Radio Frequency RF, Random Access Memory RAM, Raw

encoded information together with FM signals. RDS makes tuning simpler because it can display the name of a station transmitting an RDS signal, and it will find the strongest signal for this station automatically.

•Program Service (PS): The station name, up to 8 characters.

•Traffic Announcement (TA): Allows the radio to search for travel information and switch to the tuned station automatically during a traffic announcement.

•Alternative Frequency (AF): Allows the automatic selection of stronger signals where more than one exists for the same station.

•Enhanced Other Network (EON): This service allows automatic switching to another station for the duration of a traffic announcement; this switching is only possible within the same network.

RADIO FREQUENCY (RF)

Any frequency within the electromagnetic spectrum associated with radio wave propagation. When an RF current is supplied to an antenna, an electromagnetic field is created that then is able to propagate through space. Many wireless technologies are based on RF field propagation.

RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM)

Memory hardware that can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on; an integrated circuit memory chip allows information to be stored or accessed in any order and all storage locations are equally accessible.

RAW

An image capture setting that records the CCD image sensor's raw data (without interpolation or electronic conversions applied) that allows the user to control and change recording parameters post shot including colour depth, ISO setting, white balance, saturation, colour bit depth and so on.

READ-ONLY MEMORY (ROM)

Memory hardware that allows fast access to permanently stored data but prevents addition to or modification of the data.

REAL DIGITAL SYSTEM

A technology where all signals are processed digitally, regardless of source: minimising loss of signal degradation and resulting in highly accurate image reproduction.

RECOMMENDED STANDARD 232 (RS232)

A standard for serial communication which defines the voltages that are used and the pattern of voltage changes. It is electrically unbalanced, meaning that the voltage change on one wire is not balanced by an equal and opposite change on another. This makes the scheme simple to implement, but less robust than other standards.

ROOT MEAN SQUARE (RMS)

A method of rating the power output of speakers or amplifiers. In contrast to Peak Music Power Output, Root Mean Square works through a mean averaging of the components output. This rating provides a far more accurate impression of the actual performance.

SCALE FACTOR EDIT (SFE)

Enhance your music compilation even after the recording is completed. Record level control allows changes to the recorded volume, meaning that difference in volume between different songs can be easily corrected. Record fade in/out feature, on the other hand, allows music fading transition to be performed in 0.1 second steps, up to 15 seconds in length.

SCREEN DEPTH MATCHING

This feature works alongside Cinema Studio Reverberation to "relocate" the front speakers behind the screen, as they would be in a real cinema. The result is a larger listening space and a truer realisation of the theatre sound experience.

SÉQUENTIEL COULEUR AVEC MÉMOIRE (SECAM)

Analog video standard that delivers 625 lines at 50 fields (half-frames, interlaced) per second. Once common in Europe and Africa, many countries that formerly adopted SECAM have now switched to PAL.

SHOCK RESISTANT MEMORY (SRM)

See ESP.

SHORT WAVE (SW)

The collection of radio bands ranging from 2300kHz through to 27.41MHz.

SIDE SHOT

Image compensation (keystone correction) technology that allows the projector to be positioned off-centre in both vertical and horizontal planes.

SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO (S/N RATIO OR SNR)

The ratio of the desired signal level to the level of unwanted noise.

S-MASTER

A fully digital amplifier that enjoys excellent efficiency in processing sound signals as well as minimising any loss during idling periods. It is also extremely frugal in energy consumption due to the absence of analog switches. The design and packaging of amplifiers can be further refined to produce high quality, high power units that reside within an even smaller chassis.

SSIR-EX

Short signal paths between circuit sections reduce noise and improve gain, ensuring a stable and reliable tuner performance with excellent audio quality. High-quality circuit elements improve inter modulation distortion and sensitivity.

SSIR-EXA

Automatically controls the intermediate frequency bandwidth in the FM band, reducing sound interference.

STAMINA

Drawing from Sony's wealth of experience in battery technology, Stamina technology delivers longer operating times.

STANDARD DEFINITION TELEVISION (SDTV)

•480i: Standard Definition NTSC signal - 480 lines, interlace scan with 4:3 aspect ratio.

•576i: Standard Definition PAL signal - 576 lines, interlace scan with 4:3 aspect ratio.

STANDARD PLAY (SP)

The standard VHS recording time of PAL or NTSC signals.

SUBWOOFER

A type of speaker used to enhance bass response in an audio or home theatre system. It contains a woofer (or woofers) in an independent enclosure. Subwoofers are generally intended to cover the range below 200Hz and can extend down to 20Hz or below. They lend weight to the overall sound and presentation of a system by providing extended bass response and low- frequency impact which can be felt physically, but is inaudible to the human ear, especially on action movie soundtracks. Due to non-directional nature of this bass sound, a subwoofer can be positioned almost anywhere in a normal room.

SUPER AUDIO CD (SACD)

An alternative to the DVD-Audio format that is designed to play on audio CD players and Super Audio CD players by comprising two layers: one with CD-Audio the other with high quality audio. The audio encoding used is Direct Stream Digital (DSD).

SUPER EXTENDED VIDEO GRAPHICS ARRAY (SXGA)

An SXGA display has 1280 horizontal pixels by 1024 vertical pixels, giving it a total display resolution of 1,310,720 individual pixels.

