Glossary

Electronics glossary

203 definitions · page 2 of 4.

Digital Zoom: Electronically extends a camcorder's or digital camera's built-in optical zoom capability and expands the range of focal length adjustment.
Direct Digital Recording: With direct digital recording, digital compact cassette (DCC) decks use digital inputs and digital outputs from CD players or receivers to create crisp, clean digital recordings without the noise associated in the usual digital to analog conversions of…
Direct Frequency Tuning: Allows direct access to a desired radio station by entering exact digits of that station by using remote control or buttons on the front panel of the receiver.
Direct Stream Digital™ Encoding (DSDE): A technology used by SACD (SONY) systems. The key advantage of DSDE is that it can carry 4 times as much information as the conventional CD/PCM format. DSDE also has a superior frequency response and dynamic range across the audible frequency range.
Disc Exchange: Lets you listen to the disc inside a multiple CD changer while you change the other discs that you are not playing - continuous music without interruption.
Dolby® B & C Noise Reduction: Two systems of noise/hiss reduction invented by Ray Dolby. The systems work by boosting high frequencies during recording (also called encoding) and attenuating the frequencies during playback (also called decoding).
Dolby® HX Pro Headroom Extension System: Improves recording performance on tapes by preventing large high frequency signals from overloading the tape. A tape recorded with the HX Pro System can be played on any other cassette deck and still retain the benefits of HX Pro.
Dolby® Pro Logic® (DPL): A processing mode for A/V components and the current standard for handling surround sound soundtracks in a home theatre system. Signal steering and delay are crucial for DPL performance.
Dolby® Pro-Logic® Surround Sound: Creates a very realistic soundfield. There are four components: front left channel, front centre channel, front right channel and rear channel. The front centre channel contains mostly dialogue and centre sound effects. The front left and right speakers…
Dolby® Surround Pro Logic®: Soundtrack is 4 channels of audio information - left, centre, right and surround matrix, encoded into 2 audio tracks. These 2 tracks are then carried on stereo program sources such as videotapes and TV broadcasts into the home, where they can be decoded to…
Dolby® Surround Pro Logic® II: An improved matrix decoding technology that provides better spatiality and directionality on Dolby Surround program material, providing a convincing three-dimensional soundfield on conventional stereo music surroundings.
Driver: A sound-producing device. It is also another word for loudspeaker. The woofer, midrange and tweeter are the "drivers" in a speaker enclosure.
Dubbing: Allows you to add video or audio (or both) to tapes. Video dub inserts new video segments into previously recorded material without interrupting the existing soundtrack. Audio Dub records a new soundtrack onto finished videos from VCRs, cassettes or from a…
DVD-Audio SACD Ready: Receivers that are DVD-Audio/SACD ready enable an outboard digital decoder to be added to the system. A receiver is considered "future compatible" if it offers 6.1 channel outputs that can be used with a DVD-Audio/SACD player.
DVD-RAM: A recorder which allows the user flexibility of starting to watch a program from the beginning as soon as they wish while still recording the end.
Dynamic Bass Boost (DBB): A special circuit that helps create realistic bass production. Boosting the bass as much as eight decibels (nearly three times more than normal) allows the sound to be rich at all volume levels.
Dynamics: Describes the way that a home theatre system renders soft as well as loud sounds. A system with good dynamics renders all sounds in natural, lifelike, three-dimensional proportions.
Electronic Skip Protection (ESP): A feature that prevents interrupted play in case of shock or vibration, because a digital chip stores CD data (music) in advance.
Energy Star® Compliance: The Energy Star label is a simple way to identify energy efficient products. These products generate fewer greenhouse gas emissions - which are contributing to the global problem of climate change - because they use less energy. That makes Energy Star…
Equalizer: A component or circuitry within a component that divides audio frequencies into separate bands, allowing the user to change the volume of each band and adjust for differences in listening space acoustics, personal taste or the characteristics of a specific…
Exposure: The result of allowing light to act on photosensitive material. The amount of exposure depends on both the intensity of the light and the amount of time the light is allowed to fall on the sensitive material. The exposure is dependant on the aperture size…
Favorite Channel Memory: Stores up to 16 of your most frequently watched channels, allowing quick and easy scanning of preferred channels.
