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Home Theater Programming Sources
Off-Air TV
Definitions for Home Theater, Audio/Video, Home Automation terminology:
BNC - Abreviation for Bayonet Neill Coleman connector. A locking connector used primarily
on professional video hardware. Usually found on consumer gear only on video projectors.
Gives a much better connection than the RCA connectors typically found on consumer
grade video components.
Carbon Nanotube - Nano sized tubes about 1/50th the size of a human hair, comprised of
carbon atoms. There is work being done to create flat video displays from these.
Component Video - Between S-video and RGB in the video quality hierarchy. Much greater
color bandwidth than S-video. Used in DVD players, HDTV set top boxes and satellite
receivers, this high quality video connection uses three cables to carry the video signal.
One of these, Y is the luminance(luma) channel, the other two, B-Y (also called U or Cb)
and R-Y (also called V or Cr) are color difference signals. The color difference signals are
color signals with the luma information removed. Variants of this format include YUV,
YCbCr, YPbPr and YIQ. On consumer equipment the Y connector will typically be colored
green, and the B-Y and R-Y, blue and red respectively.
Composite Video - A type of video signal where the chroma (color) and luma (B&W) signal
are carried while combined together. The most common type of video signal & the worst on
the video quality food chain. Uses a standard "RCA" type connector and a 75 ohm coaxial
cable, typically with a yellow connector insert.
CRT - Cathode Ray Tube. What your standard TV tube is. This is what makes the image in
3-gun video projectors, direct view TVs, and older rear projection TVs. Creates an image
by firing an electron beam at a phosphor piece of glass. When hit by the beam, the
phosphor glows. The beam scans very rapidly back and forth across the face of the tube,
starting at the top & going to the bottom. This is what makes the picture. Very mature
technology, CRTs can give a fantastic picture, with deep blacks, great color and no pixel
structure.
D-ILA - Digital Image Light Amplifier. JVC's version of LCOS (see below)
DLP - Digital Light Processing - A digital display technology developed by Texas
Instruments that relys on thousands or millions of tiny mirrors to create an image. These
mirrors are controlled by individual transistors. The mirrors are pivoted either 10 or 12
degrees depending upon the version of the DLP chip being used. The pivoting action
causes light from a strong lamp to be reflected either out through a lens or into a light
absorbing medium. There are projectors that use a different DLP chip for each color,
known as 3-chip projectors and projectors that use 1 chip. The single chip units display
red, green, and blue in very rapid succession by directing light through a spinning color
filter known as a color wheel. Your mind combines the 3 colors to produce an image.
Dolby Digital - A digital surround sound format created by Dolby Labs. It the most popular
consumer digital surround sound format.
Dot Crawl - A video anomaly, more technically known as cross color interference. This is
caused by the inability of the chroma and luma signals to be completely separated from
each other. The reduction of this anomaly is one of the main reasons S-video looks better
than composite video.
DTS - A digital surround sound format from Digital Theater Systems. A competitor to
Dolby's digital format. Uses less compression than Dolby Digital. Available in 5.1 and also
DTS-ES Discrete. DTS-ES Discrete has a discrete, as opposed to a derived, rear channel.
DTV - Digital Television. While all high definition television in the US is digital, not all digital
television is high definition.
DVD - Digital Versatile or Video Disc, depending upon who you believe. The current
standard format for consumer video. It looks like a CD but is different internally. About to
be supplanted by HD-DVD and/or Blu Ray Disc.
DVI - Digital Video Interface. A video connection that allows the video to be transmitted
from source to monitor in digital form. This is a great benefit for digital display devices such
as LCD, DLP and plasma displays. In these devices, analog video has to be converted to
digital before it is processed and displayed. The DVI connection allows the conversion
process to be bypassed, increasing video quality. Ther are two types of DVI connector, the
DVI-I and DVI-D. DVI-I includes analog video and digital video. DVI-D is shown in the
picture and only includes digital video.
DVI-HDCP - DVI with High Density Copy Protection to combat unauthorized copying of
video content. The display device must have both a DVI connection and be able to support
HDCP in order to display a DVI-HDCP program.
FLCD - Ferroelectric LCD
HDMI - High Density Multimedia Interface. An uncompressed digital signal transmission
interface capable of carrying both digital audio and digital video over one cable. If
necessary an adapter may be used to convert to a DVI connector for video only
applications. One of the biggest faults with HDMI cables is their failure to lock securely into
place. It'll save you from going completely mad. Get great deals on top quality HDMI cables
here. There's no need to spend a fortune on Great HDMI cables.
