1080i: A high-definition (HD) video format with a resolution of 1440x1080 or 1920x1080 and interlaced frames.
4:3 (or 1.33:1): Refers to an image aspect ratio based on the width of the picture to the height. Displays commonly have a 4:3 aspect ratio, which happens to be the standard for television.
5.1: A surround sound system that uses three speakers across the front (right, left and center) and two stereo speakers in the rear (right and left), along with a subwoofer.
720p: A high-definition (HD) video format with a resolution of 1280x720 and progressive (non-interlaced) frames.
A/B Edit: An editing technique in which the output is switched from one video source (A) to another (B).
AC-3: Audio Compression-3 is usually marketed as Dolby® Digital and used in DVD, HDTV, and many movie theaters.
ActiveMovie: Software interface by Microsoft for the control of multimedia devices under Windows.
Analog: Analog video and audio emit a steady wave of magnetic patterns that are interpreted as video and audio to be transferred to magnetic tape for viewing.
Anamorphic: Anamorphic filming technique was developed to make widescreen movies using 4:3 film. An anamorphic lens distorts the image picked up by the camera before it reaches the film. By using a similar lens when projecting the film back on screen, the correct, intended aspect ratio is restored.
Anti-alias: Removing the jagged edges from letters or graphic elements such as titles and 3D objects.
Aperture: An adjustable opening in a lens that, like the iris in the human eye, controls the amount of light entering a camcorder. The size of the aperture is controlled by the iris adjustment and is measured in f-stops. A smaller f-stop number corresponds to a larger opening which passes more light, examples: F2, F2.8, F4, F5.6, F8 and F11. F-stops are logarithmic. Each stop admits 100% more light than the previous one.
Aspect Ratio: The ratio of the width of the picture to the height. Displays commonly have a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio. Program material may have other aspect ratios such as 2.35:1, resulting in it being "letterboxed" on the display.
Assembly Edit: An edit where all existing signals on a tape, if any, are replaced with new signals. Assembly edits cannot be used for editing because they erase the control track portion of the video tape.
AVCHD: Is a format developed jointly by Panasonic and Sony for HD digital camcorders. Offering substantially higher compression efficiency than the MPEG-2 format used by traditional high-density video (HDV) camcorders, AVCHD delivers 1080i high-definition video but only requires about half the storage capacity.
AVI: Stands for Audio Video Interleave and is one of the most common formats for audio/video data on the PC.
Batch Capture: Automated process that uses an edit decision list to locate and recapture specific clips from a videotape, often at a higher data rate than the clip was originally captured.
BIOS: Acronym for Basic Input Output System, which refers to basic input and output commands saved in a ROM, PROM or EPROM. The essential task of the BIOS is the control of input and output. When the system is started, the ROM-BIOS carries out some tests.
Bit: Abbreviation of “BInary digiT”, the smallest element of a computer’s memory. Among other things, bits are used to store the color values of pixels in an image. The more bits used for each pixel, the greater the number of available colors. For example:
Bitmap: An image format made up of a collection of dots or “pixels” arranged in rows.
Blacking: The process of preparing a videotape for insert editing by recording video black and continuous control track on the entire tape. If the recording deck supports timecode, continuous timecode will be recorded simultaneously (also called “striping”).
Blue Screen: A special effects procedure in which a subject is photographed in front of a uniformly illuminated blue or green background. A new background image can be electronically substituted for the blue or green during the shoot or in postproduction through the use of chroma key to convert analog video to digital form. Look up Green Screen.
Brightness: Also “luminance”. Indicates the brightness of video.
Byte: One byte corresponds to eight bits. With one byte, exactly one alphanumeric character can be displayed (i.e. a letter, number).
Capture Device: A hardware component that converts analog content (either audio or video) to digital for use on a computer.
CCD (Charge Coupled Device): A CCD is a sensor that creates a video picture by recording light intensity to recognize a video image and then measures the levels of red, green and blue to reproduce a full-color picture. A single CCD captures information on RGB colors in one go, while a three-chip CCD (found on more expensive camcorders) devotes a CCD to each of the three colors.