Fine Pitch Picture Tube: A fine pitch picture tune has smaller, more tightly spaced phosphor dots than normal picture tubes to enable an image with much finer detail.
FireWire: Apple's trademarked name for the IEEE 1394 external bus standard. This is an extremely fast computer port that can be used to connect up to 63 devices. FireWire supports isochronous data, meaning that it can deliver data at a guaranteed rate. Other…
Flat Picture Tube: Incredibly strong, flat glass screen minimizes distortion for pictures with advanced clarity and detail. Edges of the screen are flattened out giving the impression of a larger, better picture.
Flying Erase Head: Erases unwanted material an instant before new, wanted video is edited over. Provides clean edits with no noise or rainbows.
FM Auto Fine Tuning: An automatic tuning circuit for FM radio reception that constantly samples and corrects the tuner frequency to prevent drifting.
Focus Free: Camera lenses can be categorized by the way they deliver the focused image to the film. If the lens is carefully formulated and positioned it will be able to produce sharp images of subjects from about five feet away to the horizon with no manual adjustment.
Frequency (audio): Frequency, in music, refers to the pitch of a sound. The frequency of a sound is measured in cycles per second. One cycle is one complete audio waveform. Bass frequencies have a lower number of waveforms per second. Treble frequencies have a very high number…
Frequency Response: A frequency range that an electronic component can accurately reproduce. Humans can hear from 20Hz to 20,000Hz (20kHz). An ideal component would have a frequency response, totally flat or without deviation, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
Fresnel Screen (projection TV): Helps balance out the light of the image across the screen. Without this screen, there would only be a centre screen bright spot. This screen receives the initial light image from the mirror and is made up of grooves, not unlike the grooves on an original LP…
Front Panel A V Inputs: Permit easy connection of extra video equipment, such as a camcorder, VCR or video game system. There are three inputs on the front panel of the receiver.
Game Sync Inputs: These inputs are available on SONY tabletop systems for use with gaming systems. They give the user a virtual surround sound gaming enhancement.
GPS (Global Positioning System): Consists of 24 satellites that constantly orbit the earth. GPS reports and records your position and navigational information. GPS technology is free; you just need a GPS receiver. GPS applications include camping, hiking, boating, fishing and driving.
Hall Surround Mode: One of several different modes in audio receivers and systems to shape sound to more closely resemble a live performance. Hall setting gives the spacious effect of a concert hall when playing stereo (but not mono) material.
Harmonic Distortion: A deviation from the original signal caused by the presence of harmonic frequencies not in the original signal. Harmonic distortion is supplied as a percentage. The smaller the percentage figure, the better. One percent THD is considered to be the minimum…
Hi-Resolution CRT: With hi-resolution CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), high definition image sources, such as HDTV, require a picture tube with a small dot pitch to adequately display the details in the picture.
Hi-Resolution Projection CRT: The new hi-resolution projection CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) reduces the electron beam spot size (over previous tubes) to provide an image with the fine details necessary for proper reproduction of digital television pictures.
High Speed Shutter: Allows for a sharper picture of a recorded action when played back. Events recorded with a high speed shutter can be paused or played in slow motion with no visual blur. When using a faster shutter speed, more light is required.
High-Pass Crossover: A filter, often found in a powered subwoofer, that accepts the full-range audio signal heading for the main speakers. This filter only passes frequencies falling above a predetermined frequency and it attenuates those below. The goal is to prevent the main…
High-Quality Digital Video: Captures the full beauty of movies without sacrificing colour fidelity or detail. The DVD format assures over 500 lines of horizontal resolution, more than twice that of typical home video.
