C-band / Ku-band. - 1. a range of RF spectrum. C-band is app. 4 GHz. Ku-band is app. 12 GHz. 2. Geo-stationary satellites the networks use to acquire and distribute programming to affiliates and cable TV companies. These satellites use C-band and Ku-band frequencies. 3. a consumer service that uses the satellites the networks originally set up for themselves. An 8-foot steerable dish is required. Some channels are free. Others are available by subscription. The digital channel subscription service is called 4DTV.
DVD - Digital Versatile Disk. An optical recording media similar to the familiar CD but having seven times its capacity on a single side. In television applications, DVD's are capable of carrying full-length commercial movies, plus additional material such as outtakes, director's notes, movie trailers, etc.
Dolby Digital 5.1 - Also known as AC-3, it provides 6 channels of sound: left, center, right, left rear, right rear, and sub-woofer. It is also called "5.1 channels" since the 6th channel has reduced bandwidth. Dolby Digital 5.1 is the audio standard for all U.S. digital TV stations, most DVDs, some DBS programs, and many theaters.
Multipoint convergence - Projection TVs with 3 CRTs require periodic adjustment to keep the 3 images perfectly aligned. Typically this is a simple 5 minute procedure the consumer must do every month or so.
Transponder - A satellite channel. There is often one program per transponder. Some transponders are wider than 6 MHz and can carry more than one NTSC program. Several digital channels can fit on one transponder.
Sampling - This is the digital process by which analog information is measured, often millions of times per second, in order to convert analog to digital.
Datacasting - Also known as "enhanced TV." Datacasting is the act of providing enhanced options offered with some digital programming to provide additional program material or non-program related resources. This allows viewers the ability to download data (video, audio, text, graphics, maps, services, etc.) to specially equipped computers, cache boxes, set-top boxes, or DTV receivers.
DTS - Digital Theatre Sound System. A Dolby proprietary discrete 5.1 channel surround system similar to, but not the same as Dolby Digital AC-3, the DTV standard. DTS is used in cinema presentations and in DVD's.
Interactive Television - TV programming with interactive content and enhancements, blending traditional TV viewing with the interactivity of a personal computer.
Over-the-air Broadcast (OTA) - Also called Terrestrial Broadcast. The delivery of TV and radio signals, using UHF/VHF frequencies, directly to consumer devices. Broadcasts may be either analog or digital.
C-band / Ku-band. - 1. a range of RF spectrum. C-band is app. 4 GHz. Ku-band is app. 12 GHz. 2. Geo-stationary satellites the networks use to acquire and distribute programming to affiliates and cable TV companies. These satellites use C-band and Ku-band frequencies. 3. a consumer service that uses the satellites the networks originally set up for themselves. An 8-foot steerable dish is required. Some channels are free. Others are available by subscription. The digital channel subscription service is called 4DTV.
Convergence - An adjustment that must be made occasionally to CRT sets. This adjustment makes the three colors coincide perfectly.
Fire-wire - (see IEEE 1394)
HD-Ready TV - An HDTV monitor or TV that lacks a digital tuner.
LCOS - (Liquid Crystal On Silicon) - This is another contender to replace CRTs in projection TVs.
MTS - (Multi-channel Television Sound) - This refers to an analog NTSC TV equipped with stereo and SAP (separate audio program) features.
Resolution - The level of resolution directly affects picture quality. The higher the resolution, the more picture detail there is. Many things affect picture quality, including number of bits, pixel count, format, receiver quality, cameras, lenses and lighting used for live or taped programming. Resolution is measured by the number of pixels displayed. One of the high-definition picture formats is composed of 1080 active lines, and each line is composed of 1920 active pixels. Therefore, each frame has over 2 million (1080x1920=2,073,600) color pixels creating the image. By way of contrast, today's typical analog television is roughly equivalent to 480 active lines, with each line holding about 440 pixels. So, each frame has a little over 200,000 color pixels in use creating the image.
Set-top Converter Box - This unit sits on top of the viewer's analog TV, receives the Digital TV signal, converts it to an analog signal, and then sends that signal on to the analog TV.
