs. Uses the same 6MHz bandwidth as a
normal channel does today but more efficiently.
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A
a-Si: "Amorphous Silicon"
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AC-3: Adaptive transform Coder 3, the bitstream designation of Dolby Digital. A variable, lossy
audio compression method using perceptual coding to drop sound data you cannot hear. It can
be used to deliver from 1 to 5.1 tracks of audio along with metadata on how best to play back a
particular recording on a particular system. The '.1' track is a low frequency effects (LFE) track
limited to 120 Hz. Metadata can offer control information on down-mixing, dynamic range and
level normalization as well as informational data such as artist, copyright etc. The proper ATSC
designation is presently A/52A. Encodes audio sampled at 32KHz, 44.1KHz and 48KHz into
32Kbps to 640Kbps data streams. Compression varies with quality with an average of 12:1.
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Active Matrix: A common type of LCD used in laptops, cameras, and LCD projection panels
that were produced in the late 1980s to early 1990s. Another name for it is thin-film transistor
(TFT). A typical active matrix TFT display is a single panel of LCD glass that controls all three
primary colors. TFT displays are noted for their quick response time and their ability to display
full motion video and animations without image ghosting.
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AES/EBU: Audio Engineering Society/European Broadcasting Union. Three pin XLR type
connector used to send digital audio.
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AGC: Auto Gain Control. A feature typically for VCRs that adjust incoming video levels to
reasonable levels. Video copy protection routines fool this component into thinking the incoming
video is too 'hot' which therefore causes the video to be extremely dim, sometimes to the point
where you can’t see anything.
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Amplitude Modulation: Amplitude Modulation (AM) is a method of transmitting information
using varying signal levels on a non-varying carrier signal. The waveform of the information
being sent exists in the difference of signal level between the peak of the first carrier wave to
the peak of the next carrier wave and so on.
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Analog Hole: A movie industry term for the potential to create high quality copies of copy
protected digital content by digitizing the analog output that is unprotected. Digital streams can
be copy protected using encryption whereas analog signals cannot.
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Anamorphic: A technique for changing aspect ratios by optically or digitally stretching or
compressing an image to or from a format with a different native aspect ratio. Movie studios
used this technique to put the first widescreen movies on standard 35mm film and then used an
anamorphic lens to recreate the image in the widescreen format in which it was originally shot.
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Anamorphic Lens: An anamorphic lens is a lens that has different optical magnification along
mutually perpendicular radii. This provides the ability to project a source image of one aspect
ratio, such as 4:3, into a different aspect ratio, such as 16:9, by using different magnifications
for the horizontal and the vertical dimensions of the projected image.
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ANSI: American National Standards Institute. A private organization that coordinates and
administers various voluntary consensus standards such as ANSI lumens. The first ANSI
standard was for pipe threading in 1919 when it was called the American Engineering Standards
Committee.
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ANSI Contrast: Contrast is the ratio between white and black. The larger the contrast ratio the
greater the ability of a projector to show subtle color details and tolerate extraneous room light.
There are two methods used by the projection industry: 1) Full On/Off contrast measures the
ratio of the light output of an all white image (full on) and the light output of an all black (full
off) image. 2) ANSI contrast is measured with a pattern of 16 alternating black and white
rectangles. The average light output from the white rectangles is divided by the average light
output of the black rectangles to determine the ANSI contrast ratio. When comparing the
contrast ratio of projectors make sure you are comparing the same type of contrast. Full On/Off
contrast will always be a larger number than ANSI contrast for the same projector.
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ANSI Lumens: ANSI lumens is a measurement of the overall brightness of a projector. Because
the center of a projected image is brighter than the corners, ANSI lumens is the most accurate
representation of the image brightness. ANSI lumens are calculated by dividing a square meter
image into 9 equal rectangles, measuring the lux (or brightness) reading at the center of each
rectangle, and averaging these nine points.
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Aperture: A device that controls amount of light admitted.
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Aperture Correction: Compensation for the loss in sharpness of detail because of the finite
dimensions of the image elements or the dot-pitch of the monitor.
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Aperture Grill: A set of vertical wires to mask the electron guns in a CRT to ensure the beams
hit their respective color phosphors. One or two horizontal stabilizing wires are used for spacing,
which can be usually seen on the monitor. Monitors using this technique are usually flatter than
their shadow mask counterparts. This technique was originally patented by Sony and marketed
under the Trinitron name, which has since expired.
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Artifacts: Stray pixels and other aberrations that don’t belong in an image.
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Aspect Ratio: The ratio of image width to image height. Standard television is 4:3 or 1.33:1.
Panavision or Cinemascope is 2.35:1 with 1.85:1 being quite common as well. Widescreen
displays are 1.78:1 or 16:9.times the height. For example, if you want an image 40 inches high
then you need a screen that is at least 40 * 1.78 inches wide or 71 inches. Other relatively
common aspect ratios are 3:2, 4:3 and 5:4.
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ATA Rated Case: A case rated strong enough to be shipped by common carrier; freight lines,
UPS, FedEx, etc. Most cases of this type are easily recognized by their metal reinforced corners
and handles. These cases are often referred to as 'Anvil cases'.
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ATRC: Advanced Television Research Consortium. An industry group composed of RCA, Sarnoff
Labs, Philips and NBC, banded together in 1990 to develop digital HDTV technologies. Sarnoff
designed the transport layer for the presently used MPEG 2 bitstream, which is a way to reduce
errors, and Philips designed the HDTV decoders for the present ATSC standard.
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ATSC: Advanced Television Systems Committee. Formed in 1982, this international committee
develops voluntary standards for terrestrial digital television. Countries adhering to its standards
include Canada, Argentina, Mexico, South Korea and the U.S.A. ATSC Digital TV Standards
include HDTV, SDTV, data broadcasting, multichannel surround audio, and interactive television.
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Attenuate: To reduce. Turning the volume down on your television set is attenuating it.
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Auto Balance: A system for detecting errors in color balance in white and black areas of the
picture and automatically adjusting the white and black levels of both the red and blue signals
as needed for correction.
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AVI: Audio/Video Interleave. The file format for Video for Windows (VfW). Used in conjunction
with a codec to play back video. Format dictates how video and audio are stored in relation to
each other but not the particular compression scheme used, which is handled by the codec.
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Azimuth: The direction to point a satellite dish when coupled with altitude. Due north has an
azimuth of 0 degrees and due east, 90 degrees and so on.
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B
Balanced Input: Three conductor input with two signal conductors that are directly out of
phase with each other. This cancels each other out when they pick up electromagnetic
interference along the path but doesn’t affect the signal. The third conductor is ground.
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Banana Connector: A type of speaker wire plug with a expanded single shaft that looks like a
banana. Inserts in 5-way binding posts and offers a large contact area, which helps
performance.
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Bandwidth: The number of cycles per second (Hertz) expressed as the difference between the
lower and upper limits of a frequency band; also, the width of a band of frequencies. Practically
speaking, bandwidth is the amount of data that can pass through a given connection per unit of
time.
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Barrel Distortion: Distortion where screen image expands outward towards edges of the
screen. Instead of being square, edges are curved outward like the edge of a barrel. Opposite of
pincushion.
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Betamax: Sony’s competing home recording standard to VHS in the 1970s. It produced etter
quality than VHS, but at a higher price.
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Bezel: The frame or face of a device, such as, a projector grill, or CRT or LCD display frame.
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Binding Post: Type of amplifier or speaker connection.
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Black Level: The darkest part of a picture. This can vary between display devices and viewing
environments. NTSC black is set at 7.5 IRE, which is very slightly gray. The white level divided
by the black level gives a contrast ratio for a particular display device.
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Blanking: The period of time that an electron gun is turned off to reposition itself to paint the
next part of the video onto the CRT screen.
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Bleeding: Video distortion where color “bleeds” from an object onto other parts of the image
which are not supposed to be that color.
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Blooming: Video distortion where an overly bright screen object causes phosphors near it to
excite therefore enlarging the object and softening its edges.
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Blue Laser: Color of the laser used with Blu-ray high definition DVDs. Blue laser light has a
shorter wavelength than red, which is why blue lasers can retrieve and store more data in a
given physical area.
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BNC: Bayonet Nut Connector or British Naval Connector. A high quality, locking cable plug which
is used extensively in professional video.
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Bowing: Video distortion where lines which should be straight are curved. See barrel distortion
and pincushioning.
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Brightness: Overall light output from an image. While a brightness control can make an image
brighter, it is best used to better define the black level of the image.
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Brilliant ColorTM: Brilliant Color - a technology developed by Texas Instruments for its DLP
projectors that produces six channels of color including red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and
yellow; thereby, allowing an increase in the color gamut.
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Broadcast Flag: A set of status bits or flags that are included with a television program that
dictates whether or not the program can be recorded. It may also indicate other restrictions on
the recorded content such as prohibiting the viewing of the content on an analog display.
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Burn-in: Image distortion where phosphors are discolored at a differing rates in a display
device such as a plasma, CRT or SED TV. Usually caused by displaying a static image for
extended periods. Screensavers are used to prevent burn-in on CRTs and plasma displays use a
periodic dynamic single pixel shift of the image to avoid burn-in.
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C
CableCARDTM: An alternative to a cable TV set-top box which allows the consumer to choose
which type of set-top box they want as opposed to only the ones a particular cable company
offers. Many display devices offer a direct connection for a CableCARD which is a PMCIA type
card that handles decryption. A new standard of CableCARD has been proposed which offers
interactive features such as pay-per-view and interactive program guides.