The current HDMI version is 1.3a.
HDTV - High Definition Television. Digital television in 720p, 1080i or (one day) 1080p
resolutions. Where the numerical value = lines of resolution and p = progressive scan, i =
interlaced scan. While there 18 digital transmission formats approved by the ATSC, only
these 3 are actually classed as HDTV.
Interlaced - a method of scanning whereby the beam scans every other line with each pass
over the CRT face. On the next pass, it "fills in the blanks" by scanning the other lines.
With static images such as still pictures, spreadsheets and word processing, this looks
fine. With moving images, especially of smaller objects, artifacts can be caused by the
difference in position of the object between the first pass of the beam and the second.
Applies to analog displays only. Digital displays use progressive scan and convert any
analog signal to progressive before it is displayed. The first line doublers were really just
de-interlacers that converted standard NTSC interlaced images to progressive scan.
LCD - Liquid Crystal Display. Widely used in everything from calculators & cell phones to
video projectors. A transmissive medium. Creates an image by twisting and untwisting a
crystal. When untwisted, the crystal allows light to pass, when twisted, it blocks light. LCD
displays are illuminated from behind. This blocking of the back light creates the display.
LCOS - Liquid Crystal On Silicon. An oversimplified explanation is that LCOS is a
combination of DLP and LCD. LCOS uses a mirror, as with a DLP, to reflect light through a
lens. They use a liquid crystal rather than a transistor, as in DLP, to modulate a mirror.
They have a very high fill factor, meaning the pixel structure is very dense and there is
little space between the pixels. Most examples of projectors and RPTVs using this
technology are three chip designs. They tend to produce a very nice, smooth image. JVC's
DILA is a variation of this technology. Sony has X-TAL relfective, another variation.
NTSC - National Television Standards Committee. The standard used for analog TV
broadcasts in the US. NTSC is 525i with some of the 525 lines used to create the blanking
interval and only 480 lines or so used for picture information. Until HDTV, which adheres to
the one of the ATSC standards, all consumer video in the US was based upon this
standard.
OLED - Organic Light Emitting Diode. This promising new technology is based upon
organic materials sandwiched between a substrate material, usually glass. When given the
proper amount of current, each OLED element glows. Because it is a light emitter, the
OLED display has no need for back lighting. It is looks crisper, is lighter, thinner and uses
far less power than a traditional LCD display. Soon the glass substrate will give way to
flexible plastic. This will allow OLED displays to be even thinner and also be rolled up for
storage. Currently used in cell phone, car stereo and PDA displays, look for them soon in
laptops. Expect plasma-sized OLED displays to hit the market about 2006.
Pixel - Picture Element
Plasma Display - The current rage in flat panel displays. The image is formed by plasma
(ionized gas) being energized. This causes it to give off an electron, which strikes a
phosphor, causing the phosphor to emit light. The last portion of this process is basically
how a standard CRT emits light.
Raster - The area of the CRT face actually swept by the electron beam to produce an
image.
RGB - Red Green Blue
RGBHV - Red Green Blue with separate Horizontal and Vertical synch signals. Typically
uses either a 5-wire BNC connection or a HD-15 (VGA) connection.
RGBS - Red Green Blue with combined Horizontal and Vertical synch signals. This uses a
4 wire configuration.
RS-232 - A serial data transmission protocol used for, among other things, controlling A/V
equipment, & home automation functions. Can be either 1 or 2 way. 2-way allows feedback
to indicate status & can provide information such as song & track info from media servers.
It can typically support data rates of up to 115Kbps and is range limited to around 50ft or
so. RS-232 devices for A/V and home control usually use an RJ-11, RJ-45 or DSUB-9
connector for the serial interface.
RS-485 - A more robust serial protocol than RS-232. It uses balanced communication lines
and can usually support lengths of up to 4,000', sometimes longer.
Scan Line - The line made when an electron beam sweeps horizontally across the face of
a CRT. These lines are created very rapidly, from the top of the CRT face to the bottom.
Your mind blends the lines together to form an image.