Channel: Classifications of information within a data file to isolate a particular aspect of the file. For example, color images use different channels to classify the color components in the image. Stereo audio files use channels to identify the sounds intended for the left and right speakers. Video files use combinations of the channels used for image and audio files.
Chroma Key: Also known as blue screen or green screen, this is a special effects procedure in which a subject is filmed in front of a uniformly illuminated blue or green background. A new background image can be electronically substituted for the blue or green during the shoot or in post-production.
Clip: In a video editing software, a clip is any media type that goes on the Movie Window Storyboard or Timeline, including video images, trimmed video scenes, images, audio files and disc menus.
Clipboard: A temporary storage area shared by all Windows programs, used to hold data during cut, copy, and paste operations. Any new data you place onto the clipboard immediately replaces the existing data.
Codec: Contraction of compressor/decompressor – an algorithm that compresses (packs) and decompresses (unpacks) image data. Codecs can be implemented in software, hardware, or both.
Color Depth: Number of bits delivering the color information for each pixel. A 1‑bit color depth allows 21=2 colors, an 8‑bit depth allows 28=256 colors, and a 24‑bit depth allows 224=16,777,216 colors.
Color Model: A way to mathematically describe and define colors and the way they relate to each other. Each color model has its own strengths. The two most common color models are RGB and YUV.
Color Saturation: Intensity of a color.
Component Video: Component video improves the picture quality above S-Video. Component video is most frequently labeled Y, Cb and Cr on high-quality video players such as DVD and HDTV decoders.
Composite: Composite video was created as a backward-compatible solution for television's transition from black and white to color. Usually recognized as a yellow plug, composite video cable is often teamed with a red and white audio connection.
Compositing: The overlaying of several layers of DV over the main footage. This facility is found in painting, drawing and graphics programs.
Compression: Reducing the amount of digital data associated with a single frame of video information. Compression ratios operate up to 100: 1, typically reducing 1+MB down to around 10 Kb. This means that more video information can be stored on the hard disk. There are several (mostly incompatible) compression systems including: Motion-JPEG, JPEG, MPEG, DV and Indeo. Content that has been compressed must be decompressed for playback.
Content: A general term that refers to audio and video media, images, text, and any other information that is seen or heard as part of a media presentation.
Cropping: Choosing the area of an image to be displayed.
Cross-fade: A method of smoothly moving from one video clip or photo to another. With a cross-fade transition, the frames in the playing clip fade out as the frames in the new clip fade in.
Cutaway: A shot of something outside the frame that can be used to hide an edit (i.e. going from a wide shot of a scene to a close-up of unwrapping presents at a birthday party).
Data Rate: The quantity of data transmitted per unit time; for example, the number of bytes read from or written to a hard drive per second, or the amount of video data processed per second.
Data Transfer Rate: The measurement of the speed at which information passes between the storage device (e.g. CD-ROM or hard drive) and the display device (e.g. monitor or MCI device). Depending on the devices used, some transfer rates may offer better performance than others.
Decibel (dB): A unit of measurement of the loudness of sound. An increase of 3 dB doubles the loudness.
Digital Video (DV): A format for storing digital audio and video used by DV-standard digital video cameras.
Digital8: Digital videotape format that records DV-coded audio and video data on Hi8 tapes. Used to be sold only by Sony, Digital8 camcorders and VCRs can play both Hi8 and 8mm cassettes.
DirectMedia: System extension by Microsoft for multimedia applications under Windows.
DirectShow: System extension by Microsoft for multimedia applications under Windows.
DirectX: A bundle of several system extensions developed by Microsoft for Windows 95 and its successors to make possible video and game acceleration.
Dissolve: A video transition where one shot gradually fades out while a second shot fades in.
Dithering: Increasing the number of apparent colors in an image by the application of color patterns.