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Calibrate: To adjust with reference to a standard.
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Cathode Ray Tube (CRT): Analog display device that generates an image on a layer of
phosphors that are driven by an electron gun.
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CATV: Community Antenna TeleVision or cable television. Method of delivering television
broadcasts via coaxial cable, which is less susceptible to interference that via antenna. CATV
cable is another term for coaxial.
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CBR: Constant Bit Rate. Refers to an unchanging encoding rate for MPEG where quality gets
downgraded on compression demanding scenes such as ones with a high amount of movement.
Variable bit rate (VBR) encoding keeps quality at a standard level and is considered more
efficient.
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CCD: Charged Coupled Device. Electronic sensors used in video cameras that convert light
energy into electrical.
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CD-R: Compact Disc - Recordable. See CD.
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CD-RW: Compact Disc – Re-Writable. See CD.
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CEA: Consumer Electronics Association. An industry association of some 2000 electronics
manufacturers. Produces the Consumer Electronics Show or CES.
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CEDIA: Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association. International industry association
for home electronics installation and design related businesses. It also certifies members with
professional designations.
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Center Channel: Center designated signal of a 5.1 audio system. Typically for home theater,
the corresponding speaker should be as close as possible to the video image associated with the
sound.
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Channel: A separate signal or signal path.
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Chroma: (C) The color part of a video signal.
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Chromatic Aberration: An optical defect of a lens which causes different colors or wavelengths
of light to be focused at different distances from the lens. It is seen as color fringes or halos
along edges and around every point in the image.
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Chromaticity: The color quality of light that is defined by the wavelength (hue) and saturation.
Chromaticity defines all the qualities of color except its brightness.
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Chrominance: (C) Color portion of a video signal.
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Chrominance-to-luminance delay: State where color signal lags behind the brightness signal,
which shows as color smearing or bleeding at the edge of objects.
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Closed Caption: Closed caption (CC) superimposes a transcript of the audio portion of a video
program over the program image. Its primary use is to provide people that are deaf or hard of
hearing the opportunity to read a transcript of the audio as it is being played. Closed Caption is
also helpful for people learning to read or learning a foreign language. Closed Caption can also
be used to display text unrelated to the program being viewed, such as weather or news.
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Coated Optics: A variety of materials put on high quality lenses to minimize the amount of light
reflected back to the lamp and the amount of ambient light that mingles with the focused light
leaving the lens. Generally good coatings can add 15% or more to the lenses brightness. Other
coatings are used for filtering colors.
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Coaxial: An audio or video cable with a single internal wire with an outer shield that is ground.
In audio, a speaker type where one speaker is positioned within another larger speaker’s cone.
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Codec: Stands for COmpression/DECompression. Generic term for an algorithm for compressing
and decompressing data, audio, or video files. Lossless codecs such as LZW are used for data
files where every bit must be preserved, while lossy codecs such as MPEG and WMA are used for
video and audio files where losing information is tolerable.
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COFDM: Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing. An HDTV broadcast method
adopted predominantly in Europe as opposed to 8VSB being adopted in the U.S.A. Sends a
digital signal over a thousand or so carrier signals from multiple antennas. Resistant to
multipath where the same signal gets reflected off objects to create ghosting or faint duplicate
signals arriving later.
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Color Analyzer: A device for measuring the color accuracy of a display device relative to the
standard of D65 or 6500 degrees Kelvin.
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Color Bars: Calibration pattern used to adjust the brightness, saturation and hue of video
displays.
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Color Break-up: Image anomaly which looks like a rainbow at the edge of bright objects on
screen. Also called rainbow effect where sequential color systems, such as single chip DLP
projectors or some LCoS RPTVs, update color information at different locations on the screen
because of quick movement of screen objects or a viewer’s gaze. For instance, the red
component of a white object will show at a different location on the screen than blue when an
object moves quickly across because color is being displayed sequentially. This also occurs with
quick relative movement such as moving your gaze from point to point across the screen. Most
noticeable in bright objects.
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Color Decoder: Circuit in a display device that separates the color part of the signal from the
luminance. Can effect picture quality if set by manufacturer to compensate for higher color
temperature of overdriven displays or other color variations.
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Color Dynamics: The whitest whites, reddest reds, bluest blues and greenest greens. High
color dynamics are a result of dynamic range/contrast ratios. Having excellent color dynamics
implies rich colors, excellent definition, high contrast.
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Color Saturation: Measure of color purity. Highly saturated colors emit a very narrow band of
wavelengths of light instead of the broader spectrum of frequencies emitted from mixed colors.
A display with good saturation capability will look vibrant.
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Color Temperature: Color balance of white light which goes from red to blue as the
temperature rises. Measured in degrees Kelvin, which starts at absolute 0 or –273 degrees
Celsius, color temperature matches the reference standard of the light being emitted from a
carbon block heated to the stated degrees. For instance, the early morning sun is around
2500K, which is the same warm light that a carbon block heated to 2227° Celsius would emit.
Heating the block further to ~10000° Celsius would emit the same bluish light of a blue-sky
mid-day sun. Common color temperatures are 5500 Kelvin (black and white movies) and 6500
Kelvin (standard color films).
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Color Wheel: Rotating wheel with 3 or more translucent color filters used to display sequential
color on single imager light valve based projection devices. The imager reflects or transmits the
color component of a given image when the wheel’s corresponding color filter is affecting the
light passing through to the lens. A 1X wheel cycles through all colors in 1/60th of a second.
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Comb Filter: Reduces interference between color and luminance signals carried in composite
video. Better than a notch filter and in order from worst to best quality, 2-line, 3-line and 3D.
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Combing: A motion artifact caused by interlace where an object has moved appreciably within a
frame and its new position is displayed in a different position in one field over the other. Looks
like the teeth of a comb.
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Component Video: Component Video is a method of delivering quality video (RGB) in a format
that contains all the components of the original image. These components are referred to as
luma and chroma and are defined as Y'Pb'Pr' for analog component and Y'Cb'Cr' for digital
component. . It is comprised of luminance (Y) and two chrominance channels of blue minus
luminance and red minus luminance.
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Composite Video Signal: Single signal version of video where both chroma and luma are
carried with chroma on a 3.58MHz sideband of the luminance signal, usually through a 75 Ohm
cable. Poorest quality signal type.
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Compressed Resolution: Most projectors and displays automatically accept images that are of
greater resolution than the native (true) resolution of the video device. The resulting image is
scaled to fit the native resolution of the video device using a variety of scaling algorithms. Not
all video devices use the same compression algorithms; therefore, the quality of compression
can vary. The nature of compression in a digital device means that some image content is lost.
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Contrast: Contrast increases as the white point increases. Increasing the white point creates a
greater difference between white and black.
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Contrast Ratio: The ratio between white and black. The larger the contrast ratio the greater
the ability of a video device to show subtle color details and tolerate ambient room light. There
are two industry methods used: 1) Full On/Off contrast measures the ratio of the light output
of an all white image (full on) and the light output of an all black (full off) image. 2) ANSI
contrast is measured with a pattern of 16 alternating black and white rectangles. The average
light output from the white rectangles is divided by the average light output of the black
rectangles to determine the ANSI contrast ratio. When comparing the contrast ratio of video
devices make sure you are comparing the same type of contrast. Full On/Off contrast will always
be a larger number than ANSI contrast for the same video device.
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Convergence: An issue for CRT displays, projectors, and RPTVs. Convergence is the alignment
of the component colors of a display where the respective electron beams or pixels must sit at
the precisely correct position for the proper color to be rendered.
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Convergence Error: Colors of a color component display such as a CRT or projector do not line
up correctly to create a proper image and create color halos or incorrect color.
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Crosstalk: Interference of an electrical signal by another electrical signal in close proximity
caused by its electromagnetism.
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CRT: Cathode Ray Tube.
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D
D-ILA: Direct Drive Image Light Amplifier. Proprietary JVC version of LCoS light valve
technology.
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D-VHS: Digital tape standard with backward compatibility to SVHS and VHS. First device
offering HDTV recording and playback at up to 28Mbs data rates. D-Theater capable D-VHS
VCRs are capable of playing back copy protected pre-recorded HD movies.
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DAC: Digital to Analog Converter. Electronic component that converts a digital signal to an
analog.
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dB: dB or decibel is a measure of relative loudness. 0 dB is the threshold of hearing. 60 dB is
equivalent to normal conversation. 120 to 140 dB is the threshold of pain such as a jackhammer
or gun shot. 10 db of change will double the loudness.
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DBS: Direct Broadcast Satellite. Also called Direct To Home, a small dish digital broadcast
system that gets sent via satellite between 12GHz and 18GHz frequencies. Subject to
attenuation by rain.
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DCDi: Directional Correlation Deinterlacing (DCDi)was developed by Faroudja and is a video
algorithm designed to eliminate jagged edges that are generated by interlaced video.
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Deflection Yoke: Electric coil used to deflect the electron beams in a CRT display.
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Degauss: Method to get rid of magnetic fields that build up in CRT monitors and distort the
video signal causing discoloration.
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Deinterlacer: Electronic component that converts an interlace video signal to progressive scan.
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Deinterlacing: Act of converting an interlace video signal to progressive scan.
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Delay: Commonly used in sound engineering where a sound is played back later at different
speakers in order to maintain directionality of original sound. Uses the psychoacoustical
phenomenon of precedence effect where a sound is first heard is where it is perceived to come
from even when coming from multiple places.