SUPER PRO OPTIC SYSTEM

An innovative system for rear projection TVs, adopting the most superior CRT and optical Technologies available do deliver excellent picture quality.

SUPER VIDEO GRAPHICS ARRAY (SVGA)

An SVGA display has 800 horizontal pixels by 600 vertical pixels, giving it a total display resolution of 480,000 individual pixels.

S-VIDEO

Separated video. Offers improved picture quality over composite video signals by separating the picture signal into colour and brightness information.

SYNDICAT FRANCAIS DES CONSTRUCTEURS D'APPAREILS RADIO ET TELEVISION (SCART)

An audio-visual connection type, typically used to connect a television and other video components primarily used in Europe. The SCART cable can have up to 21 active pins and can carry audio, video and control signals. It was developed by the French company Peritel.

TAGGED IMAGE FILE FORMAT (TIFF)

One of the most widely supported file formats for storing lossless, bit-mapped images on personal computers.

TELETEXT

A group of text pages transmitted with the normal TV signal that can be read using a TV that has a teletext function. First regular teletext transmissions were from BBC in Great Britain in the 1974.

THEATRICAL ASPECT RATIO

The picture aspect ratio that approximates that of 70mm film.

TIME MACHINE RECORDING

Memorises several seconds of unrecorded data. This function automatically adds a missed beginning e.g. of a radio program that you may have wanted to record.

TJANSTEMANNENS CENTRAL ORGANIZATION (TCO)

A standard set in 1991. It is even more stringent than MPR II, especially for alternating electric fields. Not only are the permitted field levels reduced compared with MPR II, but the measuring distance is reduced as well.

•TCO'95: Includes ergonomic and ecologic requirements.

•TCO'99: Further expends the ergonomic and ecologic requirements.

TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION (THD)

The amount of undesirable harmonics present in an output audio signal expressed as a precentage. The lower the percentage the better.

TRACK AT ONCE (TAO)

The CD-ROM disc is created, writing a track at a time; allowing for additional data (tracks) to be added at a later time.

TRUSURROUND SRS

A technology from SRS Laboratory that creates a broad, fully immersive sound image within the listening area that wraps around the listener's head regardless of seating position.

TWEETER

A loudspeaker driver designed to handle high frequency (treble) signals.

ULTRA EXTENDED GRAPHICS ARRAY (UXGA)

A UXGA display has 1600 horizontal pixels by 1200 vertical pixels, giving it a total display resolution of 1,920,000 individual pixels.

USB STREAMING

Allows connection via USB terminal to a PC and broadcast live video with audio, edit images, capture still images or play back recorded video scenes.

VARIABLE ATTENUATION CONTROL SYSTEM (VACS)

Continually monitors the balance between the current and voltage amplification stages in an amplifier, thereby reducing distortion even at high volume levels.

V-COMPRESSION (WIDE MODE)

A mode that only scans the lines within the picture area when widescreen aspect ratio content is on the screen. This optimises picture quality by not utilising scan lines for the blank area at the top and bottom of the screen.

VIDEO GRAPHICS ARRAY (VGA)

A VGA display has 640 horizontal pixels by 480 vertical pixels, giving it a total display resolution of 307,200 individual pixels.

VIRTUAL MULTI DIMENSION (VMD)

Overcomes one of the fundamental challenges in accurately representing theatre sound in a confined space. Using 3D processing technology, it creates five pairs of "virtual" surround speakers from the existing rear speakers (or if unavailable the two front speakers). "Pitched" 25 to 35 degrees overhead, these virtual speakers create sound depth and scale, delivering a more realistic, spacious surround sound experience.

VIRTUAL PHONE TECHNOLOGY (VPT)

See Digital Signal Processing (DSP).

VOICE OPERATED RECORDING (VOR)

Voice-controlled recording on dictating machines.

VOLT (V)

The standard unit of electric potential. It is defined as the amount of electrical potential between two points on a conductor carrying a current of 1 ampere while 1 watt of power is dissipated between the two points.

VOLUME UNIT (VU)

A unit of measurement of the power of an audio signal.

WATT (W)

Unit of power. More watts mean more power, but how loud a system sounds also depends on speaker sensitivity and room size.

WHITE BALANCE

The ability of a camera to adjust the color balance of a picture to compensate for the ambient lighting.

WIDE BIT STREAM (WBS)

Conventional MiniDisc playback is done with 16-bit signal processing, WBS technology increases the rate to 18-bit or higher. This results in more accurate playback of even subtle sound signals, and greatly improves the signal to noise ratio.

WIDE EXTENDED GRAPHICS ARRAY (WXGA)

A WXGA display has 1366 horizontal pixels by 768 vertical pixels, giving it a total display resolution of 1,049,088 individual pixels.

WIDESCREEN ASPECT RATIO

A range of picture aspect ratios that approximate that of 35/70mm film. Also known as 16:9.

•Anamorphic Widescreen: Squeezing and unsqueezing the video frame. 1.78:1 is squeezed into 1.33:1 frame. On a wide screen this screen can be expanded horizontally to form the complete resolution.

•Letterbox Widescreen:"

WIRELESS FIDELITY (WI-FI)

See IEEE 802.11.

WIRELESS LAN