DMA: Direct Memory Access.
Dolby® Digital: Dolby® Digital (AC-3) is Dolby's third generation audio coding algorithm. It is a perceptual coding algorithm developed to allow the use of lower data rates with a minimum of perceived degradation of sound quality. Dolby Digital audio is used as the standard audio track on Digital Versatile Discs (DVD), is the standard audio format for High Definition Television (HDTV), and is being used for digital cable and satellite transmissions.
Driver: A file containing information needed to operate peripherals. The video capture driver operates a video capture board, for example.
DVD (Digital Video Disc): A CD-sized media providing MPEG-2 cinema-quality video and high levels of interactivity.
Edit Controls: Some VCRs and camcorders can have their transport actions directly controlled via cables. Most DV devices can also be controlled from the PC through a FireWire® cable.
Edit Decision List (EDL): A list of clips and effects in a particular order that will be recorded onto your output tape, disc or file.
Fade: A video image that gradually increases or decreases in brightness usually to or from black. Sound can also fade to or from silence
Field: A frame of video consists of horizontal lines and is divided into two fields. The odd lines in the frame are Field 1; the even-numbered lines are Field 2.
File Format: The organization of information within a computer file such as an image or word processor document. The format of a file is usually indicated by its “file extension” (e.g. doc, avi or wmf).
Filters: Tools that alter data to produce special effects.
FireWire: FireWire® is a standard for high-speed transfers between devices including camcorders and FireWire-enabled PCs. This standard supports data rates of 100/200/400 Mbps. The other terms referring to the same standard are iLink and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394. The latest FireWire standard (FireWire 800) is able to support data rates of 800 Mbps.
FPS (Frames per Second): FPS refers to how many video frames are shown on a screen every second. PAL and SECAM video are delivered to the screen at 25 FPS. NTSC video is 29.97 or 30 FPS, while cinema films are 24 FPS.
Frame Rate: The frame rate defines how many frames of a video sequence are played in one second. The frame rate for NTSC video is 30 frames per second. The frame rate for PAL video is 25 frames per second.
Frame Size: The maximum size for displaying image data in a video or animation sequence. If an image intended for the sequence is larger than the frame size, it must be cropped or scaled to fit.
Frame: A single image in a video or animation sequence. If using full NTSC or PAL resolution, one frame consists of two interlaced fields. Look up NTSC, PAL, field, resolution.
Frequency: The number of repetitions in a periodic process (like a sound wave or an alternating voltage) per unit of time. Usually measured in repetitions per second or Hertz (Hz).
GOP Size: The GOP size defines, how many I-Frames, B-Frames and P-Frames are included in one GOP. For example, current GOP sizes are 9 or 12.
GOP: MPEG compression the data stream is first divided into “Groups Of Pictures” – sections of several frames each. Each GOP contains three types of frames: I-Frames, P-Frames (pictures) and B-Frames.
Green Screen: A special effects procedure in which a subject is photographed in front of a uniformly illuminated blue or green background. A new background image can be electronically substituted for the blue or green during the shoot or in postproduction through the use of chroma key to convert analog video to digital form.
H.264: The high-compression multimedia format/technology supported by Apple® iPod® and Sony® PSP®. H.264 encoding delivers high-quality videos with two to three times the compression efficiency of solutions such as the MPEG-2 standard, which is used in DVD video.