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DFP: An all-digital monitor connection using TDMS designed by the Digital Flat Panel Group.
Limited to 1280x1024 resolution and a cable length of 10 meters. Uses an MDR20 connector.
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Diagonal: The diagonal of a screen or flat panel can be computed by using the Pythagorean
theorem: squaring the width, squaring the height, adding them together and taking the square
root. A 100" diagonal 16:9 screen measures 49" high by 87" wide; a 100" diagonal 4:3 screen
measures 60" high by 80" wide. Use the Projection Calculator to get screen dimensions on all
common aspect ratios.
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Dichroic: A mirror or lens that reflects or refracts selective wavelengths of light. Typically used
in projector light engines to separate the lamps "white" light into red, green, and blue light.
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Digital Cliff: Description of how a digital signal deteriorates with interference and attenuation.
Either the signal is completely functional or not at all with no slight quality degradation that
exists with analog.
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Digital Closed Caption: Digital closed caption is available on digital TV programs at the
election of the service provider. Unlike the Closed Caption sytem, Digital Closed Caption allows
the setting of the size, color, style and opacity of captioned text. When Digital Closed Caption is
in use, it will be indicated by the appearance of a 3-letter abbreviation that indentifies the
language of the displayed text.
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Direct-View Television: Display device where the imager is viewed directly as opposed to a
projection surface.
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Discrete: As it relates to surround sound systems, discrete sound is a separate recorded track
for each channel. Other systems may amalgamate tracks into one and then separate them out
electronically.
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Distortion: A usually undesirable variation from an intended output caused by the
characteristics of a particular device.
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Distribution Amplifier: An amplifier used to maintain a clean noise free signal to a projector or
flat panel device over significant distances. Even with good heavily shielded cables, range of
video and computer signals is limited to a few dozen feet before noticeable degradation. In
ceiling mount situations, where the wiring may pass along side or across electrical conduits, a
distribution amp may be needed with shorter distances. Many distribution amps can also split
the signal into 2 or more amplified signals for driving multiple projectors or flat panels.
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Dithering: Method of displaying intermediate colors that don’t exist in a limited palette by using
a pattern of small dots out of that palette.
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DivX: Video format based on the MPEG 4 standard. Commonly used for downloadable video
files.
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DLP: DLP (Digital Light Processing) is a commercial name for a display technology from Texas
Instruments (TI). The technology inside is often referred to as DMD (Digital Micro-Mirrors). It
consists of an array of mirrors where each mirror represents a pixel element. For example, a
high-definition DLP projector or rear projector with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution would have
over 2 million tiny mirrors. Each mirror is attached to an electronically driven hinge that controls
the amount of colored light that is reflected from the mirror into the projection lens and onto a
screen. Projection systems using DLP technology use 1 to 3 DMD devices.
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DMD: Digital Micromirror Device. Name of the actual imaging chip used in a Texas Instruments
DLP projection systems.
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DNR: Digital Noise Reduction. A system that reduces picture noise by comparing previous
frames to the present and smoothing out what appears to be noise to the algorithm. Helps
reduce flickering in still parts of a video image.
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Dolby Digital: A lossy compression system to deliver sound on DVDs, ATSC and DBS
broadcasts in up to 5.1 channels. Also called AC-3. See AC-3.
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Dolby EX: Backwards compatible system to add a sixth channel used for the middle rear
playback to Dolby Digital (AC-3) making it 6.1 or 7.1 sound. 7.1 sound uses an additional center
rear speaker playing back a duplicate track. Needs a Dolby EX decoder. See AC-3.
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Dolby Pro Logic: An analog 4 channel surround sound system with left, right, center channels
and a mono rear channel, typically duplicated across 2 speakers. Rear channel is limited to 7KHz
and system stores all channels in a matrix recording on 2 discrete analog channels. Has
difficulty playing back non-encoded material at full fidelity.
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Dolby Pro Logic II: Updated version of Pro Logic. Offers better performance with playing back
non-encoded sources over a surround sound system with full spatial cues and fidelity.
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Dot Crawl: Video artifact where little dots crawl along the borders of differing colors,
particularly noticeable on graphics. Effect of composite encoding and easily removed by using s-
video or component cabling. Will not disappear if the source was recorded using composite video
and the artifact has been recorded.
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Dot Pitch: The distance between side-by-side phosphor color groups (RGB) on a direct view
display that uses phosphors. The smaller the better.
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Downconvert: To convert a higher resolution signal to a lower resolution. For example, 720p to
480p.
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Dropout: Missing information from a broadcast or recorded media and typically show up as
white specks in an analog environment. Dropout is more pronounced with interframe
compression techniques such as MPEG because the error displays until the next complete frame
is drawn, otherwise known as an I-frame. This can take up to ½ a second.
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DSP: Digital Signal Processing. A digital method of manipulating incoming and outgoing signals
on an ongoing basis. Often used in audio to create reverb among other effects.
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DSS: Digital Satellite System and now called DBS. A system for sending and receiving digital
satellite broadcast signals using small receiver dishes.
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DTCP: Digital Transport Copy Protection. A digital rights management technology standard
issued by the DTLA (Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator) to prevent the unauthorized
copying of copyright material.
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DTLA: Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator. Controls the licensing of the DTCP copy-
protection technology.
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DTS: Digital Theater Systems. An alternate method of encoding multitrack audio used on DVDs
and other sources like D-VHS. Offers less compression compared to Dolby’s more common AC3
system and, arguably, better fidelity.
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DTS 96/24: Digital Theater Systems. A version of DTS that plays back a 96kHz sampling rate,
24-bit resolution recording at full fidelity.
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DTS ES: Digital Theater Systems Extended Surround. Backward compatible system to DTS with
a center rear channel added.
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DTS Neo:6: Sound process that separates stereo audio into 5 or 6 channels. Also decodes Pro
Logic encoded analog sources. It offers two modes, music and cinema. Music mode allows the
left and right channels of a stereo signal to pass through without processing, retaining fidelity,
but still adds signals for the remaining speakers. This gives up some imaging for fidelity.
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DTV: Digital Television. A system that uses digital signals instead of analog including the ATSC
standards, DBS and digital cable.
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DVD: Digital Versatile Disc. Same physical size as a compact disc but has a capacity to hold a
minimum of 4.7GB of data, 9.4GB if dual layer and/or dual sided. DVD-Video discs can hold
about 4 hours of video on a dual layer disc depending upon the amount of compression applied.
It uses MPEG-2 compression at a maximum rate of 9.2 Mbps with most video compressed at
about 4Mbps at 720x480 pixels. All players support AC-3 (Dolby Digital), PCM, and MPEG-2
audio with up to 8 separate tracks. DTS is usually supported but isn’t mandatory to the format.
DVD-Audio supports up to 6 channels of 24 bit, 192KHz sampled PCM audio.
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DVD+R: Digital Versatile Disc + Recordable. A write-once recordable DVD format with 4.7GB
capacity supported by the DVD+RW Alliance. More robust that DVD-R.
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DVD+RW: Digital Versatile Disc + Read Write. A rewriteable DVD format with 4.7GB capacity
supported by the DVD+RW Alliance. Can be rewritten up to 1000 times.
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DVD-A: Digital Versatile Disc-Audio. Allows for very high quality audio with up to 6 channels.
Sample rates can be up to 192KHz at 24 bits of resolution. It allows for video as well as
asynchronous slide shows of up to 99 still pictures per track. MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing) is
supported as a lossless compression alternative to PCM.
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DVD-R: Digital Versatile Disc - Recordable. A recordable write-once DVD format with 4.7GB
capacity supported by the DVD Forum. Not as robust as DVD+R.
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DVD-RAM: Digital Versatile Disc Random Access Memory. More robust as a rewritable format
for computers than DVD±RW, it is housed in a cartridge and is incompatible with DVD-ROM
drives and video players. Can be rewritten up to 100,000 times.
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DVD-RW: Digital Versatile Disc - Read Write. A rewriteable DVD format with 4.7GB capacity
supported by the DVD Forum. Can be rewritten up to 1000 times.
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DVI: Digital Visual Interface. DVI is a standard that defines the digital interface between digital
devices such as projectors, flatscreens and personal computers. For devices that support DVI, a
digital-to-digital connection can be made that eliminates the conversion to analog and thereby
delivers an unblemished image.
It can also carry an analog signal and comes as DVI-I (integrated - analog and digital), DVI-D
(digital only) and DVI-A (analog only). Dual link DVI connections add additional resolution
capabilities. Digital cable lengths should not exceed 15 feet. Specifications on DVI are available
at www.ddwg.org. Click for more details on DVI.
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DVR: Digital Video Recorder. Also known as a PVR or Personal Video Recorder. A hard disk based
video recorder, which usually offers long recording times and the capability to pause incoming
broadcasts. When the unit has access to electronic programming guides, it can record shows on
an ongoing basis as well as do keyword and genre searches.
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Dynamic Range: The ratio between the highest and lowest levels a device can perform. For a
video device it is a measure of contrast ratio. For an audio device it is usually stated in dB.
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E
EBU European Broadcasting Union: A Geneva based organization of private and public
European broadcasters. Started in 1950, it assists members with broadcast rights and does
technical development of broadcast standards.
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Edge Enhancement: A technique used to increase apparent resolution by increasing contrast
around object edges. Usually counterproductive with already high-resolution sources and can
become a source of image distortion.
