TV Glossary
0..9 A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T U V W Z
0..9
 | 2-way speakers One speaker box contains two separate speaker
elements of which the first one is for low and the other one for high tones. This solution
produces improved sound quality.
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| 3D Sound Three dimensional sound. See also Virtual Dolby Surrond.
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| 4:3, 16:9 TV picture formats (ratio between picture width and
height). 4:3 is a traditional TV picture format and 16:9 is a wide screen (movie) format.
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| 50 Hz / 100 Hz In 50 Hz TV sets the picture is displayed 50
times per second. In 100 Hz TV sets the picture is displayed 100 times per second thus the
human eye can not see any flicker.
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| ACI (Automatic Channel Installation) Some cable networks offer
this service to install TV channels automatically. With ACI all channels can be stored to
memory in a predefined order. This installation method is very fast because programme
search is only needed to find the ACI transmission which then takes care of the rest.
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| AES (Automatic Equalization System) Memory place (programme)
related adjustment for contrast and volume. With AES each programme can be adjusted to
produce equal picture and volume level independent from the received signal level.
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| APS (Automatic Programming System) Automatic channel search which
stores all available programmes automatically.
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| APSi (Automatic Program Search, sorting and channel Identification)
Automatic channel search which stores, names and arranges all available programmes
automatically.
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| ASO Plus Picture enhancement system which sharpens video picture
significantly.
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| Audio line-out With this connection the TV can be connected
to an external audio amplifier i.e. to home stereo equipment.
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| Auto Head Cleaning Automatic cleaning of video heads. Ensures that
when playback starts the heads are clean and will produce a good picture.
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| AutoPilot A marketing name for built-in electronic user
manual. See also EUM.
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| AV-link AV-link allows communication between a TV and VCR (both
equipped with AV-link), for instance TV tuning to be copied to VCR or vice versa.
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| AWB, Adjustable White Balance Allows base color temperature to be
adjusted (warm - cold).
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| Balance Sound level adjustment between left and right
speaker.
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| Bass Low sound tones. See also treble.
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| Black Matrix Picture tube technique to improve the picture
contrast. Thin light absorbing (non reflecting) stripes prevents light from reflecting
back.
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| Blank Tape Search VCR searches automatically for
occurences of blank tape positions to start recording from.
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| Chassis A complete TV apparatus.
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| Child Lock Locks the local control unit of a video or a TV
set so that it can not be used without the remote control.
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| Coding Satellite and cable operators often transmit chargeable
programmes which are coded to avoid illegal watching. Watching is possible with a suitable
decoding device. (see D2MAC, eurocrypt).
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| Comb Filter Picture enhancement system to better
distinguish vertical details. A Horizontal resolution of 400 lines and the elimination of
possible disturbances in the picture can be achieved with a comb filter.
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| Contrast Ratio between black and white in the picture.
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| CTI (Colour Transient Improvement) Picture enhancement system to
prevent for instance blue and red colour overlapping. This makes colour borders sharper
and more clear.
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| Cursor Control Television functions can be controlled
with four arrow keys (cursors) on the remote control (up, down, left, right)
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| Decoder A device to handle a coded signal, "system
interpreter". For instance a Dolby Pro Logic decoder divides a coded stereo signal to
four channel surround sound.
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| Digital Scan Even with 100 Hz technology small details of
a picture may flicker. Digital Scan reduces flickering of horizontal lines and stabilizes
the picture.
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| DMD (Digital Micromirror Device) A display device utilizing the
micromirror technology.
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| DNR (Dynamic Noise Reduction) See Noise reduction.
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| Dolby Pro Logic Four channel audio system (left, right, center,
rear) to produce multi channel sound as heard in cinemas. Decodes audio signal actively to
position the sound.
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| D-Mac, D2MAC Satellite signal transmission and reception
standard. To receive this signal a D2MAC receiver is required.
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| DVD (Digital Video/Versatile Disc) CD sized disk to which sound,
picture and/or data can be stored.
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| Dynamic Focus Ensures sharp picture for the whole tube
area.
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| Dynamic Contrast Ordinary contrast adjusts the whole
picture independently from the original picture contrast. Dynamic contrast adjusts the
picture based on the picture contents. See also Contrast.
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| Fasttext, FLOF text (Full Level One Feature) Teletext where pages
are grouped with topics i.e. news, sports etc. Pages can be browsed with colour buttons on
the remote control.
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| Favorite Page Teletext page which the user can store to
be retrieved with a single press of a colour button.
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| Gamma Correction Method to distinguish details better
in the dark areas of a picture.
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| Guestlink Advanced interactive hotel-TV system. In addition
to traditional services like pay-TV, wake-up and messaging, Guestlink also offers many
additional advanced features.
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| HDTV High Definition Television. HDTV picture format is 16:9
(widescreen) and it has 1125 horizontal lines. In Japan HDTV is known as HiVision.
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| Hertz (Hz) Frequency unit (cycles per second).
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| Hypersonic See Panorama
Sound.
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| Ideal function User selectable presets for picture contrast and
brightness; night-daylight-normal.
