1080i-Sony HDV cameras have 1080 scanning lines of interlaced information.

ACM-Audio Compression Manager, developed by Microsoft as the standard interface for signal processing of audio data in the Windows environment, particularly geared towards the wav file format. Some tools allow custom ACM processes.

ADC-Another name for Analog to Digital Converter.

Anti-aliasing-The manipulation of edges (e.g., those between areas with contrasting colors) in an image, graphic, or text to make the edges appear smoother. Anti-aliased edges appear blurred up close but smooth at average viewing distance. Anti-aliasing is critical when working with high-quality graphics for television display use. Opposite of aliasing.

ATSC-Advanced Television Systems Committee determines voluntary technical standards of acquiring, authoring, distribution and reception of high definition television.

ATV-Advanced Television, now referred to as DTV. (Digital Television)

B-frame-In inter-frame compression schemes (e.g., MPEG), a highly compressed, bidirectional frame that records the change that occurred between the i-frame before and after it. B frames enable MPEG-compressed video to be played in reverse. Contrast with i frame and p frame.

Balanced Cable-A cable that contains two conductors carrying audio, plus a shield for the ground that carries no audio. Professional mic cables are always balanced.

Channel(video)-Each component color that defines a computer graphic image—red, green, and blue—is carried in a separate channel, so each may be adjusted independently. Channels may also be added to a computer graphic file to define masks.

Component Video-The connection of a video device I/O consisting of 3 primary color signals: red, green, and blue that together convey all necessary picture information. In consumer video products the 3 component signals have been translated into luminance (Y) and two color difference signals (PP, PR), each on a separate wire.

Compress-(File size) Resampling, reducing a file size for streaming or sharing over the internet or intranet. Usually a lossy process, causing some loss of audio quality. REAL Media, MPEG, MJPEG, Microsoft wmv/wma are all examples of compressed media. Use Apple’s Compressor to compress media. Any video that is not uncompressed, is compressed. HDV uses the MPEG compression format of 4:2:0, while NTSC DV uses 4:1:1.

Deinterlace-The process of removing artifacts that result from the nature of two-fields-per-frame (interlaced) video. There are various methods of deinterlacing, and may be done in the camera or in the editing application.

Digimaster-Sony tape format developed for HDV using AMEII technology.

Downconvert-converting HDV to SD, or converting any higher resolution image to a lower resolution. Sony cameras can accomplish this internally, but any NLE can accomplish this task.

DVI-Digital Visual Interface. The DVI port provides a pure digital video signal to a digital flat-panel display or projector. Using a digital signal for the entire path maintains the image quality at the highest level, because the signal is not degraded as a result of a digital-to-analog conversion.

EDL-Edit Decision List

Field-One complete vertical scan of a picture that has 262.5 lines. A complete television frame comprises two fields; the lines of field 1 are vertically interlaced with those of field 2 for 525 lines of resolution according to the NTSC standard.

GOP-Group of Pictures

I-frame-In inter-frame compression schemes (e.g., MPEG), the key frame or reference video frame that acts as a point of comparison to p- and b-frames, and is not rebuilt from another frame. Opposite B frame and P frame.

Inter-frame compression-A compression algorithm, such as MPEG that reduces the amount of video information by storing only the differences between a frame and those before it.

Interlaced-Interlace scanning is a method that can produce two images in a single scan, by scanning every other line. For example, if there are 480 scanning lines, only the oddnumbered lines are scanned for the first image (1, 3, 5, ... 479), and all the even-numbered lines are then scanned for the next image (2, 4, 6, ... 480). Interlace scanning has the advantage of displaying smooth movement. See Progressive Scan.

intra-frame compression-Compression that reduces the amount of video information in each frame on a frame-by-frame basis. Compare to Inter-frame compression.

Line Doubling-A method, through special circuitry, to modify an NTSC interlaced picture to create an effect similar to a progressively scanned picture. The first field of 262.5 odd-numbered lines is stored in digital memory and combined with the even-numbered lines. Then all 525 lines are scanned in 1/30th of a second. The result is improved detail enhancement from an NTSC source. However, this does not benefit the HDV system.

Luma-Light. One of two display elements of a frame.

MPEG-2-MPEG-2 is an extension of the MPEG-1 compression standard designed to meet the requirements of television broadcast studios. MPEG-2 is the broadcast quality video found on DVDs and requires a hardware decoder (e.g., a DVD-ROM player) for playback.

NTSC-National Television Standards Committee. (Sometimes humorously referred to as Never The Same Color) Japan uses the NTSC-J format.

P frame-In interframe compression schemes such as MPEG, the predictive video frame that exhibits the change that occurred compared to the i frame before it. See I-frame and B-frame.

PAL-Phase Alternating Line. Most all countries use PAL outside of the US and Japan. (Sometimes jokingly referred to as Picture At Last)

Pixel-Picture Element. The more pixels in a frame, the greater the resolution of the frame.

Render-To blend all multimedia files together in one master file format. Akin to baking a cake from all it’s individual ingredients.

Resolution-A measurement of information in a frame. The higher the number of pixels, the higher the resolution. HD may be either 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080i

RGB-Abbreviation for Red, Green, Blue. Colorspace used for graphics, and most NLE applications.

SMPTE-Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Also used as a timecode reference.

S-video-Short for Super-video, a technology used for transmitting video signals over a cable by dividing the video information into separated signals: one for luma and one for chroma. (S-Video is synonymous with Y/C video). S-video is a consumer form of component video used primarily with Hi8 and S-VHS equipment.

Temporal compression-A compression method that reduces the data contained within a single video frame by identifying similar areas between individual frames and eliminating the redundancy. See also codec..

Transfer rate-How fast a disk drive or CD drive can transfer information to the CPU. May be a burst rate or sustained rate. High cache levels (8 meg) or larger assist in providing information to the CPU at fast rates, important when building large composites in any NLE.

Video File-In most applications, this is relevant to Quicktime, .mpg, .wmv, avi, m2t, or m2v files; data files that contain video information.

Wavelet-Wavelet compression works by analyzing an image and converting it into a set of mathematical expressions that can then be decoded by the receiver. Wavelet compression is scalable, depending on the features of the encoding application.

Y, U, V - Sometimes referred to as Y, Cr, Cb. The video signal is separated into components of brightness and color, potentially to a degree more advanced than S-video.