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EDTV: Extended Definition TeleVision. EDTV is a class of digital television (DTV) that refers to
the 480p format. 480p is a progressive scan video format that produces a full frame of 480 lines
of video.
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Electron Gun: A device used in a CRT to shoot electrons at screen phosphors, which then excite
and light up creating an image. There are three guns in a color CRT, one for each primary color
(RGB), and one in a black and white.
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Electronic Whiteboard: Looks like a regular conference-room whiteboard except that it
captures notes and drawings made on it electronically that can be sent remotely for
teleconferencing or stored digitally for future reference.
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EMI: Electro-Magnetic Interference.
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F
False Contouring: Also known as solarization or posterization. False contouring occurs when
color shows as distinct contours or edges where there shouldn’t be any. This occurs when colors
that should flow naturally between shades or brightnesses do so discretely in clearly defined
bands. The visual effect is the look of a topographical map instead of a video image.
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FCC: Federal Communications Commission. U.S. government agency responsible to Congress
that regulates interstate and international communications via radio, television, wire, satellite
and cable. Commenced operations in 1934.
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Feedback: Feedback occurs when the output of a device returns as the input of the same
device. A microphone recording the sound from a speaker which is playing back the same
microphone as a source is an instance where this can occur. Signals get replicated multiple times
and if they are amplified, the amplification gets repeated as well. This is how room noise turns
into a loud screech if microphones aren’t placed properly; however, this can occur to any
electrical signal.
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Fiber Optic Cable: Sends signals as light pulses instead of electrical energy. Made of glass or
plastic, these cables are not susceptible to electromagnetic interference.
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Field: One half of a video frame consisting of either all of the even-numbered scan lines or all of
the odd-numbered scan lines in a frame.
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Fill Rate: Given as a percentage, this characteristic indicates how smooth an image will look
viewing a particular display. An imaging system with a low fill rate will exhibit a screen door
pattern in its images.
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FireWire: High speed serial bus with a speed up to 400Mbps. See IEEE 1394.
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Fixed-Pixel Display: Any device that has a 'native' pixel resolution. CRTs are the only non-
fixed-pixel displays where resolution is determined by bandwidth.
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Flat Response: A state where no frequency of an electronic device is emphasized over another
when output. In audio, a device with a flat response is able to transmit all frequencies fully, with
equal capability. No device can actually do this perfectly.
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FM: Frequency Modulation. Method for sending information by adding the frequencies of the
information to be sent to a carrier versus modulating a carrier’s wave amplitude. The carrier is
filtered out.
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FM Based Remote: A remote control that broadcasts its instructions with an FM transmitter,
normally required in large rooms and no line of site requirement.
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Focal Length: The distance from the surface of a lens to its focal point.
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Foot-Lambert (fL): Measurement of luminance (brightness) emitted from a surface. One foot-
Lambert is equal to one lumen per square foot. The metric equivalent of one foot-Lambert is
3.426259 nits or cd/m2. The SMPTE standard for theater cinema is 16 fL.
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Form Factor: A general description of a projector or flat panel's size and shape. For example, a
light projector with a small case can be said to have a small form factor, and would be good for
mobile presentation. Similarly, a flat panel that is slim and wall mountable would be considered
to have a small form factor.
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FPS: Frames Per Second.
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Frame: A frame is one complete video image. When all lines of the video image are delivered
sequentially, it is called progressive video. When the odd lines and even lines are delivered as
separate fields, it is called interlace video.
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Frequency Response: Measures the frequencies a component is capable of reproducing and
how well it does it. Usually stated as a set of frequencies with a variance measured in decibels
(dB). The ideal is to have no variance or flat response, along with a wide range of frequencies.
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Front Projection: A system where the projector sits in front of the screen with the image
getting reflected back to the audience.
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Front Room Projector: A projector that sits close to the screen and is capable of throwing a
large image.
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Full On/Off Contrast: Contrast is the ratio between white and black. The larger the contrast
ratio the greater the ability of a projector or flat panel to show subtle color details and tolerate
extraneous room light. There are two methods used: 1) Full On/Off contrast measures the
ratio of the light output of an all white image (full on) and the light output of an all black (full
off) image. 2) ANSI contrast is measured with a pattern of 16 alternating black and white
rectangles. The average light output from the white rectangles is divided by the average light
output of the black rectangles to determine the ANSI contrast ratio. When comparing contrast
ratio, make sure you are comparing the same type of contrast. Full On/Off contrast will always
be a larger number than ANSI contrast for a given product.
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G
Gamma: Relationship between input video voltage and output brightness. Determines how mid-
tones appear as eye sensitivity is non-linear and display devices use different methods to
account for this as well as their own display characteristics.
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Gamma Correction: Adjustment to gamma or how gray levels between black and white are
displayed as the eye is sensitive to these in a logarithmic manner. For example, good gamma
correction allows subtle shadow detail in a dark image to be easily perceived.
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Gauge: Wire thickness measure. The lower the gauge, the larger the wire.
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Geometry: Characteristic of a display to accurately show an image without distorting it. When a
display’s geometry is good, it represents square objects as a square, etc. See pincushioning and
barrel distortion.
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Ghosting: A faint duplicate image, usually offset from primary image. Can be caused by
multipath, which is a delayed, attenuated duplicate signal bounced off an object to an antenna
or other interference.
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Gray Scale: A table of shading devoid of color, progressing from black to white. The number of
discernible gray levels defines the color resolution of the display device and is used to evaluate
color acuity and contrast.
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H
Hanging Dots: Artifact of composite video where stationary dots exist where two colors meet.
Caused by interference between main video signal and color carrier. See dot crawl.
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HD-DVD: High-Definition Digital Versatile Disc. Two formats have been proposed for these high-
capacity DVDs, including Blu-ray and the generically named HD-DVD. Blu-ray is backed by Sony
and Panasonic among others through the Blu-ray Disc Association and HD-DVD is backed by
NEC and Toshiba through the DVD Forum. Blu-ray uses a higher resolution blue laser allowing
for more disk capacity than HD-DVD, 25GB compared 15GB per layer. At present Blu-ray is more
expensive and cannot be replicated on existing manufacturing lines.
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HDCD: High Definition Compatible Digital commonly known as High Definition Compact Disc.
Codec for traditional audio CDs with audio resolution of 20 bits for more accurate replication of
the original sound.
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HDCP: HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) is a method for protecting copyrighted
digital content that uses the DVI (Digital Visual Interface) or HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia
Interface, previously known as DVI-CE) by encrypting its transmission between the video source
such as a set-top box, DVD player, or computer and the digital display device such as a
projector, monitor or television. To view digital HDCP protected content, both the sending and
receiving device must support HDCP.
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HDMI: HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) is an uncompressed, all-digital audio/video
interface that supports audio/video sources such as a set-top box, DVD player, A/V receiver, and
video monitors such as a digital projector or digital television (DTV). HDMI is backward
compatiable with DVI 1.0 specification and supports HDCP.

HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio,
and interactive controls on a single cable. It transmits all ATSC (Advanced Television Systems
Committe) HDTV standards and supports 8-channel digital audio. First product releases using
HDMI occurred in 2003.
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HDTV: High-Definition Television. Generic term that indicates a higher resolution format than
previous standards. At present, denotes anything higher than a 480p signal. Most common
formats are 720p, 1080i and 1080p.
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HDTV capable: A television that supports 720p or 1080i or higher resolutions and has a built-in
HDTV tuner for off-air reception of HD signals from a special antenna. To view cable and satellite
HDTV programming, a cable set-top-box or satellite receiver is required.
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HDTV ready: A television that supports 720p or 1080i or higher resolutions and does not have
a built-in HDTV tuner for off-air reception of HD signals from a special antenna. To view cable
and satellite HDTV programming, a cable set-top-box or satellite receiver is required.
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High Gain Screen: A screen that uses one of many methods to collect light and reflect it back
to the audience, which dramatically increases the brightness of the image over a white wall or
semi-matte screen. Technologies used include curved screens, special metal foil screens (some
polarized), and certain glass bead screens. High gain screens achieve higher brightness by
directing more of the reflected light towards the center of the screen.
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Horizontal Resolution: Amount of pixels across an image, from left to right. A 1920 x 1080
HDTV has a horizontal resolution of 1920 pixels.
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Horizontal Scan Rate: Period of time it takes to refresh an image on a screen, usually
measured in Hertz (cycles per second). Computer monitors typically have scan rates starting at
60Hz going to 85Hz.
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HTPS: High Temperature Poly-Silicon. An active matrix transmissive LCD technology used in
3LCD projectors.
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Hue: Hue or tint is the parameter of color that allows us to distinguish between colors.
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Hz: Hertz. Also called cycles per second and in video displays is the rate at which an image is
refreshed.
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I
ID1 detection: Detection of widescreen signalling (WSS) from a broadcaster. Allows
broadcaster to configure television to proper aspect ratio.
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IDTV: Improved Definition TeleVision. Television transmitters and receivers that (a) are built to
satisfy performance requirements over and above those required by the NTSC standard and (b)
remain within the general parameters of NTSC standard emissions. Note 1: IDTV improvements
may be made at the TV transmitter or the receiver. Note 2: Examples of improvements include
enhancements in encoding, digital filtering, scan interpolation, interlaced line scanning, and
ghost cancellation. Note 3: IDTV allows the TV signal to be transmitted and received in the
standard 4:3 aspect ratio. Synonym enhanced-quality television.