Hardware Codec: Compression method that uses special hardware to create and play back compressed digital video sequences. A hardware codec may offer better encoding speed and image quality than a codec implemented completely in software. Look up Codec, Software codec
HD: High Definition video. Most HD formats in use have a resolution of either 1920x1080 resolution or 1280x720 resolution. A substantial difference exists between the 1080 and 720 standards: the larger format uses 2.25 more pixels per frame. This difference substantially increases requirements for processing 1080 content in terms of encoding time, decoding speed, and storage. The 720 formats are all progressive. The 1080 format has a mixture of progressive and interlaced frame types. Computers and their displays are inherently progressive, whereas television broadcasting has been based on interlaced techniques and standards. For HD terminology, we indicate progressive with the letter "p" and interlaced with the letter "i"
HDV: A format for the recording and playback of high-definition video on a DV cassette tape. has been established as the "HDV" format". Instead of the "DV" codec, HDV uses a flavor of MPEG-2 .There are two varieties of HDV: HDV1 and HDV2. HDV1 is 1280x720 resolution with progressive frames (720p). The MPEG transport stream is 19.7 Mbps/s. HDV2 is 1440x1080 resolution with interlaced frames (1080i). The MPEG transport stream is 25 Mbps/s.
Hi8: Improved version of Video8 using S-Video recorded on metal particle or metal evaporated tape. Because of higher luminance resolution and wider bandwidth, the result is sharper pictures than Video8.
HiColor: For images, this normally means a 16‑bit (5‑6‑5) data type that can contain up to 65,536 colors. TGA file formats support images of this type. Other file formats require prior conversion of a HiColor image into TrueColor. For displays, HiColor normally refers to 15-bit display adapters that can display up to 32,768 colors.
Huffman Coding: Technique used in JPEG and other data compression methods in which seldom occurring values receive a long code, while frequently-occurring values receive a short code.
IDE: “Integrated Device Electronics” – a hard-drive interface that combines all drive control electronics on the drive itself, rather than on the adapter connecting the drive to the expansion bus.
IEEE-1394: Developed by Apple Computers and introduced as FireWire, this is a serial data transmission protocol with rates up to 400 Mbits/sec. Sony offers a slightly modified version for transmitting DV signals named i.LINK, providing transmission speeds up to 100 Mbits/sec.
Image Compression: Method of reducing the amount of data required to store digital image and video files.
Image: An image is a reproduction, or picture of something. The term is often applied to digitized pictures--consisting of pixels--that can be shown on a computer display and manipulated by software.
Insert Edit: An electronic edit where the original video and audio are replaced with new footage. Also see Assembly Edit.
Interlaced: The screen refresh method used by television systems. The PAL TV image consists of two interleaved image halves (fields) of 312½ lines each. The NTSC TV image consists of two image halves of 242½ lines each. The fields are displayed alternately to produce a blended image.
Interleave: An arrangement of audio and video to promote smoother playback and synchronization or compression. The standard AVI format equally spaces audio and video.
IRQ: “Interrupt Request”. An “interrupt” is a temporary break in the main processing stream of a computer so that housekeeping or background tasks can be performed. Interrupts can be requested by either hardware (e.g. keyboard, mouse) or software.
JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group, and the standard developed by them for compressing digital frames based on DCT.
Kbyte (also KB): One Kbyte (kilobyte) contains 1024 bytes. The “K” here stands for the number 1024 (210), and not 1000 as in the metric prefix.
Key Color: A color whose display is suppressed so that a background image can show through. Most commonly used when overlaying one video sequence on top of another, allowing the underlying video to display wherever the key color appears.
Key Frames: In some compression methods, such as MPEG, the video data of certain frames – the key frames – is stored completely in the compressed file, while any intervening frames are only partially saved. On decompression these partial frames reconstruct their data from the key frames.
Laser disc: Medium that stores analog video. Information on laser discs cannot be modified.
Letterbox: A technique for displaying widescreen video on a screen with a different aspect ratio by adding black borders above and below the original frame.
Linear/Non-Linear: When video is stored on normal video tape it is done so in a linear fashion. This means that one scene follows another in a sequential order. With non-linear editing the video information is stored on the hard disk in the computer and you can record scenes in any order. This is because it is possible to access the material on the hard disk almost instantly and randomly.
LPT: Look up Parallel port.
Luminance: Look up Brightness.
M1V: File extension for an MPEG file that contains video data only. Look up MPA, MPEG, MPG
Mark In / Mark Out: In video editing, the mark in and mark out times refer to the starting and ending timecodes that identify the portions of clips to be included in the project.
