JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) - Together with the GIF file format, JPEG is an image file type commonly used on the web. A JPEG image is a bitmap, and usually has the file suffix '.jpg' or ".jpeg." When creating a JPEG image, it is possible to configure the level of compression to use. As the lowest compression (i.e. the highest quality) results in the largest file, there is a trade-off between image quality and file size.
kbit/s (kilobits per second) - A measure of the bit rate, i.e. the rate at which bits are passing a given point. See also Bit rate.
LAN (Local Area Network) - A LAN is a group of computers and associated devices that typically share common resources within a limited geographical area.
Linux - Linux is an open source operating system within the UNIX family. Because of its robustness and availability, Linux has won popularity in the open source community and among commercial application developers.
MAC address (Media Access Control address) - A MAC address is a unique identifier associated with a piece of networking equipment, or more specifically, its interface with the network. For example, the network card in a computer has its own MAC address.
Manual iris - This is the opposite to an autoiris, i.e. the camera iris must be adjusted manually to regulate the amount of light allowed to reach the image sensor.
Mbit/s (Megabits per second) - A measure of the bit rate, i.e. the rate at which bits are passing a given point. Commonly used to give the "speed" of a network. A LAN might run at 10 or 100 Mbit/s. See also Bit rate.
Monitor - A monitor is very similar to a standard television set, but lacks the electronics to pick up regular television signals.
Motion JPEG - Motion JPEG is a simple compression/decompression technique for networked video. Latency is low and image quality is guaranteed, regardless of movement or complexity of the image. Image quality is controlled by adjusting the compression level, which in turn provides control over the file size, and thereby the bit rate.
High-quality individual images from the Motion JPEG stream are easily extracted. See also JPEG.
Megapixel - See Pixel.
MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) - The Moving Picture Experts Group develops standards for digital video and audio compression. It operates under the auspices of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The MPEG standards are an evolving series, each designed for a different purpose.
MPEG-2 - MPEG-2 is the designation for a group of audio and video coding standards, and is typically used to encode audio and video for broadcast signals, including digital satellite and Cable TV. MPEG-2, with some modifications, is also the coding format used by standard commercial DVD movies.
MPEG-4 - MPEG-4 is a group of audio and video coding standards and related technology. The primary uses for the MPEG-4 standard are web (streaming media) and CD distribution, conversational (videophone), and broadcast television.
Most of the features included in MPEG-4 are left to individual developers to decide whether to implement them or not. This means that there are probably no complete implementations of the entire MPEG-4 set of standards. To deal with this, the standard includes the concept of "profiles" and "levels", allowing a specific set of capabilities to be defined in a manner appropriate for a subset of applications.
Multicast - Bandwidth-conserving technology that reduces bandwidth usage by simultaneously delivering a single stream of information to multiple network recipients.
Multiplexer - A multiplexer is a high-speed switch that provides full-screen images from up to 16 analog cameras. Multiplexers can playback everything that happened on any one camera with no interference from the other cameras on the system.
Network connectivity - The physical (wired or wireless) and logical (protocol) connection of a computer network or an individual device
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to a network, such as the Internet or a LAN.
NTSC (National Television System Committee) - NTSC is the television and video standard in the United States. NTSC delivers 525 lines at 60 half-frames/second.
OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) - This is a designation for companies that manufacture equipment which is then marketed and sold to other companies under their own names.
PAL (Phase Alternating Line) - PAL is the dominant television standard in Europe. PAL delivers 625 lines at 50 half-frames/second.
PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) - An early standard for securing electronic mail. The PEM-format is often used for representing an HTTPS certificate or certificate request.
Ping - Ping is a basic network program used diagnostically to check the status of a network host or device. Ping can be used to see if a particular network address (IP address or host name) is occupied or not, or if the host at that address is responding normally. Ping can be run from e.g. the Windows Command prompt or the command line in UNIX.
Pixel (Picture element) - A pixel is one of the many tiny dots that make up a digital image. The color and intensity of each pixel represents a tiny area of the complete image.
PoE (Power over Ethernet) - Power over Ethernet provides power to a network device via the same cable as used for the network connection. This is very useful for IP-Surveillance and remote monitoring applications in places where it may be too impractical or expensive to power the device from a power outlet.
PPP(Point-to-Point Protocol) - A protocol that uses a serial interface for communication between two network devices. For example, a PC connected by a phone line to a server.
PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunnelling Protocol) - A protocol (set of communication rules) that allows corporations to extend their own corporate network through private "tunnels" over the public Internet. In this way a corporation can effectively use a WAN (Wide Area Network) as a large single LAN (Local Area Network). This kind of interconnection is known as a virtual private network (VPN). See also VPN.
Pre/post alarm images - The images from immediately before and after an alarm. These images are stored in a buffer for later retrieval.
Progressive scan - Progressive scan, as opposed to interlaced video, scans the entire picture, line by line every sixteenth of a second. In other words, captured images are not split into separate fields as in interlaced scanning.
Computer monitors do not need interlace to show the picture on the screen, but instead show them progressively, on one line at a time in perfect order, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 etc., so there is virtually no "flickering" effect. In a surveillance application, this can be critical when viewing detail within a moving image, such as a person running. A high-quality monitor is required to get the best from progressive scan. See also Interlacing.
Protocol - A special set of rules governing how two entities will communicate. Protocols are found at many levels of communication, and there are hardware protocols and software protocols.
Proxy server - In an organization that uses the Internet, a proxy server acts as an intermediary between a workstation user and the Internet. This provides security, administrative control, and a caching service. Any proxy server associated with a gateway server, or part of a gateway server, effectively separates the organization’s network from the outside network and the local firewall. It is the firewall server that protects the network against outside intrusion.
A proxy server receives requests for Internet services (such as web page requests) from many users. If the proxy server is also a cache server, it looks in its local cache of previously downloaded web pages. If it finds the page, it is returned to the user without forwarding the request to the Internet. If the page is not in the cache, the proxy server, acting as a client on behalf of the user, uses one of its own IP addresses to request the page from another server over the Internet. When the requested page is returned, the proxy server forwards it to
