■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Glossary

Brightness. The balance of light and dark shades in an image.

Composite video. A type of video signal that encodes picture, luminance, and synchronization information so it can be carried in one signal.

Contrast. A measure of the tonal differences between the highlights and shadows of an image. In a high-contrast image, light areas are very bright and dark areas are very dark, with relatively few levels of gray between white and black. Contrast is decreased by adding grays.

NTSC. A 525-line video broadcast format developed by the National

Television Standards Committee. NTSC is widely used in North

America, Mexico, and Japan.

PAL (Phase Alternation by Line). A 625-line video broadcast format used in Western Europe, India, China, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Africa.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

97