Glossary

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ACTIVE MATRIX DISPLAY: a technology used in flat panel liquid crystal displays. Active matrix displays provide a more responsive image at a wider range of viewing angle than duol scan (passive matrix) displays. Also known as "thin film transistor" (TFT) display.

AMLCD: active matrix liquid crystal display

ANSI LUMEN: An ANSI Lumen is a standard unit of brightness as defined by the American National Standards Institute.

ANAMORPHIC: The process of compressing wide screen images that are in wide-screen (16:9) format into the framework of a standard 4:3 television display. The images are expanded back to their original format on a wide-screen display device.

ASPECT RATIO: The ratio of image width to image height.

BNC: Type of interface with only one pin utilized in professional applications, generally for video signals. This plug is inserted, then locked in place with a quarter turn to the right.

CAD/CAM: computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) - display software that is used to design products such as electronic circuit boards in computers and other devices.

CD-R: Recordable CD (records once)

CD-RW: Re-writable CD (records many times)

CGA: Color Graphics Adapter, a display mode introduced by IBM in 1981 that provided four colors and a maximum resolution of 320 pixels horizontally by 200 pixels vertically.

CHROMA NOISE: Bleeding, or smearing of strong colors, an effect common ta VHS videocassettes and laser-discs, but absent from DVD's.

CHROMINANCE: The color mask that is superimposed on the luminance to create a color image.

CiNCH: Type of standard one pin plug generally used to transport both video and audio signals. This interface is also known as RCA.
CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black): a scheme for combining primary pigments. The C stands for cyan (aqua), M stands for magenta (pink), Y is yellow, and K stands for black.

COAXIAL CABLE: A cable in which one conductor is accurately centered inside another, with both conductors carrying signal. It is used primarily for the transmission of high frequency, such as digital signals or television.

COMPOSITE VIDEO: The video signal used by VHS cassettes and Laserdiscs. The composite video signal is one where the luminance and chrominance are mixed together.

COMPONENT VIDEO: Video transmission that uses three separate video lines: one for luminance (black & white), and the remainina two for color. Many DVD and DBS

COMPRESSION (IMAGE): minimizing the size in bytes of a graphics file without degrading the quality of the image to an unacceptable level.
CONTRAST RATIO: The ratio between the darkest and lightest spot projected onto a screen by a projector or visible on a screen.

CRT: Cathode Ray Tube, used in direct-view TV monitors, computer desktap monitors and "tri-tube" projection devices.

DAC: Digital-to-Analogue Converters, D/ A converters convert a Digital signal to an analague signal.

D-ILA: Digital Direct-Drive Image Light Amplifier (DILA@) technology, a proprietary projector light engine technology developed by JVC - based on LCOS technology (see LCOS).

DISPLAY: 0 computer output surfoce and projecting mechanism that shows text or graphic images to the user, using a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), light-emitting diode (LED), gas plasma, or other image projection technology.

DISPLAY MODES: the various display image formats and resolutions that have evolved. In addition to monochrome, color display modes include CGA, EGA, VGA, XGA, and SVGA.

DLP: Digital Light Processing (see DMD)

DMD: Digital Micro Mirror Device, video projection technology developed by Texas Instruments. (See section in guide on Front Projection)

DOT PITCH: Measures the sharpness of an image on a
display. The dot pitch is measured in millimeters (mm) and a smaller number means a sharper image. In desktop monitors, common dot pitches are .31 mm, .28mm, .27mm, .26mm, and .25mm. Personal computer users will usually want a .28mm or finer.

DTS: Digital Theatrical System, used for digital encoding and decoding on six channels developed by DTS. This system utilizes a light compression of sound data to enable the six entirely separate channels to be contained in one single digital stream. It is thus much richer, but much more voluminous than Dolby Digital.

DSP: Digital Signal Processing is a powerful processing tool that is currently used primarily to add spatial characteristics to recordings for surround sound.

DTS: Digital Theatre Systems, a digital technology company specializing in multi-channel audio for entertainment. DTS digital sound is now featured worldwide in approximately 19,000 movie theatres.

DTV: a broadcast standard, which will ultimately replace analogue television broadcast signals we receive today. The new picture format offered by DTV allows for a high-resolution and wide-screen presentation. Digital TV will require new television receivers as well as new broadcast facilities.

DVD: Digital Video Disc. DVD has the same physical dimensions of a CD, however it can hold much more information.( see section on Optical Storage)

DVI: Digital Visual Interface - A digital connection port found at the back of digital projectors or monitors for the input of images from computers. With this interface, no conversion is required when connecting directly from a digital source, like a computer, to a digital display device. With other connectivity, the conversion process can create artifacts and other image degradation.