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IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. An international, non-profit, technical
organization based in the U.S. that develops standards.
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IEEE 1394: Also called FireWire or iLink. A serial bus which can address up to 63 devices,
communicating at up to 400Mbps but is limited to a cable length of 4.5 meters. Its content copy
protection scheme is called DTCP or 5C. Most DV camcorders have a IEEE 1394 port as well as
D-VHS VCRs and some set-top boxes for cable and satellite.
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iLink: High speed serial bus with a speed up to 400Mbps. See IEEE 1394.
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Imaging: In audio, a particular system’s ability to reproduce sound so that it seems to be
coming from a particular location.
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Impedance: Total inductance, resistance or reactance to a signal flow. Reactance is like inertia
where acceleration takes time to get going and time to stop but there isn’t a net loss in energy.
Resistance on the other hand, translates electricity into acceleration or heat. Impedance is
measured the same as resistance, in Ohms.
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Infra-red Remote: An infra-red (IR) remote control transmits in the spectrum of infra-red
light, such as a television remote. Unlike RF remotes, IR remotes must point at the receiver (line
of sight). Typical range is limited to 30 feet including the distance to and from reflected surfaces.
For example, if you are controlling a projector and you point the remote at the screen which is
12 feet from you and the projector is 10 feet, the total distance is 22 feet. Most projectors have
a IR sensor in both the front and rear of the projector, whereas, flatscreens generally have a
single IR sensor in the front of the unit. When working at or near the maximum distance,
pointing right at the receiver is necessary. IR remotes must have clear path or reflected path to
the receiver to operate.
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Interlaced: A process where a video image is delivered in two fields each containing half the
video image rather than a single frame that contains the entire image. The first field contains all
the odd lines and the second field contains all the even lines. For example, each 480i frame is
made up of two fields of 263 and 262 lines of resolution and updated at 60Hz. 480 denotes the
active picture area; however, the total frame size is actually 525 lines. 480i and 1080i are
interlaced signals whereas 720p is a progressive signal where each video image is delivered in a
single frame. Interlaced video was introduced with the first televisions because of bandwidth
limitations.
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International Power Supply: A unit that can operate under a international selection of power
requirements. The specs of units vary widely, but the minimum is 105-230 volts, and 50-60
cycles AC (alternating current). If you see a specification like 110v, 220v instead of a range,
those ratings are usually +/- a given percent such as 10%. Most units are "self-switching" they
will automatically switch to whatever power source you plug it into. Others will have to be
switched (internally or externally to accommodate a difference voltage or cycle range.
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Interpixel Gap: The non-picture area between pixels in a fixed-pixel display. Commonly called
screen door effect when noticeable. Also relates to fill rate, a measurement that describes this
characteristic. For example, a D-ILA projection system has a fill rate of 93%, which indicates a
smooth image and has a small interpixel gap.
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Invert Image: Invert image flips the image from top to bottom, to compensate for ceiling
mounting a projector upside down. Projectors typically ceiling-mount upside down, because
most have a built-in offset that allows you to mount the screen at a comfortable height, yet still
project an image without tilting the projector and causing keystone distortion.
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ISF: Imaging Science Foundation. Organization that trains and accredits display calibration
technicians as well as certifies display hardware. Designs standard testing and calibration
procedures and tools.
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J
Jaggy: The stair-step or sawtooth effect seen on lines that are not horizontal or vertical or the
edge of objects in digital displays. Also known as aliasing. Smoothing and antialiasing
techniques can reduce the effect of aliasing.
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Jitter: Abrupt variations in signal amplitude or timing that cause reproduction instability in
audio, video and data. Usually caused by bandwidth limitations or impedance termination issues
that can sometimes be caused by the cable and/or connections you are using. Power supplies
can also be a source of this problem.
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JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group. Name of association that created the image file
standard of the same name. A lossy compression scheme for storing high quality, full-color
images. Also used as a video format under the guise M-JPEG of which a variant is used for DV
video.
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Judder: Apparent stutter of on-screen movement. Commonly caused by 3:2 pulldown where
movie frames are on screen for differing times due to frame rate translations. Also occurs on
PAL to NTSC conversions. Solved by 3:3 pulldown.
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K
Kelvin: A temperature measurement scale where 0° Kelvin (0°K) is equal to absolute zero, the
temperature at which all molecular movement ceases. One degree of Kelvin is equal to 1 degree
of Celsius. The color temperature of large image devices is measured in Kelvin. The higher the
temperature, the bluer the light.
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Keystone: Keystoning occurs when the projector is not perpendicular to the screen, thereby
creating an image that is not rectangular.
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Keystone Correction: Keystone correction makes a projected image rectangular. This can be
accomplished by positioning the projector to be perpendicular to the screen. Since this is not
always possible, most projectors are equipped with keystone correction that allows the image to
be keystone corrected (made rectangular) by adjusting optics, making mechanical adjustments,
or applying digital scaling to the image. Keystone correction can be one or two dimensional and
manual or automatic depending on the projector and the manufacturer. Be aware that digital
scaling will introduce some artifacts that are more evident when viewing small text and less
evident in presentation type material or video.
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L
Latency: The time between a device being requested to do something and the start of the
device actually doing it. It’s a measurement usually used for LCDs where the shorter the latency
the better. NSTC requires a latency of no more than 16ms in order to update the screen in time
without leaving a ghost of the previous image.
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LCD: Liquid Crystal Display. A display device for generating color images using a matrix of LCD
pixel elements. Each pixel element consists of 3 sub-pixels and an RGB color filter of red (R),
green (G), and blue (B). By controlling the voltage to each sub-pixel of an LCD, each cluster of
RGB pixels can create a full spectrum of colored light. LCDs are used in flatscreen displays,
cameras and notebook computers to name a few.
Nearly every projector made with LCD technology uses 3 separate LCDs, one each for red, green
and blue. Light from the projector lamp is separated into RGB with a set of dichroic mirrors. The
three light beams (RGB) are passed through separate LCDs and recombined to project a color
image.
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LCoS: Liquid Crystal on Silicon. Type of LCD panel that reflects light as opposed to blocking it.
Usually offers a comparatively high fill rate creating a smooth image but generally has difficulty
giving a high contrast ratio.
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LED: Light Emitting Diode. A light generating technology that uses a semiconductor diode that
emits monochromatic (single color) light when charged. LEDs are used in remote controls that
are used to control electronic devices such as large displays. They are also used in pocket
projectors as a light source, large outdoor electonic displays, and as indicators on electoronic
devices such as power supplies and cameras.
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Lens Shift: The purpose of "lens shift" is to eliminate keystone correction and provide greater
flexibility in the placement of the projector relative to the screen. This is accomplished by
allowing the optical lens to be physically shifted up and down (vertical) and/or left and right
(horizontal).
Horizontal lens shift will typically allow the projector to be placed anywhere between right and
left edge of the projection screen. Vertical lens shift will typically allow the projector to be placed
anywhere between 1.5 screen heights above and below the center of the image. Generally you
cannot use the full range of both horizontal and vertical lens shift at the same time. See the
User's Manual for range limitations.
Lens shift may be a manual adjustment or motorized. If the projector is installed in a fixed
position, motorized lens shift offers no particular benefit.
Lens shift is also used to geometrically align images when stacking projectors.
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Letterbox: A method of preserving the originally aspect ratio of a production when presented
on a projector with a different aspect ratio. This is accomplished by showing the full image and
black where no image exists.
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LFE: Low Frequency Effects. The .1 channel in 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 sound. Used for effects and is
limited to 120 Hz.
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Light Valve Projector: A projector that uses an imaging system that either blocks or reflects
light such as LCD, LCoS or DLP.
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Line Doubler: Component device that duplicates scan lines to create a full frame from a field
and then updates the screen completely every 60th of a second. Reduces flicker and the
appearance of scan lines making an image look smoother.
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Line-Level: A low-voltage pre-amplified signal usually between .3 and 5 volts.
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Linearity: A display’s ability to show an image’s geometric characteristics accurately. Also called
geometric linearity.
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LNB: Low-Noise Block converter. The LNB sits at the end of a pole facing the dish of a satellite
dish assembly. It converts the incoming signal to a lower set of frequencies to make them easier
to send over a wire without distortion. The lower the rated degrees of an LNB, the cleaner the
picture will be.
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Long Throw Lens: A long throw lens allows greater distance between the projector and the
screen while being able to maintain the image size and brightness of a shorter throw lens for
any given projector. Depending on the room, a long throw lens may be required due to
mounting constraints nearer the projected image.
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Low Pass: A filter that only passes frequencies under a specified Hertz.
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Lumen: A measurement unit of total illumination. Typically a 100-watt light bulb outputs 1700
lumens over a wide area. Projector light output is measured in ANSI lumens. A projector with a
higher lumen number will produce a brighter image for a given image size. See ANSI Lumens
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Luminance: The black and white part of a video signal. It is signified by the letter Y. Signals
with a separated luminance and color signal avoid interference. This interference can result in
dot crawl among other image artifacts.
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Lux: A standard for measuring light equal to the amount of visible light per square meter
incident on a surface. 1 lux = 1 lumen/square meter or 0.093 foot-candles.
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M
M1-DA: A DVI connector that supports analog, digital video, a USB connection, and FireWire
(IEEE1394). Used primarily with Infocus projectors.