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| Instant text Teletext which can store 512 text pages.
Instantly displays memorized text pages when page number is selected.
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| Invar mask When the tube is very dark, brightness has to be
increased by increasing the current. High current heats the mask and causes the mask to
"bend" which can be seen in the picture as so called dooming. Invar material, a
hybrid of iron and nickel resists thermal expansion of the shadow mask. This allows the
picture tube to be operated at higher voltages for increased focus and brightness without
sacrificing color purity.
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| Low power standby In standby mode the energy
consumption is only 0,1 W / hour which decreases the total power consumption
significantly.
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| LP (Long Play) Record and playback tape speed is halved to allow
i.e. 8 hours to be recorded on a 4 hour tape. (See also SP.)
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| LTI Luminance Transient Improvement. Picture enhancement system to
sharpen picture between different colour areas.
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| Megatext Megatext is a teletext circuit which is also used to
produce impressive and clear on screen displays.
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| Micro Power See Low
Power Standby.
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| Mid-Mount Video recorder which has the video cassette in the
middle of it. This mechanism allows the cassette to be better braced thus making the tape
run steady producing a better picture.
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| Multi standard TV or video which accepts different colour
standards (e.g. PAL, SECAM, NTSC) and sound standards (e.g. BG, DK).
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| NC Net Computer, network computer. A computer which does not have a
mass storage media but uses all the programs directly from the network.
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| NICAM Digital sound transmission standard which enables stereo
and bilingual transmissions.
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| Noise Reduction Quite often noise in the picture is
caused by a weak antenna signal or a bad video tape. Noise reduction makes the picture
more clear.
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| NTSC Originally American TV colour standard. Nowadays used in the
USA and in Japan.
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| NexTView Built-in system to view programme information on TV.
Programme information is received as a part of teletext transmission and it can include
information for programmes on many channels up to two weeks from now.
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| OEM Original Equipment Manufacturing. Creating products with
customers brand names.
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| OSD On Screen Display.
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| Page memory Teletext pages which are stored in the memory.
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| PAL Most common TV colour standard used in Europe.
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| PAL Plus European TV standard for widescreen (16:9) transmission.
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| Panorama sound / Stereo wide / Hypersonic Gives more
depth to normal stereo sound. Also widens and strengthens mono sound.
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| PDC Program Delivery Control. PDC is a system to make recording a
certain program easier. PDC tells the video recorder the exact start and end times of a
program even if there has been changes in the programme schedule. Recording will always
start at the right time and end at the right time.
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| Picture format switching Allows the picture
format to change between 16:9 and 4:3
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| PIP (Picture In Picture) Small picture which is on top of the
normal TV picture. PIP can be used for viewing another TV programme, video or satellite
programme etc.
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| Realtime Counter Shows playback time on video
recorder.
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| RC Remote Control.
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| RGB Red-Green-Blue. Signal transmission standard where red, green
and blue information is transmitted separately to improve picture quality.
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| S-VHS Super-VHS. Advanced VHS video standard with better picture
quality. Special S-VHS video tapes and S-VHS video recorders are required.
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| Satellite antenna, Satellite dish Dish shaped
outdoor antenna which is used for receiving programmes from satellites. Dish size
(diameter) varies depending on the location and in Finland is 60-240 cm. Some programmes
can be received with even smaller dishes.
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| Satellite receiver Video recorder sized device
which is required for programme reception from satellites.
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| SCART, EURO connector Versatile connection to connect a TV with
a video recorder, game console, satellite receiver etc. Enhances picture quality and
enables stereo playback from external devices.
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| SECAM French TV colour standard which is commonly used also in
many east European countries including Hungary and Czech republic.
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| Sharpness Sharpness adjustment clarifies pictures details
and border areas.
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| ShowView Video recorder programming system which is based on
number codes published in TV guides and magazines.
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| Simulcast Simultaneous broadcasting with TV and radio.
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| Sleep Timer Sleep timer automatically switches the TV set
off after a certain time.
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| Software Program which controls the TV functions.
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| SP (Standard Play) Normal tape speed for video recording and
playback. (See also LP.)
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| Subwoofer An additional bass speaker which produces a rich
powerful bass sound with the lowest sound tones.
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| SVM Scan Velocity Modulation. Picture enhancement system which
sharpens picture in areas where black and white are near each other. Especially makes
small details more clear.
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| Teletext Teletext is a group of text pages transmitted with
the normal television programme signal. These pages can be read with a TV set which has
teletext function. First regular teletext transmissions were from BBC in Great Britain in
the 1974.
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| Teletext Level 2.5 Enhanced teletext. Enables better graphics
with 4096 colours and full screen displays. Most of the teletext transmissions are
currently at level 1.5.
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| TOP text Teletext where pages are grouped with topics i.e. news,
sports etc. Pages can be browsed with colour buttons on the remote control or from a
special TOP-index. Commonly used in Germany.
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| Treble High sound tones. See also bass.
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| Zoom
Allows users to select a suitable picture format to fill the screen even if the
transmitted picture would otherwise leave black areas at the top and bottom part of the
screen.
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