FED: field emission display

FPD: flat panel display

HDTV: High-Definition Television. True HDTV pictures are composed of 1080 active lines (1125 total whereas current standard television pictures are composed of only 480 active lines (525 total). The fine-grained HD picture thus contains five times more information than does the standard TV picture.

HOLOGRAM: a three-dimensional image, created with photographic projection. Unlike 3-D or virtual reality on a two-dimensional computer display, a hologram is a truly three-dimensional and free-standing image that does not simulate spatial depth or require a special viewing device.

HRI: high resolution imaging

IMAGE: a picture that has been created or copied and stored in electronic form.

IMAGING: the capture, storage, manipulation, and display of images.

INTERLACED DISPLAY: a display in which the lines are scanned alternately in two interwoven raster scans.

IN-PLANE SWITCHING (IPS): In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology was developed by Hitachi and NEC with the intention of correcting TN + film issues. IPS expanded LCD viewing angles 170 degrees but it did not correct response time and color contrast deficiencies. In an IPS system, liquid crystals do not rotate unless voltage is applied. The second filter is always perpendicular to the first filter, blocking light so the screen. displays a perfect black that is superior to TN. An IPS system has its drawbacks because it requires significantly more power to function and longer warm up times than TN screens.

LCD: Liquid crystal display the prevailing technology used for displays in notebook and other smaller computers. LCD's allow displays to be much thinner than cathode ray tube (CRT) technology. LCD's consume much less power than LED and gas-display displays because they work on the principle of blocking light rather than emitting it. LCD's use either a passive matrix or an active matrix display grid. The active matrix LCD is also known as a thin film transistor (TFT) display.

LCOS: Liquid Crystal on Silicon - LCoS is liquid crystal on a silicone wafer, with a very high pixel density. The amount of pixels used are less restricted than LCD or DLP because the electronics are placed under the pixel rather than next to it. This high pixel density means higher resolution. To this end, today's LCoS projectors start at SXGA resolution.

LED: Light-emitting diode a semiconductor device that emits visible light when an electric current passes through it. In most LED's the light is monochromatic.

LINES OF HORIZONTAL RESOLUTION: often confused with "scan lines". Lines of horizontal resolution refers to visually resolvable vertical lines per picture height. They are measured by counting the number of vertical black and white lines that can be distinguished an area that is as wide as the picture is high. Since all video formats have the same number of scan lines, it's the horizontal resolution that makes the difference in picture quality.

LUMEN: See ANSI Lumen.

MONITOR: a computer display and related parts packaged in a physical unit that is separate from other parts of the computer. Notebook computers don't have monitors because all the display and related parts are integrated into the same physical unit with the rest of the computer. In practice, the terms monitor and display are used interchangeably.

NTSC: National Television System Committee. NTSC is commonly used to refer to one type of television signal that can be recorded on various tape formats such as VHS, used almost exclusively in North America.

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer - OEM products are those manufactured by one company, and "branded" with another brand name. These products may either be the same as those sold under the brand of the manufacturer (i.e.: identical, but with a different brand), or custom-made by the manufacturer for the OEM client.

OLED: Organic Light Emitting Diode - Pioneered and patented by Kodak, OLED (Poly-OLED) enables full color, full motion flat panel displays with a level of brightness and sharpness not possible with other technologies.

PAL: Phrase Alternation Line - a type of television signal, used in most parts of the World outside the USA.

PIXEL: short for "picture element the basic unit of programmable color on a computer display or in a computer image.

PIXELS PER INCH (PPI): a measure of the sharpness - the density of illuminated points) on a display screen.

PLASMA DISPLAY PANEL (PDP): a display in which each pixel on the screen is illuminated by a tiny bit of plasma or charged gas, somewhat like a tiny neon light. (see section on Plasma in this guide)

POLYMER LED: a technology based on the use of polymer as the semiconductor material in LED's.

PROGRESSIVE VIDEO OUTPUT OR PROGRESSIVE SCAN: Video signal in which all the lines making up the image are displayed one after the other, from top to bottom in one single sweep. The video signal, where the 480 lines ore shown in a non-interlaced way (progressively) is called a "480p" signal (p for progressive). The result of this procedure is an image whose definition is doubled.

RASTER: the region of a cathode ray tube (CRT) or liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor that is capable of rendering images.