M1-DA (EVC or P&D) is 3 rows or 10 pins and looks a lot like the DVI-I except
for 6 more pins. The maximum video resolution supported is 1280x1024.
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Maximum Distance: Sometimes used to refer to the distance from the screen that a projector
can focus the image. Most of the time, it is the manufacturer's opinion of how far from a screen
the projector can be to cast an image that is useable (bright enough) in a fully darkened room.
Consult the Projection Calculator for guidance on proper placement of a projector for a given
screen and content.
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Maximum Image Size: The largest image a projector can reasonable throw in a darkened
room. Consult the Projection Calculator for guidance on proper placement of a projector for a
given screen and content.
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Maximum Resolution: Maximum Resolution refers to the highest resolution that a given
display device can support. If the Maximum Resolution exceeds the Native Resolution, , the
image is usually scaled to match or approximate the Native Resolution of the projector. Some
display devices allow pan and scan where rather than scaling the image, the display devices
allows you to use the native resolution of the display to view portions of the higher resolution
image. Scaling reduces the image resolution and produces some artifacts in the image that are
more apparent when viewing text than graphics or video.
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MHz: Megahertz. One million hertz or cycles per second.
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Microdisplay: Sometimes referred to with the acronym 'MD' as in MD-RPTV. Refers to
projection-based displays using a chip-based imager. Examples are DLP, LCD and LCoS/D-ILA.
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Microlens Array: A feature of some LCD projectors where tiny lenses are aligned to individual
pixels of an LCD panel in order to increase the light that passes through each pixel element. Also
reduces screen-door effect.
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Minimum Distance: The closest position that a projector can focus an image onto a screen.
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MLA: MicroLens Array. See same.
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MLP: Meridian Lossless Packing. A lossless compression format that is used on DVD-A giving a
compression ratio of 1.85 to 1 without degrading quality.
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Moiré Pattern: An image artifact which is an interference pattern caused by two patterns
overlaying each other. Looks like cross-hatching, herringbone or other patterns.
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Mono: Single channel sound.
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Mosquito Noise: An artifact of MPEG compression which looks like a mosquito buzzing around.
Usually found around sharp edges and most easily seen on solid color areas. It is a time
dependent video compression impairment in which the high frequency spatial detail in video
images having crisp edges is aliased intermittently.
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Motion Artifacts: Any artifact caused by camera panning or object movement within video.
Judder and combing are motion artifacts.
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MP3: MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3. Commonly used lossy audio compression format. Patent owned by
Thomson and Fraunhofer. 128Kbps is a reasonably good setting for encoding.
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MPAA: Motion Picture Association of America. Trade association of the U.S. film industry started
in 1922. Advocates for film industry to public and government.
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MPEG: Moving Picture Experts Group. A working group of ISO/IEC in charge of developing
codecs and standards for moving pictures with synchronized audio.
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MPEG-1: Older video compression format that doesn’t compress interlace video. Although the
format is capable of other resolutions, the standard expected is a 352x240 pixel image running
at 30 frames a second and encoded at a constant bit-rate (CBR) of 1.5Mbps. It only supports
mono or stereo sound.
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MPEG-2: The standard file format for DTV, DVDs and DBS, among others. Uses same
techniques as MPEG-1 but adds support for interlace video and multichannel sound as well as
offering higher bit rates.
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MPEG-4: An audio/visual file format that is designed for multimedia applications. It allows for
other types of media such as 3D objects as well as video and offers interactive capabilities. It is
a more efficient compressor than MPEG-2 and can be up to 50% smaller in file size at a given
quality.
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MTS: Multi-channel Television Sound (MTS) provides the ability to receive multiple audio
channels with a single video channel allowing the user to select the type of audio desired such
as mono, stereo, or Secondary Audio Programs (SAP). See SAP.
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Multiscan: A display device capable of operating at multiple scan rates, usually starting at
30KHz up.
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Multizone: An audio system that can send any one of multiple sources to any one of different
rooms.
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N
NAB: National Association of Broadcasters. The U.S. trade association of over-air broadcasters
started in 1923.
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Native Aspect Ratio: Nearly every projector or display today will support multiple aspect
ratios; however, each manufacturer must decide who their intended audience is and optimize
the projector for that audience. This means each device has a native aspect ratio that is
optimized for specific viewing material. Images shown in native aspect ratio will utilize the entire
resolution of the display and achieve maximum brightness. Images shown in other than native
aspect ratio will always have less resolution and less brightness than images shown in native
aspect ratio.
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Native Resolution: Native Resolution is the number of physical pixels in a display device. For
example, an XGA display has a native resolution of 1024 physical pixels of resolution
horizontally and 768 pixels vertically or 786,432 total pixels. See Maximum Resolution.
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Negative Gain Screen: A screen with a gain rating of under 1 which actually reduces the
amount of light reflected back from a projected image. Usually gray, they are used to increase
apparent contrast by lowering the black level.
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Noise: An unwanted random signal.
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Non-Interlace: Also known as progressive scan. Describes how video frames are drawn which,
in this case, is completely from top to bottom at every screen update. See Interlaced.
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Notch Filter: An inexpensive filter used to separate the chroma signal from the luminance
signal in composite video. A comb filter does the same task, only better, because it filters
resonant frequencies as well.
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NSH: New Super High pressure projector lamp is a short arc metal halide lamp.
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NTSC: National Television Standards Committee. Established the first color TV standard in 1953
and is the North American standard for video and broadcasting. Also used in the Caribbean,
South Korea, Japan and South America. A 30 fps signal with 525 lines of resolution of which 480
to 483 are viewable. Transmitted via a 6MHz channel.
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O
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer. A company that gathers components from other
manufacturers and sells under their own name. An OEM version of a product is supported by the
seller, not the actual manufacturer.
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Ohm: Measure of electrical resistance, inductance or reactance.
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OHP: The common abbreviation for overhead projector. Used to project transparencies onto a
screen or wall. Also used with transmissive LCD panels to project video or data.
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OLED: Organic Light Emitting Diode. A self-illuminating, energy-efficient, direct-view imaging
system. Uses an organic film sandwiched between 2 transparent electrodes.
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Optical Digital Cable: Transfers digital signals as light pulses. Also called fibre-optic cable and
is commonly used to send surround sound from a player to a receiver/decoder.
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OSD: On Screen Display. Menu shown on display device screen allowing display adjustment
without having dedicated physical controls such as knobs or buttons for each adjustable
parameter.
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Overhead Projector: A device consisting of a light source, a transmissive or reflective
platform, and a focusable lens assembly. An OHP is designed to project images from
tranparencies or LCD projection panels onto a screen.
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Oversampling: Multiplies outgoing signal samples in order to more easily filter out aliased
sounds but doesn’t create fidelity that isn’t there to begin with.
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Overscan: Given as a percentage or pixel count, the amount that a particular display device
crops the edges of an incoming video signal. This is done to ensure the image area contains only
picture information.
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P
PAL: Phase Alternating Line. Broadcast standard developed in Germany in 1963 and adopted in
1967. It’s used in many countries throughout Europe including the UK and transmits 576
viewable lines at 25 frames per second interlaced.
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Pan-and-Scan: A method to fit source material of a different resolution or aspect ratio onto
another. Sometimes used with computer input when the input resolution exceeds the resolution
of the display device. Used extensively for broadcast and DVDs, it simply crops the sides of
widescreen material and the transfer operator chooses the best part of the frame to show. Often
an electronic camera pan is used to change the area being shown. This is used when characters
are talking to each other but one is off screen due to cropping and they become the focus of the
shot.
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PCM: Pulse Code Modulation. A technique for representing analog frequencies digitally,
developed in 1937 by Alec Reeves for ITT France. The most common variant is ADPCM, Adaptive
Differential Pulse Code Modulation, which compresses a signal dynamically. It does so by only
storing the difference between the current and previous sample and varying the granularity of
those differences.
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Perceptual Coding: A data reduction method that uses the lack of sensitivity of human senses
to certain characteristics. Visually, color undersampling (4:1:1) is an example where a person’s
eyes are more sensitive to grayscale information than color, therefore less color information is
needed for a given representation. Aurally, masking is a psychoacoustic phenomenon where a
sound of less intensity but close in frequency cannot be discerned by a listener and that sound
can be dropped from the data representation.
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Persistence of Vision: The disposition of humans to amalgamate sequential still images into
perceived motion. For most people, this occurs at around 16 fps.
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Phase: The characteristic of when a wave is at its peak, trough, or zero point going up or down.
Measured in degrees. Two sine waves of the same frequency that are 180 degrees out of phase
will cancel each other out, yielding no signal.
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Phosphor: A direct-view, flat-panel display that uses ionized gas to emit ultraviolet light that
then excites phosphors. Plasma is a state of matter like solid, gas or liquid. Plasma screens are
challenged by latency issues without a priming voltage, which causes manufacturers to leave a
voltage running across a cell in order for it to change state quickly enough to update a picture.
This tends to boost black levels as every pixel is partially on all the time. This is why plasma
contrast ratios aren’t as high as CRT although still very good. Also, because plasma uses
phosphors it is susceptible to possible burn-in. Plasma is subject to performance issues at higher
altitudes of operation such as fan buzzing and increased power consumption.
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PLUGE: Picture Line-up Generation Equipment. A test pattern used to set a display’s black level.
Comes in many variations but is usually comprised of three black bars where the darkest should
not be visible.
