Philips PCA635VC manual Glossary Of Terms

13 Glossary Of Terms

Active Video Area	The section, or region, of the application that displays live motion video.
Aspect Ratio	The length compared to the width of the video window. For example, a standard television has a 3
	to 4 aspect ratio (for every 3 pixels of height there are 4 pixels for length).
AVI	The Microsoft standard file format for combined video and sound files on the PC. This is part of
	Video for Windows.
BMP	Often referred to as “Bitmap,” this is the Microsoft standard PC file format for images.
Codec	This is used to reference a compression format for creating sound and video streams on the com-
	puter.
Composite	Often referred to as an “RCA” adapter, or plug, this is a standard connector type used on many
	VCRs, TVs, camcorders and other video and sound equipment.
Compression	Term used to describe a process of compacting or squeezing video and sound information into a
	smaller than normal size. For example, 2 to 1 compression would indicate that 2 pixels would now
	only occupy the space of 1 pixel.
DCI	“Direct Control Interface” was developed primarily by Intel and Microsoft to help develop a com-
	mon standard for the passing of video information in the PC.
DirectDraw	The latest standard developed primarily by Microsoft to help develop a common method for the
	passing of video information in the PC.
EXE	Often referred to as “Executable,” this is the standard file format for programs on the PC.
Frame	A single image in a video stream.
Frame Rate	Typically judged in seconds (fps, frames per second), this refers to the number of single images
	that will be displayed or captured in a video stream.
Pixel	The smallest square or round element in an image. These are the “building blocks” that when
	alone are only one color, but when combined with others form complete images.
Playback Window	The window within the QuickVideo Capture Application that is used to display previously captu-
	red video.
Preview Window	The window within the QuickVideo Capture Application that is used to display live, or moving,
	video.
RCA Connector	Often referred to as an “Composite” adapter, or connector, this is a standard connector type used
	on many VCRs, TVs, camcorders and other video and sound equipment.
Resolution	Typically used in the context of pixels, this is used to describe overall video size. This is relative to
	quality in that the higher the resolution, the better the quality and the more pixels.
S-Video	Also referred to as “S-VHS,” “HI-8,” “Y-C” and “Super Video,” this is a connector-found on hig-
	her-end consumer video equipment-that separates brightness and color information. This is literal-
	ly double the quality of composite video. In addition, this standard eliminates color bleeding in
	video.
Video for Windows	Developed by Microsoft, this is a standard for displaying video on the Windows desktop.
	Window’s 95 has this built in, however, this must be installed separately on Windows 3.1 and
	3.11.
Video Stream	A collection of images that combine to form motion–or moving–pictures (also known as movies
	or video clips).

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