RCA: Type of standard one pin plug generally used by the general public to transport both video and audio signals. This interface is also known as Cinch.

RESOLUTION: the number of pixels contained on a display monitor, expressed in terms of the number of pixels on the horizontal axis and the number on the vertical axis.

RFI: Request For Information - An initial request for
information made by a large corporation or institution TRI: Total Return on Investment. in the lead-up to a "Request For Quotation".

RFP: Request for Proposal/Request for Project.

RFQ: Request For Quotation (Call for Bids in US).

RGB: Video signal in which the chrominance is totally decoded in three primary colors - Red (R), Green (G) and Blue (B). In addition, a "luminance" signal is present, transporting synchronization information. The RGB signal thus utilizes four separate cables with a BNC interface.

ROI: Return on Investment.

SATURATION: along with brightness and hue, one of the three aspects of color in the red, green, and blue (RGB) scheme. All possible colors can be specified according to hew, saturation, and brightness (also called brilliance), just as colors can be represented in terms of the R, G, and B components. As saturation increases, colors appear more "pure." As saturation decreases, colors appear more "washed-out."

SECAM: Abbreviation of Systeme Electronique Couleur Avec Memoire - a TV standard generally used in France.

SMART DISPLAY: a Display monitor that can be detached from its yoke or cradle and carried around the office or home, connected via wireless technology to a Pc. The Display s doted with a Touch Screen and specific Operating System (see special report, or www.smartdisplay.com for further information).

SVGA: originally Super Video Graphics Array an informal name for the Video Electronics Standards Association's standard, the VESA BIOS. Typically, an
SVGA display can support a palette of up to 16,000,000 colors, although the amount of video memory in a particular computer may limit the actual number of displayed colors to something less than that. Image-resolution specifications vary. In general, the larger the diagonal screen measure of an SVGA monitor, the more pixels it can display horizontally and vertically. Small SVGA monitors (14-inch diagonal) usually display 800 pixels horizontally by 600 pixels vertically. The largest monitors (20 inches or more diagonal measure) can display 1280 x 1024, or even 1600 x 1200, pixels.

SXGA: Resolution - 1280 x 1024

S-VIDEO: Term generally used when speaking of S-VHS or Y IC

TFT: thin film transistor. See "Active Matrix"

THIN CLIENT SOLUTIONS: (see also WBT) - a centralized server connected to a number of terminals, rather than a standard "network" where a number of computers are all connected to a server. It's like one big central computer with a number of workstations attached

TOUCH SCREEN: a computer display screen that is sensitive to human touch, allowing a user to interact with the computer by touching pictures or words on the screen.

TWISTED NEMATIC AND FILM TECHNOLOGY: Twisted Nematic and Film (TN + film) LCD panels arrange liquid crystals at a right angle to the filter. The "film" is an extr'; layer added to the panel to increase the viewing angle. TN + film offers the cheapest LCD solution and has been used in most of the TFT panels on the market over the last several years. While adding film to the LCD boosted viewing angles to 150 degrees, it did not improve contrast levels and response times.

TRI: Total Return on Investment.

ULTi-DOMAIN VERTICAL ALIGNMENT (MVA): MultiDomain Vertical Alignment (MVA) technology was developed by Fujitsu. It offers 160-degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles, half the response time of IPS and old-generation TN screens, and more accurate color presentation. MVA features subpixels split up into several zones and pointed polarizing filters, so crystals do not align or rotate in the same direction. MVA ere. ates multiple zones so that users only perceive one zone, regardless of viewing angle.

UXGA (Ultra XGA): A display standard referring to a video adapter capable of a resolution of up to 1600 by 1200 pixels.

VESA: Video Electronics Standards Association

VDT: Video Display Terminal

VDU: Video Display Unit

VGA: Video Graphics Array a display mode introduced by IBM in 1987 that allowed a choice between 16 colors at 640 x 480 pixels or 256 colors at 320 x 200 pixels. All IBM-compatible computers support the VGA standard.

WBT: Windows Based Terminal - (see also Thin Client Solutions).

WIDESCREEN: A television with an aspect ratio of 16:9.

XGA: Extended Graphics Array, a display mode introduced by IBM in 1990 as a successor ta its 85141 A display. A later version, XGA-2 offers 800 by 600 pixel resolution in true color (16 million colors) and 1,024 by 768resolution in 65,536 colors.

YIC: Term generally used when speaking of a video standard in which the luminance (Y) and the chrominance (e) are separated.

YUV: Another name for a Component signal.

YPBPR: Another term for Component video.