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Poly-Si (silicon) LCD: One of several projector display technologies. Monochrome Poly-Si LCDs
are typically placed in each of the three color (red, green, blue) light paths inside a projector to
produce a color image from a common light source. Poly-Si technology is a bit faster than the
Active Matrix TFT providing slightly smoother video.
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Power Output: With audio amplifiers, the amount of power sent to drive the speakers. Peak
output is quite often specified, which is somewhat misleading compared to the average amount
of power an amplifier can continously produce (RMS rating).
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Power Zoom: A zoom lens that is driven by a motor and controlled from the projector's control
panel and/or remote control.
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Pre-amp: A switching device used to select a line-level audio signal for amplification.
Sometimes offers signal processing as well.
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Progressive Scan: A display mode in which all the horizontal lines of an image are displayed at
one time in a single frame, unlike an interlaced scan in which a frame consists of two separate
fields with the first field consisting of odd horizontal lines and the second field even horizontal
lines. Progressive scan is used by projectors, computer monitors, HDTV systems, and some
digital camcorders. Progressive Scan requires a faster horizontal scan frequency than interlaced
images of the same resolution
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Projector: A projector is a device that integrates a light source, an optics system, electronics
and display(s) for the purpose of projecting an image from a computer or video device onto a
wall or screen for large image viewing. These devices attach to a computer or video device as
you would connect a monitor or television.
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PSIP: Program and System Information Protocol. ATSC standard A/65B for sending system and
program guide information via DTV broadcasts or cable.
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Psychoacoustics: Study of how humans hear. Used to find ways to discard sound information
that is not heard and reduce data requirements for sound reproduction.
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PVR: Personal Video Recorder. See DVR.
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Q
QAM: Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. A type of digital modulation technique used to carry
signals in digital cable and cable modems which usually has a number before it denoting its bit
density such as 64-QAM. Cable’s equivalent to 8VSB. A QAM tuner will allow you to see digital
cable channels without a cable box but only those that are broadcast without restriction. A
CableCARD® will add support for restricted channels.
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QPSK: Quadrature Phase Shift Keying. A type of digital modulation technique used to carry DBS
satellite signals and can be used in combination with QAM.
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Quicktime: A computer multimedia file format used for video and other media types developed
by Apple. Closely related to MPEG-4.
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QXGA: QXGA is a display resolution of 2048 horizontal pixels by 1536 vertical pixels giving a
total display resolution of 3,145,728 pixels. A QXGA display has 4 times the resolution of an XGA
display.
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R
Rainbow Effect: An image anomaly that can be seen by a small percentage of people when
viewing a single chip DLPTM front or rear projection system. The anomaly appears as a color
breakup at the edge of objects when the eye transitions rapidly between light and dark areas of
the image. The problem is characteristic of sequential color systems with low refresh rates.
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RCA Jacks: Unbalanced connection used extensively in consumer electronics to send a line-
level signal. Also called phono.
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Rear- Projection TV: All-in-one display consisting of a translucent screen with a rear projector
system.
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Red Push: Red push occurs when a color decoder accentuates the color of red as compared to
blue and green. This is sometimes done intentionally to compensate for an overly blue color
temperature.
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Refresh Rate: The speed at which a display updates its picture given in Hz.
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Resolution: A measure of the ability of a display or sound system to render detail.
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Resonant Frequency: The frequency at which any physical object naturally oscillates. All
objects have this property including rooms, which will favor certain frequencies over others and
may 'color' sound.
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Return Loss: Phenomenon of outgoing signals to reflect back on themselves on cables longer
than ¼ of a wavelength. Measured in dB where lower is better.
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Reverberation: All sound reflections within an enclosed space that continue to bounce around
after the source has stopped. Also an audio effect, which mimics various room sizes.
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Reverberation Time: Measurement of reflected sound to dissipate within a room by -60dB
given in seconds. A home theater should be around .4 seconds.
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RF: Radio Frequency.
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RFI: Radio Frequency Interference.
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RGB: Red, Green and Blue. A component signal representing each color separately. Sync signals
can be sent on green or sent separately as a composite signal or dual H/V signals (Horizontal
sync/Vertical sync). Very common signal for analog computer displays.
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RMS: Root Mean Square. Commonly used as a power measurement for higher-end audio
amplifiers, it is an average output as opposed to peak. Usually placed as a suffix to a wattage
rating.
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RPTV: Rear-Projection TeleVision. All-in-one display consisting of a translucent screen with a
rear projector.
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S
S-VHS: Super VHS. Improved resolution version of VHS that stores luma and chroma in
separate signals.
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S-Video: A video transmission standard that uses a 4 pin mini-DIN connector to send video
information on two signal wires called luminance(brightness, Y) and chrominance(color, C). S-
Video is also referred to as Y/C. Considered a higher quality video source than composite video.
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S/PDIF: Sony/Philips Digital InterFace. A transport protocol related to AES/EBU for sending
PCM digital audio signals between devices. Uses either 75-Ohm coaxial cable or fiber-optic
cable.
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SACD: Super Audio Compact Disc. Sony and Philips designed audio format competing with DVD-
Audio with audiophile performance characteristics. Offers up to 6 channels using the Direct
Stream Digital (DSD) format as opposed to CD’s PCM. Requires an SACD player.
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Sampling Frequency: The speed at which data representations of an analog signal are
duplicated. The higher the number, the better the quality. Another quality aspect is the
granularity of the scale used for representation where 16 bits allows 65536 discrete levels and
24 bits allows about 17 million.
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SAP: Secondary Audio Programs. SAP is a feature that allows a broadcast to contain additional
audio information such as another language or perhaps weather information.
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Saturation: Saturation is a measure of color intensity. In the absence of saturation the color
hue is a shade of grey. A highly saturated hue has a vivid, intense color, while a less saturated
hue appears more muted and grey.
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Scan Rate: The line drawing speed of a display, usually given in kHz. A standard definition TV
has a scan rate of 15.75 kHz which when you divide by 525 scan lines, gives a horizontal refresh
rate of 30 fps or Hz.
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Screen Gain: As it applies to projectors, gain is the measurement of a projection screen’s light
reflectance with unity gain being one. A high gain screen will reflect more light along a narrower
path than lower gain screen. Screen gains under one use a gray screen to absorb ambient light
to help maintain contrast ratios.
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Screen Trigger: A 12V connection from a projector to an electric screen which tells the screen
to deploy when the projector is turned on and roll up when the projector is turned off.
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Screendoor Effect: An image distortion caused by digital imagers with a low fill rate. Looks like
the picture is seen through a screen door with thin vertical and horizontal black lines and is
commonly noticeable on lower resolution LCD displays. An LCD display fitted with a microlens
array helps reduce this problem.
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SDTV: Standard Definition TeleVision. A class of digital television (DTV) that refers to the 480i
format. 480i is an interlaced video format that produces a full frame of 480 lines of video in two
successive fields. The first field includes the odd lines and the second field includes the even
lines. Sometimes used to refer to regular television.
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SECAM: Sequential Couleur avec Mémoire. A television standard closely related to PAL but with
a different method of sending color information. Runs at 625 horizontal lines of resolution
updating 25 frames a second. Used in France and Russia as well as other countries. Many
eastern European countries are starting to phase out SECAM in favor of PAL.
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Shielded: A feature of speakers and cables where a metal layer is added to contain and protect
a signal from creating or receiving electromagnetic interference.
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Short Throw Lens: A lens designed to project the largest possible image from a short distance.
Most front projection systems use a short throw lens and are required for rear projection where
the depth behind the screen is limited.
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SHP: Super High Pressure. A type of projector lamp.
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Signal-to-Noise Ratio: The ratio of noise to signal measured in dB. The higher the number, the
better.
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Skew: A signal distortion where one part of a signal arrives at a different time than another and
causes color fringes to the sides of an object.
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SMPTE: Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. A U.S. based Trade organization
that develops standards and practices for the movie and television industries. Started in 1916.
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Soundstage: A particular system’s ability to reproduce sound so that it seems to be coming
from a particular location. Same as imaging.
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Spade Lug Connector: Speaker wire U-shaped connection type which attaches to an amplifier
or speaker via screw or 5-way binding post. Also used in older TV antennas to attach to a
television using screws.
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SPDIF: Sony/Philips Digital Interface. SPDIF is a unidirectional digital audio interface for
connecting audio equipment.
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SPL: Sound Pressure Level. Commonly used to describe a speaker’s efficiency at one watt at 1
meter distance. The actual amount of sound output using dB. There are various weightings used
such as A, B or C which reflect the human ear’s sensitivity at different sound levels. A-weighting
is used for levels up to 55dB SPL, B-weighting from 55dB SPL to 85dB SPL and C-weighting for
85dB SPL up. A quiet office is 40dB SPL and a rock concert is 110dB SPL.
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Spring Connection: Also known as a guillotine connection. Speaker cable connection where a
spring-loaded piece of metal is pressed against bare wire.
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sRGB: sRGB stands for standard Red, Green, and Blue, and is a standard for rendering color
evenly across a variety of platforms.
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STB: Set-Top Box. A device used to receive and decode a DTV signal and deliver it to a
television monitor. Other types of STBs are used to convert and decode video and audio for
analog cable, digital cable and satellite services.
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Streaking: A visual artifact of trailing colors behind an on-screen object or across a screen.
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Subpixel: On a flat-panel display, one of the primary color picture elements of which 3 make up
a full color capable pixel.
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SVGA: SVGA is a display resolution measuring 800 pixels horizontally by 600 pixels verically
giving a total display resolution of 480,000 individual pixels. SVGA has a 4:3 aspect ratio.