Mbyte (also MB): One Mbyte (megabyte) corresponds to 1024 Kbytes – 1024 x 1024 bytes.
MCI: Media Control Interface. Programming interface developed by Microsoft recording and playing back audio and video data. It is also used to connect a computer to an external video source such as a VCR or laser disc.
MiniDV: MiniDV is the most popular camcorder format, with cassettes holding 60 to 90 minutes of footage. The video format has an impressive 500 lines of resolution, and can be easily transferred to a PC with FireWire capability.
Modulation: The encoding of information upon an empty carrier signal.
Moire Patterns: Video artifacts that occur when recording an object that has many thin parallel lines; the lines appear to move or crawl and can be distracting.
Monitor: A video display similar to a TV, but having superior visual quality and without a television tuner. An audio monitor is a speaker.
Motion-JPEG (M-JPEG): A Video for Windows format, specified by Microsoft, for encoding video sequences. JPEG compression is used to compress each frame individually.
Movie File: The file created by combining the audio, video, and still images contained in your project. You can save movies to your hard disk, or send them in an e-mail message or to a Web server.
MPA: File extension for an MPEG file that contains audio data only. Look up M1V, MPEG, MPG
MPG or MPEG: MPEG stands for Moving Picture Experts Group and is a group of standards used for coding audio-visual information (e.g. movies, video, music) in a digital compressed format. MPEG formats use sophisticated compression techniques to deliver video over the Web, on DVD or VCD, depending on the MPEG format.
MPV: File extension for an MPEG file that contains video data only. Look up MPA, MPEG, MPG
NAS: Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level data storage solution connected to a computer network that provides data access to heterogeneous network clients.
Non-interlaced: Describes an image refresh method in which the complete image is generated as a single field without skipping lines. A non-interlaced image (most computer monitors) flickers much less than an interlaced image (most TVs).
NTSC: National Television Standards Committee created the first international television system for use in the U.S. and other countries. It produces pictures by creating 525 alternating lines across the TV screen for each frame of video. Since PAL and SECAM, the other two world systems, were developed later, they took advantage of better technology. Insiders joke that NTSC means "Never the Same Color."
PAL: Stands for “Phase Alternation by Line”, an international TV standard. Loop up NTSC.
Pan-and-Zoom: A technique for creating moving video from high-resolution still images by varying the magnification at which the image is displayed and/or changing the area of the image which fills the screen.
Parallel Port: Parallel port data is transmitted via an 8‑bit data line. This means that eight bits (one byte) can be transmitted at once. This kind of transmission is much faster than serial transmission, but is not appropriate for long-distance connections. Parallel ports are often named “LPTn”, where n is a number (e.g. “LPT1”). Look up Serial port
Picture-in-Picture (PIP): A special effects procedure in which two video images are combined, scaling or cropping one image so that it is less than full-screen size and then placing the smaller image within the frame of the larger image.
Pixel: The smallest element of a monitor image. The word is an abbreviation of “picture element”.
Playback Controls: A set of buttons that allow you to playback the tape in the camcorder. These controls are much like the ones on a VCR. They usually include the basic functions of Play, Stop, REW, FF and Pause.
Player: A program that displays multimedia content, typically animated images, video and audio, examples: Microsoft® Window Media® Player and Apple® QuickTime® Media Player.
Plug-and-Play: The ability for an operating system to recognize and install necessary drivers for a device without input from the user. To be truly plug and play, the device should begin working without restarting your PC.
Port: Electrical transfer point for the transmission of audio, video, control or other data between two devices. Look up Serial port, Parallel port
Primary Colors: The colors that are the basis of the RGB color model: red, green, and blue. It is possible to create most other colors on a computer screen by varying the blend of these primaries.
Program AE: When selected, the camcorder's Auto Exposure can be set to perform specific program functions. Program settings include Portrait, Sports, High-Speed Action, Twilight, Spotlight, Sand & Snow and Low Light.
