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Audio & Video

7.1 Similar to 5.1's true surround sound with pairs of front and rear speakers, a centre speaker and a subwoofer.  7.1 also offers two extra rear speakers.
16:9 The aspect ratio (width:height) of widescreen televisions and cinema screens.
5.1 Digital Decoder Converts the surround sound soundtrack on a DVD movie into a signal that's sent to an amplifier.
ASF Advanced Streaming Format. A streaming file format from Microsoft.
Aspect Ratio A measure of the relative width and height of a display. Traditional television screens, for instance, have an aspect ratio of 4:3 (meaning four units wide by three units high), while modern widescreen sets have 16:9 proportions.
AVI A type of video file used by Windows and usually played using Windows Media Player.
Blu-Ray A new format that will deliver high-definition on DVD-sized discs. Movies and the first compatible players are expected during 2006.
Capturing The process of taking an ordinary analogue signal from a camcorder and converting it into digital information to be stored on a computer's hard drive.
CD Compact Disc.
Co-Axial Cable that has one channel that carries the signal, which is surrounded (after a layer of insulation) by another concentric channel.
Composite Video A type of video signal used by some camcorders, video recorders and TV's in which the red, green and blue signals are mixed together. The aerial connection on a TV set uses composite video.
Decoder A home cinema component that converts the surround sound soundtrack on a DVD movie into a signal that's sent to an amplifier. Decoders and amplifiers are often combined into a single unit
Digital Stabiliser A method of removing small video camera shakes, such as the normal shaking of the operator's hand, by adjusting the picture by a compensating amount. Poorly implemented, it can cause a sudden jerk when you start an intended camera move.
Digitizing Changing an analogue signal, such as an audio/video recording, into digital data on a computer.
DivX A video compression standard that allows high quality video to be stored in small files.
Dolby Digital A standard for high-quality digital audio used for video stored in digital format, especially on DVD's.
Dolby Pro-Logic A way of encoding audio information, developed by Dolby Labs.
Dolby Surround Sound A system which literally surrounds the listener with sound, usually employing several speakers positioned around a room and controlled by a special decoder. Surround sound is used in feature films and many TV shows.
DSP Digital Signal Processor. Electronics that apply special effects to digital audio to improve its overall sound or to make it sound like it's in a certain environment, such as a church or concert hall.
DTS Digital Theatre Systems. A digital movie soundtrack format used in cinemas and on some DVD movies.
DV Digital Video. A DV camera stores images on digital medium.
DVC Digital Video Cassette.  The latest video standard used in digital camcorders only.
Encoder In the context of digital music, a piece of software that converts audio CD's to MP3 or some other digital format.
EPG Electronic Programming Guide.  Displays TV schedules on-screen, and lets you point and click at the ones you would like to record or watch.
Frame Rate The number of images, or frames, shown each second that make up a moving image. The higher the rate, the smoother the moving image. Games and movies in particular benefit from high frame rates.
Frame Size The size or resolution of each individual frame of video, usually set on capture and dependent on whether you require full screen or a small video window on your monitor.
Generation Loss The loss in quality and detail that occurs every time you copy an analogue signal from source to another. Digital-to-digital copying does not involve any generational loss, unless it's through an analogue medium such as a video-capture card.
HD-DVD A new format offering high-definition video on DVD-sized discs. Rival to Blu-Ray.
HDMI High Definition Multimedia Interface. A specification that combines audio and video into one digital interfaces for use with DVDs, digital TVs and so on.
HDTV High Definition Television. High-resolution, widescreen digital TV that requires both an HDTV broadcast and television
MiniDV The Digital Video (DV) tape format for digital camcorders.
MPEG Motion Picture Experts Group. A method of compressing digital video. MPEG-1 compression gives VHS-quality vide, while MPEG-2 compression gives high-quality video with CD-quality sound. MPEG-2 compression is used for DVD movies.
PAL Phase Alternating Line. A TV standard used in the UK and in much of Europe.
Plasma A display where each pixel is illuminated by a tiny bit of plasma or charged gas.
Progressive Scan Provides a more film-like image display for viewing DVDs on a television.
PVR Personal Video Recorders.  PVR's store recorded TV shows on hard drives, rather than tape or DVD. Most can be set to automatically record a whole series.
QuickTime A video file format invented by Apple, and used on both PC's and Macs.
Rip To digitally extract the music data from a CD-ROM or audio CD. Ripping a track from an audio CD is the first stage of compressing it as an MP3 file.
Ripper Software that can be used to automatically convert CD audio and WAV files into compressed MP3 or WMA format for later playback, either through your PC or from a portable digital music player.
S/PDIF Sony/Philips Digital InterFace. A standard for transferring digital audio information between devices. S/PDIF sockets can be both optical and electrical, and found on such things as sound cards and DVD players.
SACD Super Audio CD. A high-resolution audio CD format.
Sample A recording of instruments or sounds. Samples can be used with a sequencer to make music, or downloaded to a wavetable soundcard so it can reproduce those sounds, combining them and playing them back at different pitches to make music.
Satellite Speaker Compact, usually cube-shaped speaker designed to reproduce midrange and high audio frequencies. Satellite speakers should be used in conjunction with a subwoofer.
SCART A standardised 21-pin connector for two-way traffic of video and audio signals. It is used across Europe to connect TV's, video recorders and other domestic audio-visual equipment.
Set-Top Box A device that enables a TV set to receive digital TV broadcasts.
Subwoofer A special type of speaker designed to reproduce deep bass sounds only. Even on a stereo system, only one subwoofer is required because human ears cannot detect the direction of bass frequencies.
Surround Sound A system which literally surrounds the listener with sound, usually employing several speakers positioned around the room controlled by a special decoder. Surround sound is used in all feature films and many TV shows.
S-VHS Super-VHS. A good-quality high-band video standard used by camcorders.
S-Video A higher-quality video connection that carries brightness and colour information separately. Usually found on high-end camcorders and on some graphics and TV tuner cards.
Timecode Digital signal, part of a video recording, which indicates elapsed time in hours, minutes, seconds and frames.
Timeshift Recording Technology that allows you to 'pause' a live broadcast.
Transitions In video editing, methods of smoothly cutting from one video clip to another, such as fading between them.
Tweeter A loudspeaker designed to reproduce high audio frequencies.
Video-CD A compact disc format that contains low-quality video on a par with VHS tape.
VOB A file format that is used on DVD's.
WAV Also known as a Wave file and saved with a .WAV extension. An audio file, used for recording music and other sounds to disk. Because they are uncompressed, WAV files can be very large. The file format was developed by Microsoft and IBM.
WMA Windows Media Audio. A compressed digital music format developed by Microsoft and played back through the latest versions of Windows Media Player. It allows secure encoding of music tracks but is less widely used than MP3.
WMV Windows Media Video. A Microsoft file format for video.
Woofer Type of loudspeaker designed to reproduce low audio frequencies, though not the very deepest bass tones. These may be played back through a sub-woofer.