SED - (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) A type of flat panel display, pioneered
by Canon and Toshiba, that uses an electron gun similar to a standard CRT display. The
difference is that a SED uses a separate gun for each pixel in the display. This type of
display promises true CRT image quality from a flat panel display. As a bonus, the SED
display will consume between 30% - 65% less power than traditional flat panel displays on
the market today. The SED will be used for sizes up to 140" dia. Toshiba has indicated
they will introduce this type of flat panel display for Q4, 2005. NOTE: This has been moved
to mid 2007 by Toshiba. SED demos at CES 2006 were fantastic. NOTE: Legal problems
forced the SED TV to be cancelled by Toshiba in late 2007.
S-video - A type of video signal where the chroma & luma signals are carried separately.
Having the chroma and luma separated relieves the display device from having to
separate them. This is a step up the video food chain from composite video due to s-
video's greater color bandwidth and fewer video artifacts. Uses a 4-pin DIN type connector.
Subwoofer - A speaker used exclusively to reproduce very low bass. In a home theater
system, the subwoofer is used to reproduce the Low Frequency Effects(LFE) channel, as
well as any bass that has been directed away from the main speakers by the surround
processor. Most subwoofers on the market today are powered, meaning they also contain
a dedicated amplifier.
Unified Display Interface - The proposed UDI standard was announced on Dec. 20th,
2005. According to the press release from the UDI group: "UDI is targeted to become the
new display interface for desktop PCs, workstations, notebook PCs and PC monitors,
replacing the aging VGA analog standard and providing guidelines to ensure compatibility
with today’s DVI standard." Principal members of the UDI SIG include Apple Computer Inc.,
Intel Corp., LG Electronics, National Semiconductor Corp., Samsung Electronics, Silicon
Image Inc., ATI, LG/Philips, Analogix, and others.
WiMax - The latest iteration of the 802 wireless networking standard; 802.16. WiMax is
designed to give a much broader geographical coverage area than the current standard,
WiFi, can provide. When completely implemented, it is envisioned that WiMax networks will
give wireless network coverage throughout metropolitan areas. Theoretical range is up to
30 miles, but practical range is limited to about 1/5 of that distance in most cases.
Frequencies will be up to 60Mhz, and the architecture will be similar to digital cell phone
systems.
BNC - Abreviation for Bayonet Neill Coleman connector. A locking connector used primarily
on professional video hardware. Usually found on consumer gear only on video projectors.
Gives a much better connection than the RCA connectors typically found on consumer
grade video components.
Carbon Nanotube - Nano sized tubes about 1/50th the size of a human hair, comprised of
carbon atoms. There is work being done to create flat video displays from these.
Component Video - Between S-video and RGB in the video quality hierarchy. Much greater
color bandwidth than S-video. Used in DVD players, HDTV set top boxes and satellite
receivers, this high quality video connection uses three cables to carry the video signal.
One of these, Y is the luminance(luma) channel, the other two, B-Y (also called U or Cb)
and R-Y (also called V or Cr) are color difference signals. The color difference signals are
color signals with the luma information removed. Variants of this format include YUV,
YCbCr, YPbPr and YIQ. On consumer equipment the Y connector will typically be colored
green, and the B-Y and R-Y, blue and red respectively.
Composite Video - A type of video signal where the chroma (color) and luma (B&W) signal
are carried while combined together. The most common type of video signal & the worst on
the video quality food chain. Uses a standard "RCA" type connector and a 75 ohm coaxial
cable, typically with a yellow connector insert.
CRT - Cathode Ray Tube. What your standard TV tube is. This is what makes the image in
3-gun video projectors, direct view TVs, and older rear projection TVs. Creates an image
by firing an electron beam at a phosphor piece of glass. When hit by the beam, the
phosphor glows. The beam scans very rapidly back and forth across the face of the tube,
starting at the top & going to the bottom. This is what makes the picture. Very mature
technology, CRTs can give a fantastic picture, with deep blacks, great color and no pixel
structure.
D-ILA - Digital Image Light Amplifier. JVC's version of LCOS (see below)
DLP - Digital Light Processing - A digital display technology developed by Texas
Instruments that relys on thousands or millions of tiny mirrors to create an image. These
mirrors are controlled by individual transistors. The mirrors are pivoted either 10 or 12
degrees depending upon the version of the DLP chip being used. The pivoting action
causes light from a strong lamp to be reflected either out through a lens or into a light
absorbing medium. There are projectors that use a different DLP chip for each color,
known as 3-chip projectors and projectors that use 1 chip. The single chip units display
red, green, and blue in very rapid succession by directing light through a spinning color
filter known as a color wheel. Your mind combines the 3 colors to produce an image.