Project File: The file created when you save the results of adding various clips to the workspace. The extension varies with the program being used, for example a Premiere file will be saved as a .PPJ file, while a VideoStudio 6 file will be saved with a .VSP extension.
QSIF: Quarter Standard Image Format. An MPEG-1 format specifying a resolution of 176 x 144 under PAL and 176 x 120 under NTSC. Look up MPEG, SIF
Quantization: One part of the JPEG image data compression strategy. Relevant details are represented precisely, while details that are less relevant for the human eye are represented with less precision.
QuickTime: QuickTime® is Apple's equivalent of Video for Windows® for the Macintosh®. Apple® also makes QuickTime for Windows. QuickTime also refers to the QuickTime movie file format, a widely used format for digital audio, video and other multimedia.
Raster: The area of a video display that is covered by sweeping the electron beam of the display in a series of horizontal lines from upper left to lower right (from the viewer’s perspective).
Redundancy: This trait of images is exploited by compression algorithms. Superfluous information can be eliminated during compression and restored without loss during decompression.
Rendering: The computer process of creating a special effect, animation or editing task.
Resolution: The number of pixels that can be displayed on the monitor horizontally and vertically. The higher the resolution, the more details can be displayed.
RGB: Color represented as red, green and blue components. Most computer monitors use RGB pixels to display an image.
ROM: Read Only Memory: Memory storage that, having been programmed once, retains its data without requiring electrical power.
Run Length Encoding (RLE): A technique used in many image compression methods, including JPEG. Repeating values are not stored separately but with a counter to indicate how many times the value occurs in succession – the length of the “run”.
S/PDIF: Digital audio outputs.
Scaling: Adaptation of an image to a desired size.
SCART 21-pin: Connector for composite, Y/C, RGB, and stereo audio.
SCSI: Small Computers System Interface. SCSI was long preferred as the hard drive interface for some high-performance PCs because of its high data rate. Up to eight SCSI devices can be connected to a computer at the same time.
SECAM: “Séquentiel Couleur à Mémoire”, a color TV transmission system used in France and Eastern Europe. Like PAL, SECAM video has 625 lines per frame and 50 image fields per second. Look up NTSC, PAL
Serial Port: Data transmitted via a serial port is processed one bit at a time; that is, “serially” – one after another. The transmission rate is much slower than that of a parallel port, where parallel data lines allow multiple bits to be sent simultaneously. Serial ports are named “COMn”, where n is a number (e.g. “COM2”). Look up Parallel port.
Shutter Speed: The shutter electronically the amount of time that light passing through a lens exposes onto the CCD. Most camcorders are set at a shutter speed of 1/50 sec, with fast shutter speeds varying from 1/120 sec through to 1/10,000 sec. The higher the speed the more precise the detail and the less blur noticeable.
SIF: Standard Image Format. An MPEG-1 format specifying a resolution of 352 x 288 under PAL and 352 x 240 under NTSC. Look up MPEG, QSIF.
Single Frame: A single frame is part of a series or sequence. When this series is viewed at sufficient speed, the illusion of a “moving picture” is created.
Software Codec: Compression method that can create and play back compressed digital video sequences without special hardware. The quality of the sequences depends on the performance of the complete system. Look up Codec, Hardware codec
Still Video: Still images (or “freeze-frames”) extracted from video.
Stinger: It’s a new category of soundtracks. This new type is called a “Stinger” (which is very short: 3-8 seconds). Stingers are sounds or audio effects used to accompany short video sequences such as transitions, video effects or animated graphics. Scorefitter Volume 1 includes 4 stinger categories and 10 music source tracks. Scorefitter Volume 2 includes 15 music tracks. Both versions offer up to 12 variations (tempo, mood) per track, depending on the length to be generated.
Storyboard: A storyboard is a view of the workspace, showing thumbnails of the clips in a video editing program. Storyboards also refer to sketches or descriptions of scenes to be shot in a movie before production gets underway.