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SXGA: SXGA is a display resolution measuring 1280 pixels horizontally by 1024 pixels vertically
giving a total display resolution of 1,310,720 individual pixels. SXGA has a 5:4 aspect ratio.
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T
Tab-Tensioned: A projection screen type that has connections on all sides of the screen
material, which pull it taut in order to have a flat screen surface.
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TFT: Thin Film Transistor. A type of LCD display where each pixel is controlled by one to four
transistors. TFT screens are sometimes called active matrix LCDs.
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THD: Total Harmonic Distortion. Expressed as a percentage, it is the measurement of distortion
caused by an electronic component related to the harmonics it generates relative to a
fundamental frequency.
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Throw Distance: Throw distance is the measurement from the projector's lens to the screen. A
projector with a zoom lens will have a range of throw distances for any given image size, while a
projector without a zoom lens will only be able to project one image size at a given distance
from the screen. In Projector Central's articles, throw distance is normally quoted for a 100"
diagonal screen.
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THX: Tom Holman's eXperiment. A certification for audio equipment and installation done to a
standard set by THX Ltd., a company owned by George Lucas. Usually geared towards audio
playback for video and cinema.
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THX Select: THX certification for speakers, receivers and DVD players designed for small to
medium sized home theaters and non-dedicated rooms of around 2000 cubic feet and
performing to a specified standard.
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THX Select 2: THX certification specifically for receivers to a specified standard.
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THX Ultra: Certification program for speakers, receivers, amplifiers and interconnects that are
not room size dependent and performing to a specified standard.
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THX Ultra 2: THX certification for speakers, receivers, controllers, DVD players for dedicated
home theaters of about 3000 cubic feet which perform to a specified standard.
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Tint: Television control that varies the color bias of an incoming video signal. Control needed
due to color variations in the NTSC signal caused by atmospheric conditions. Does not exist on
PAL and SECAM televisions and adjustment should be unnecessary with directly linked video
sources.
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TMDS: Transition-Minimized Differential Signalling. A serial digital transfer protocol for sending
information to a flat panel display. Also known as PanelLink. Used in DVI, HDMI, DFP and VESA
Plug and Display (P&D) as the standard used to send digital pictures. TMDS is just one of the
signals sent via DVI or Plug and Display.
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Toslink: Toshiba designed fiber-optic cable connection that quite often uses the SPDIF transfer
protocol. There are several variations. Transfers data using light instead of electricity.
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Trailing: Replicated versions of an object that slowly fade as the object moves across the
screen.
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Transducer: A device that takes one kind of energy and changes it into another. Seating
vibrators that take their signals from an LFE channel (.1) are called transducers.
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TV lines: The analog measurement of image fidelity, it is the number of resolvable vertical lines
divided by the aspect ratio. A VHS tape is typically rated at 240 lines where the live feed of a
broadcast camera can be as high as 800 lines. It is not the same as pixel resolution.
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Tweeter: A small speaker designed for high frequency reproduction.
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U
UHB: Ultra High Brightness. A projector lamp type.
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UHF: Ultra High Frequency. The 300MHz to 3GHz band of radio frequencies used for broadcast
television among other things including Wi-Fi.
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UHP: Ultra High Pressure. An acronym attributed to projector lamps with an internal pressure of
over 3000 lbs per square inch. Usually a mercury arc lamp. Also stands for Ultra High
Performance.
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Unbalanced: A type of wiring using ground as a shielding method. More susceptible to
interference than balanced wiring.
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Uniformity: A measurement of the evenness of the brightness of white or a particular color
across a display indicated as a percentage. A measurement of 80% means the brightness of an
image is 20% less at its dimmest point compared to its brightest.
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Unity Gain: A projection screen with a gain rating of one that reflects light with a wide viewing
angle back to the viewer. See Gain.
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Universal Remote: A remote control capable of running multiple components of multiple
brands.
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Upconvert: To convert a lower resolution signal to a higher resolution. For example, 480i to
720p.
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UXGA: UXGA is a display resolution measuring 1600 pixels horizontally and 1200 pixels
vertically giving a total display resolution of 1,920,000 individual pixels. UXGA has an aspect
ratio of 4:3.
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V
V-Chip: V-chip technology blocks selected content and derives its name from the violence chip.
Intended for parental control on the types of television children can watch. The chip reads
transmitted ratings from television programs and blacks them out at the level set by the
television owner. V-Chip is required on all televisions manufacturer for the U.S. market that are
greater than 13 inches.
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VBR: Variable Bit Rate. Refers to a variable data rate for encoding MPEG where picture quality is
maintained but data rates change in accordance to the requirements of a video passage. Large
amounts of movement and detail require higher data rates. VBR tends to create more space
efficient MPEG files where picture quality is maintained but data rates change.
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VCR: Video Cassette Recorder.
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VCR Plus: A VCR feature where a user inputs a code, usually published beside a TV listing, into
the VCR which tells it how long a program is, what channel it’s on and what time it starts in
order to record it.
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Vertical Banding: An image artifact that can appear on LCD projectors due to variations in
manufacturing. Usually occurs in picture mid-grays.
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Vertical Blanking Interval: Period of time that the electron beam of a CRT is turned of to
reposition itself from the bottom right of the screen to the top left after painting a field or frame.
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VGA: VGA is a display resolution measuring 640 horizontal pixels and 480 vertical pixels giving
a total display resolution of 307,200 individual pixels. VGA has a 4:3 aspect ratio.
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VHS: Vertical Helical Scan. Also known as Video Home System and is the most common
consumer videotape format. It is a ½” magnetic tape format introduced in 1976 by JVC. Offers
about 240 vertical lines of resolution.
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Volt: A measurement of electrical pressure.
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W
Watt: A unit of power. Volts multiplied by amperage equals watts.
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White Level: The signal level that corresponds to the maximum picture brightness. The white
level is set by the contrast control.
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Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is Wireless Fidelity, and is a type of wireless network used to connect digital
devices without the need for cables. It is mostly used for wireless broadband access and
inexpensive consumer wireless antennas are available at electronics stores. There are four
specifications currently in the family: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g.
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Wi-Fi (802.11a): An IEEE specification for wireless networking that operates in the 5 GHz
frequency range (5.725 GHz to 5.850 GHz) with a maximum 54 Mbps data transfer rate. The 5
GHz frequency band is not as crowded as the 2.4 GHz frequency, because the 802.11a
specification offers more radio channels than the 802.11b. These additional channels can help
avoid radio and microwave interference.
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Wi-Fi (802.11b): International standard for wireless networking that operates in the 2.4 GHz
frequency range (2.4 GHz to 2.4835 GHz) and provides a throughput of up to 11 Mbps. This is a
very commonly used frequency. Microwave ovens, cordless phones, medical and scientific
equipment, as well as Bluetooth devices, all work within the 2.4 GHz frequency band.
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Widescreen: Any aspect ratio that is wider than 4:3. Widescreen televisions are 16 units wide
and 9 units tall. Common widescreen film aspect ratios are 1.66:1, 1.85:1 and 2:35:1.
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WMA: Windows Media Audio. Similar to MP3 but considered a more efficient compressor
allowing for smaller file sizes for a given quality.
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WSXGA: WSXGA defines a class of SXGA displays with a width resolution sufficient to create an
aspect ratio of 16:9. A WSXGA display has 1920 to 1600 pixels horizontally and 1080 to 900
pixels vertically.
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WXGA: WXGA defines a class of XGA displays with a width resolution sufficient to create an
aspect ratio of 16:9. Resolution is defined by the number of pixels that a display uses to create
an image. A WXGA display has 1366 to 1280 pixels horizontally and 768 to 720 pixels vertically.
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X
XGA: XGA is a display resolution measuring 1024 pixels horizontally and 768 pixels vertically
giving a total display resolution of 786,432 individual pixels. XGA has a 4:3 aspect ratio.
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XLR: Balanced connection for audio components and used professionally.
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XviD: A free and open source MPEG-4 video codec that was created by a group of volunteer
programmers trying to overcome the closed source and platform limitations of DivX (XviD
spelled backwards).
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Y
Y/C: Denotes a separated luminance/chrominance signal. Also called S-video. Offers higher
resolutions and no cross interference between color and black and white (luminance) signals
which shows itself as dot crawl.
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Y/Cb/Cr: Digital component video. Y stands for the luma signal itself and Cb is the blue signal
subtracted from luma and finally, Cr equals the red signal subtracted from the luma signal.
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Y/Pb/Pr: Analog component video. Y stands for the luma signal itself and Pb is the blue signal
subtracted from luma and finally, Pr equals the red signal subtracted from the luma signal.
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Z
Zipcord Cable: A flat cable looking like two cables glued together commonly used for audio
applications.
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Zoom Lens: A lens with a variable focal length providing the ability to adjust the size of a
projected image without moving the projector or provide a range of projector placements that
can produce the same size image. See Zoom Ratio.
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Zoom Ratio: Is the ratio between the smallest and largest image a lens can projector from a
fixed distance. For example, a 1.4:1 zoom lens ratio means that a 10 foot image without zoom
would be a 14 foot image with full zoom. Conversely, a 10 foot diagonal image at 15 feet with
no zoom would still be a 10 image at 21 feet at maximum zoom (15 x 1.4 = 21 feet). A zoom
lens is "not as bright" as a fixed lens, and the higher the ratio, the less light output.
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