Dolby Digital - A digital surround sound format created by Dolby Labs. It the most popular
consumer digital surround sound format.
Dot Crawl - A video anomaly, more technically known as cross color interference. This is
caused by the inability of the chroma and luma signals to be completely separated from
each other. The reduction of this anomaly is one of the main reasons S-video looks better
than composite video.
DTS - A digital surround sound format from Digital Theater Systems. A competitor to
Dolby's digital format. Uses less compression than Dolby Digital. Available in 5.1 and also
DTS-ES Discrete. DTS-ES Discrete has a discrete, as opposed to a derived, rear channel.
DTV - Digital Television. While all high definition television in the US is digital, not all digital
television is high definition.
DVD - Digital Versatile or Video Disc, depending upon who you believe. The current
standard format for consumer video. It looks like a CD but is different internally. About to
be supplanted by HD-DVD and/or Blu Ray Disc.
DVI - Digital Video Interface. A video connection that allows the video to be transmitted
from source to monitor in digital form. This is a great benefit for digital display devices such
as LCD, DLP and plasma displays. In these devices, analog video has to be converted to
digital before it is processed and displayed. The DVI connection allows the conversion
process to be bypassed, increasing video quality. Ther are two types of DVI connector, the
DVI-I and DVI-D. DVI-I includes analog video and digital video. DVI-D is shown in the
picture and only includes digital video.
DVI-HDCP - DVI with High Density Copy Protection to combat unauthorized copying of
video content. The display device must have both a DVI connection and be able to support
HDCP in order to display a DVI-HDCP program.
FLCD - Ferroelectric LCD
HDMI - High Density Multimedia Interface. An uncompressed digital signal transmission
interface capable of carrying both digital audio and digital video over one cable. If
necessary an adapter may be used to convert to a DVI connector for video only
applications. One of the biggest faults with HDMI cables is their failure to lock securely into
place. It'll save you from going completely mad. Get great deals on top quality HDMI cables
here. There's no need to spend a fortune on Great HDMI cables.
The current HDMI version is 1.3a.
HDTV - High Definition Television. Digital television in 720p, 1080i or (one day) 1080p
resolutions. Where the numerical value = lines of resolution and p = progressive scan, i =
interlaced scan. While there 18 digital transmission formats approved by the ATSC, only
these 3 are actually classed as HDTV.
Interlaced - a method of scanning whereby the beam scans every other line with each pass
over the CRT face. On the next pass, it "fills in the blanks" by scanning the other lines.
With static images such as still pictures, spreadsheets and word processing, this looks
fine. With moving images, especially of smaller objects, artifacts can be caused by the
difference in position of the object between the first pass of the beam and the second.
Applies to analog displays only. Digital displays use progressive scan and convert any
analog signal to progressive before it is displayed. The first line doublers were really just
de-interlacers that converted standard NTSC interlaced images to progressive scan.
LCD - Liquid Crystal Display. Widely used in everything from calculators & cell phones to
video projectors. A transmissive medium. Creates an image by twisting and untwisting a
crystal. When untwisted, the crystal allows light to pass, when twisted, it blocks light. LCD
displays are illuminated from behind. This blocking of the back light creates the display.
LCOS - Liquid Crystal On Silicon. An oversimplified explanation is that LCOS is a
combination of DLP and LCD. LCOS uses a mirror, as with a DLP, to reflect light through a
lens. They use a liquid crystal rather than a transistor, as in DLP, to modulate a mirror.
They have a very high fill factor, meaning the pixel structure is very dense and there is
little space between the pixels. Most examples of projectors and RPTVs using this
technology are three chip designs. They tend to produce a very nice, smooth image. JVC's
DILA is a variation of this technology. Sony has X-TAL relfective, another variation.
NTSC - National Television Standards Committee. The standard used for analog TV
broadcasts in the US. NTSC is 525i with some of the 525 lines used to create the blanking
interval and only 480 lines or so used for picture information. Until HDTV, which adheres to
the one of the ATSC standards, all consumer video in the US was based upon this
standard.
OLED - Organic Light Emitting Diode. This promising new technology is based upon
organic materials sandwiched between a substrate material, usually glass. When given the
proper amount of current, each OLED element glows. Because it is a light emitter, the
OLED display has no need for back lighting. It is looks crisper, is lighter, thinner and uses
far less power than a traditional LCD display. Soon the glass substrate will give way to
flexible plastic. This will allow OLED displays to be even thinner and also be rolled up for
storage. Currently used in cell phone, car stereo and PDA displays, look for them soon in
laptops. Expect plasma-sized OLED displays to hit the market about 2006.