Streaming: Streaming video is video that can be played in portions over a network, before the entire file is delivered.
Surround Sound: Any multichannel audio system designed to provide both front and rear sound sources (in addition to left and right channels). Surround sound adds a third dimension to the program.
S-VHS: Improved version of VHS using S-Video and metal particle tape to deliver higher luminance resolution, resulting in sharper pictures than VHS. Look up VHS, S-Video.
S-Video: S-Video provides better color separation and a much cleaner signal than composite by keeping separate the color and picture parts of a composite-video signal.
Timecode: Timecode identifies the position of each frame in a video sequence with respect to a starting point (normally the beginning of the shot). The usual format is H:M:S:F (hours, minutes, seconds, frames), e.g. “01:22:13:21”. Unlike a tape counter (which can be “zeroed” or reset at any point in a tape), timecode is an electronic signal written onto videotape, and is permanent once it is assigned.
Timeline: A view of the workspace that focuses on the timing of your clips.
Tracks: Timelines are divided into horizontal sections known as tracks. Clips are arranged in various tracks to adjust their timing relative to one another.
Transition: The method of smoothly moving from one video clip or photo to another.
Trimming: This process involves removing parts of a clip that you don't want in your project without deleting them from the original source material. You can trim by adjusting the start or end trim points of a clip.
TrueColor: The name indicates an image with enough color resolution to appear “true to life”. In practice, TrueColor normally refers to 24-bit RGB color, which allows about 16.7 million combinations of the red, green and blue primary colors. Look up Bit, HiColor
TWAIN Driver: TWAIN is a standardized software interface allowing graphics and capture programs to communicate with devices that supply graphical data. If the TWAIN driver is installed, the capture function of a graphics application can be used to load images directly from your video source into the program. The driver supports 32-bit programs only and captures images in 24-bit mode.
USB (Universal Serial Bus): Some of the latest capture devices, mostly external ones, are connected to the PC via the USB port. These offer a much lower data-rate than FireWire/iLink, but they do not require a capture card to be installed into the PC. Generally they are good for capturing high-resolution still images from video or lower resolution MPEG-1 video files.
VCR: “Video cassette recorder”.
VHS: “Video Home System” – Popular video standard for home VCRs. Half-inch tape is used to store “composite” signals incorporating both brightness and color information.
Video CD: CD-ROM standard that uses MPEG compressed videos.
Video Decoder: Converts digital information into analog video signals.
Video Encoder: Converts analog video signals into digital information.
Video for Windows: A Microsoft Windows system extension that can record digital video sequences to files on a hard drive and subsequently play them back.
Video Scan Rate: Frequency with which the video signal is scanned onto an image display. The higher the video scan rate, the higher the image quality and the less noticeable the flicker.
Video8: Analog video system using 8mm tape. Video8 recorders generate composite signals.
VISCA: Protocol used with certain devices for controlling external video sources from computers.
WAV: File extension for a popular file format for digitized audio signals.
White Balance: In an electronic camera, this is the adjustment of the amplifiers for the three color channels (red, green and blue) so that white areas of the scene do not show a color cast. White balance both takes an automatic reading, or one chosen by the user, and sets the balance for the ambient light in the scene based on the information.
Widescreen: Video material produced in wider aspect ratio than the standard TV ratio (4:3 or 1.33:1) is commonly referred to as widescreen video. In general anything with an aspect ratio above 1.66:1 can be considered widescreen. Widescreen material is presented on DVDs in either anamorphic or letterboxed format. At times widescreen material is also cropped into 4:3 format using pan-and-zoom.
Y/C: Y/C is a color signal with two components: brightness information (Y) and color information (C).
YUV: The color model of a video signal where Y delivers the brightness information and U and V the color information.
Zoom: The lens on a camcorder ranges from wide angle through to telephoto. Currently camcorders come with anything from a 10x to a 22x optical zoom. All camcorders also have a digital zoom which magnifies pixels.