GLOSSARY

PAL

Phase Alternating Lines. The dominant color television format in Western Europe, Australia, most of Asia, and parts of South America and Africa. PAL is characterized by each frame being composed of 625 horizontal scan- ning lines occurring 25 times per second. (Also see NTSC and SECAM.)

RCTC

Rewritable Consumer Time Code (also referred to as RC). Commonly available on 8mm and Hi-8 format devices.

S-Video

Avideo standard used by camcorders. S-Video separates the Y (luminance) and C (chroma) signals to improve sig- nal quality. Also see Composite Video.

SECAM

The standard video signal used in France, Eastern Europe, and parts of Asia and Africa. Also see NTSC and PAL.

SMPTE

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. (Pronounced simp-tee.) This committee of engineers and manufacturers establishes the most widely accepted stan- dard for time code. They created specifications for two version of time code: LTC and VITC.

Time Code

A method of putting a unique number or address on each frame of a videotape. There are several formats of time code. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engi- neers set the most common time code standard, called

SMPTE.

VCR

Video Cassette Recorder. A video device normally used to record and play back video on cassettes. VCR is a con- sumer-level term: VCR’s in the professional field are nor- mally referred to as VTR’s (Video Tape Recorders). VCR’s and VTR’s perform the same functions, although VTR’s usually provide many additional features and func- tions.

Video Editing

The process of applying special effects to video sequences and assembling those sequences into a video program.

VITC

Vertical Interval Time Code. (Pronounced vit-see.) An SMPTE-defined standard for time code, recorded into the video signal during the vertical blanking interval.

VTR

Video Tape Recorder. Similar to VCR (see above) except that VTR’s are normally used in the professional video field and contain enhanced features. VCR is normally used in conjunction with consumer-level electronics.

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FOCUS Enhancements MX-4DV manual Time Code, Video Editing