Pixel - Picture Element
Plasma Display - The current rage in flat panel displays. The image is formed by plasma
(ionized gas) being energized. This causes it to give off an electron, which strikes a
phosphor, causing the phosphor to emit light. The last portion of this process is basically
how a standard CRT emits light.
Raster - The area of the CRT face actually swept by the electron beam to produce an
image.
RGB - Red Green Blue
RGBHV - Red Green Blue with separate Horizontal and Vertical synch signals. Typically
uses either a 5-wire BNC connection or a HD-15 (VGA) connection.
RGBS - Red Green Blue with combined Horizontal and Vertical synch signals. This uses a
4 wire configuration.
RS-232 - A serial data transmission protocol used for, among other things, controlling A/V
equipment, & home automation functions. Can be either 1 or 2 way. 2-way allows feedback
to indicate status & can provide information such as song & track info from media servers.
It can typically support data rates of up to 115Kbps and is range limited to around 50ft or
so. RS-232 devices for A/V and home control usually use an RJ-11, RJ-45 or DSUB-9
connector for the serial interface.
RS-485 - A more robust serial protocol than RS-232. It uses balanced communication lines
and can usually support lengths of up to 4,000', sometimes longer.
Scan Line - The line made when an electron beam sweeps horizontally across the face of
a CRT. These lines are created very rapidly, from the top of the CRT face to the bottom.
Your mind blends the lines together to form an image.
SED - (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) A type of flat panel display, pioneered
by Canon and Toshiba, that uses an electron gun similar to a standard CRT display. The
difference is that a SED uses a separate gun for each pixel in the display. This type of
display promises true CRT image quality from a flat panel display. As a bonus, the SED
display will consume between 30% - 65% less power than traditional flat panel displays on
the market today. The SED will be used for sizes up to 140" dia. Toshiba has indicated
they will introduce this type of flat panel display for Q4, 2005. NOTE: This has been moved
to mid 2007 by Toshiba. SED demos at CES 2006 were fantastic. NOTE: Legal problems
forced the SED TV to be cancelled by Toshiba in late 2007.
S-video - A type of video signal where the chroma & luma signals are carried separately.
Having the chroma and luma separated relieves the display device from having to
separate them. This is a step up the video food chain from composite video due to s-
video's greater color bandwidth and fewer video artifacts. Uses a 4-pin DIN type connector.
Subwoofer - A speaker used exclusively to reproduce very low bass. In a home theater
system, the subwoofer is used to reproduce the Low Frequency Effects(LFE) channel, as
well as any bass that has been directed away from the main speakers by the surround
processor. Most subwoofers on the market today are powered, meaning they also contain
a dedicated amplifier.
Unified Display Interface - The proposed UDI standard was announced on Dec. 20th,
2005. According to the press release from the UDI group: "UDI is targeted to become the
new display interface for desktop PCs, workstations, notebook PCs and PC monitors,
replacing the aging VGA analog standard and providing guidelines to ensure compatibility
with today’s DVI standard." Principal members of the UDI SIG include Apple Computer Inc.,
Intel Corp., LG Electronics, National Semiconductor Corp., Samsung Electronics, Silicon
Image Inc., ATI, LG/Philips, Analogix, and others.
WiMax - The latest iteration of the 802 wireless networking standard; 802.16. WiMax is
designed to give a much broader geographical coverage area than the current standard,
WiFi, can provide. When completely implemented, it is envisioned that WiMax networks will
give wireless network coverage throughout metropolitan areas. Theoretical range is up to
30 miles, but practical range is limited to about 1/5 of that distance in most cases.
Frequencies will be up to 60Mhz, and the architecture will be similar to digital cell phone
systems.
If You have a Video iPOD,
you can choose from
loads of different movies
for it here. They'll also
play on your PC at full
DVD quality. Loads of
movies, but only one low
price...Check It Out
you can choose from
loads of different movies
for it here. They'll also
play on your PC at full
DVD quality. Loads of
movies, but only one low
price...Check It Out
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Home theater and Automation Guide
All rights reserved.
Home theater and Automation Guide
All rights reserved.
Home Theater & Audio Video Terms and Definitions
1 Touch Movie.com