Home Theatre System: Typically, an entertainment system that includes a big screen TV, a Hi-Fi VCR/DVD Player, five or six speakers, appropriate amplification and Dolby® Pro-Logic® Surround Sound.
Horizontal Edge Correction: This feature helps sharpen the edges of objects in the picture. It works in conjunction with the dynamic sharpness control and velocity modulated scan to help produce clean, crisp television images and reduce the unwanted effects of video noise.
Hot Shoe: An accessory shoe mounted on the camcorder that is internally wired to the camcorder power supply. Compatible accessories, such as a video light, can be powered directly, with no wires to connect.
Imaging: The recreation of sound instruments, voices or non-musical elements of a movie soundtrack in a specific location. Imaging is judged to be successful when all of the sounds produced by a single, stationary sound source appear to emanate from a single location.
Impedance (audio): The amount of resistance to current. In loudspeakers, a device with a lower impedance rating puts greater demands on the power amplifier.
Interactive Multi-Plot Movies: These offer the potential for full-motion interactive video adventure games. These films have enough space on the DVD to offer different directions for plot development and endings, according to choices made by the viewer.
Intercom Two-way paging: The cordless phone doubles as a two-way intercom system. Found on speakerphone models, this feature allows for conversation between the handset and base station. Two-way paging allows the handset user and the base user to alert each other by pressing a…
Invar Shadow Mask: Helps provide greater resistance to the effects of heat produced by electron beam bombardment. This protection helps reduce the problem of colour blur from "doming" and assures consistently bright, sharp images in TVs.
Jog Shuttle: A rotary dial on a remote control or deck that allows you to locate and isolate a single frame of video information. The jog shuttle is especially useful for editing or instant playback.
Kevlar®: A lightweight, rigid and moisture-resistant material. Mass produced speakers usually use paper or plastic cones that can result in distortion. Kevlar cones eliminate the effects of distortion and standing waves in speakers, delivering a pure and crisp sound…
Letterboxed: Refers to a program that is presented in or close to its original aspect ratio. The aspect ratio compares the width of the picture to the height. Standard TV broadcasts and cablecasts use a 4:3 aspect ratio, while most movies are shot in an approximately…
Lines of Resolution: Usually refers to the horizontal resolution capability of the TV, which is an indication of the maximum number of equally spaced black and white vertical line pairs that can be resolved on a TV test pattern. Lines of resolution should not be confused with…
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD): Screen A Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Screen is a flat TV design which requires a small depth (as thin as 2.5 inches). The LCD allows for easy viewing due to the brightness and high contrast the LCD provides, giving the viewer a wider viewing angle with…
Localize: The listener's ability to pinpoint the source of specific sounds. In home theatre, sounds for on-screen action should appear to come from the screen, while other sounds should seem to originate in a way that's consistent with the environment shown on the…
Low-Pass Crossover: A filter, found in a powered subwoofer, that accepts a full range audio signal heading for the subwoofer and passes only those frequencies falling below a predetermined frequency, attenuating those above. The goals are to "feed" the subwoofer only those…
Luminance Noise Reduction (YNR): In the event of weak signal conditions, YNR reduces video noise (commonly known as "snow") in the picture. Through the menu, an on-screen indicator lets you know if the feature is on or off. For maximum picture detail on a good quality video, YNR should be…
LUX: A measurement of light level. Normal house lighting level is 75 to 100 LUX. The lower the rating, the better the indoor recording will be without the use of additional lighting.
Main Speakers (MAINS): The left/right speaker pair that flanks the TV screen. They reproduce much of the program's music tracks, special effects and sounds that should come from the left or right of the TV.
Memo Function: Allows you to save whatever image is on the screen for viewing at a later time. You can save up to 6 screen images that can be displayed simultaneously, or one at a time on the right half of the TV screen.