| GLOSSARY |
Aspect Ratio | The ratio between the width and height of the TV picture on the screen. In a normal TV set the aspect ratio is 4 |
| to 3 (4:3). The new aspect ratio in HDTV is 16:9 which resembles the aspect ratio in a movie theatre |
| (Widescreen). New TV systems support both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio and can automatically switch between |
| them. |
Audio Video (A/V) A term often used when discussing a channel on a TV receiver or on video equipment, which has been | |
| especially designed to accept VCR |
| within the TV set to prevent picture distortion and skewing. It is also used for |
| handle both types of signals. |
ATSC | ATSC: Advanced Television Systems Committee. Formed to establish technical standards for advanced |
| television systems, including digital high definition television (HDTV). |
CVBS | Composite Video Baseband Signal. In broadcast television this refers to the video signal, |
| including the colour information and syncs |
DTV | Digital television. Generic term that refers to all digital television formats, including |
| (HDTV) and |
DOLBY Digital Dolby Digital -
5.1.The channels consist of front left, front right, front center, surround or rear left, surround or rear right, and a separate subwoofer
Digital Tuner | A digital tuner serves as the decoder required to receive and display digital broadcasts. It can be included inside TV sets or |
| via a |
HDTV | The generally agreed upon definition of HDTV is approximately twice the vertical and horizontal picture resolution of today’s |
| NTSC TV, which essentially makes the picture twice as sharp. HDTV also has a screen ratio of 16:9 as compared with most of |
| today’s TV screens, which have a screen ratio of 4:3. HDTV offers reduced motion artifacts (i.e. ghosting, dot crawl), and |
| offers 5.1 independent channels of |
HDMI | |
| both uncompressed digital audio and video signals; protected by HDCP digital copy protection. |
Letterbox | A method of presenting widescreen images on a standard screen television. In order to preserve the aspect ratio of the |
| original video content, the picture is scaled down so that it fits the available width of the television screen. Since the picture |
| will not fill the screen vertically, dark bars are displayed above and below the picture. |
NTSC | National television system committee. The organization that developed the analog television standard currently in use in the |
| U.S., Canada, and Japan. Now generally used to refer to that standard. The NTSC standard combines blue, red, and green |
| signals modulated as an AM signal with an FM signal for audio. |
Progressive Scan In Progressive Scanning all the horizontal scan lines are scanned on to the screen at one time. The Digital TV and HDTV
| Standards accept both Interlaced Scan and Progressive Scan broadcast and display methods. |
PIP | |
| for monitoring several video images simultaneously on one screen (several PIP units can be used together each compressing |
| an image into the main screen in a different location). |
Resolution | Resolution: A measurement of the finest (smallest) detail that is visible in a video image. TV Resolutions may be expressed as |
| number of pixels in an image; or more commonly, “As Total Number of (horizontally scanned) Lines used to create the image. |
| Standard Digital TV Resolutions: |
| SDTV: 480i - The picture is 740x480 pixels, 480p - The picture is 704x480 pixels. |
| HDTV: 720p - The picture is 1280x720 pixels, 1080i - The picture is 1920x1080 pixels, 1080p - The picture is 1920x1080 |
| pixels. |
Widescreen | A term given to picture displays with a wider aspect ratio than NTSC 4:3. Digital HDTV or SDTV is referred to as “16:9 wide |
| screen.” Most motion pictures also have a 16:9 wide screen aspect ratio. Most Digital TVs have a screen that is wider than it |
| is tall (if a Digital TV screen is nine inches high, it’s 16 inches wide.) When watching a show recorded in the wide screen |
| format on a Digital TV, viewers see more of the movie, while when viewing wide screen format on an analog TV, cropped |
| edges are evident. |
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