HDTV Definitions |
|
Here are some HDTV terms that you may come across. |
|
| # | 1080i | The number 1080 stands for 1080 lines of vertical resolution, while the letter "i" stands for interlaced or non-progressive scan. |
| 1080p | The number 1080 stands for 1080 lines of vertical resolution, whilte the letter "p" stands for progressive scan or non-interlaced. |
| 120Hz Refresh Rate | Newer LCD HDTVs redraw or refresh its screen image 120 times a second. The higher refresh rate is supposedly great for watching high speed programs such as sports or action movies or playing video games. |
| 16:9 | Aspect ratio most commonly known as wide screen and is wider than the standard 4:3 aspect ratio. |
| 60Hz Refresh Rate | All HDTVs redraw or refresh the screen's image 60 times a second. |
| 720p | The number 720 stands for 720 lines of vertical resolution, while the letter "p" stands for progressive scan or non-interlaced. |
| A | |
| Aspect Ratio | Aspect ratio is the relationship between the horizontal and vertical measurements of a television screen. Traditionally, TV sets have a square shape with a ratio of 4:3. Because movies are filmed in widescreen mode, watching a movie on a standard television set often requires either the reformatting of the movie to fit the screen, or the use of letterboxes, which are those black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Today's flat panel HDTSVs have an aspect ratio of 16:9 which gives a more cinematic experience. |
| ATSC | The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) is the group that helped to develop the new digital television standard used by U. S. broadcasters. |
| ATSC Tuner | ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) tuner, often called an ATSC receiver or HDTV tuner, allows reception of digital television (DTV) signals that are being broadcast over-the-air by TV stations. |
| Top of Page | |
| B | |
| Brightness | Red, green, and blue--the three colors that make up the foundations for all other colors--are their reddest, greenest, and bluest at a decimal number of 255. When all three of these colors are set to 255, the color produced is the whitest white. Brightness should be calibrated on a TV so that white is the brightest it can be--true white--just as the black level should be calibrated to true black if the TV has the capacity. |
| C | |
| Color Depth | Color depth is used to describe the number of bits used in a single pixel to make up a color. The more bits per the pixel the better the transition from one color to another and help detail different shades of a specific color that are adjacent to one another. |
| Color Resolution | The number of distinct colors that a device can display. The more distinct colors, the better the image. |
| Component Video | A direct analog video connector that separates three different parts of the video signal, a brightness signal and two color-difference signals, usually with RCA-type connectors, color-coded red, green, and blue. Better than S-Video, composite, or RF-modulated video signal in the analog domain. |
| Composite Video | A video connection that has Y (Brightness) and C (Chrominance/Color) combined and must be processed by a filter before the signal can become a picture image on a TV screen. |
| Contrast Ratio | The contrast ratio is defined as the ratio of the brightest white compared to the darkest black that a monitor can display. The higher a television's contrast ratio, the more dazzling and realistic its pictures are. Contrast ratio is also a measure of a TV's black-level performance. A television with a high contrast ratio produces deep, rich blacks. |
| Top of Page | |
| D | |
| Diagonal Size | Referred also to "Diagonal Viewing Area", the diagonal size is the size of the screen measured in inches. This would be measured from the bottom left corner to the upper right corner of the screen itself. |
| Digital Comb Filters | Comb filters are used to get the most out of the resolution of DVDs and other digital sources. They help to correct detail and color loss that occurs when your TV renders the signal onto the screen by layering several versions of the image on top of one another. |
| Digital TV (DTV) | Digital television. A TV transmission techniques using digital bit streams (a series of 0's and 1's) rather than analog waves with constantly varying values systems in radio frequency transmissions. A catch-all acronym used for the US ATSC broadcasting system. HDTV, EDTV, and SDTV are all forms of DTV. |
| Digital Visual Interface (DVI) | The Digital Visual Interface or Digital Video Interface is a video interface standard designed to maximize the visual quality of digital display devices such as flat panel LCD computer displays and digital projectors. It was developed by an industry consortium, the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). |
| DLP | Digital Light Processing® is a proprietary Texas Instruments technology that uses micro-mirrors on a chip to switch light for video projection, including digital televisions. This is a competing technology for LCD-based projectors. |
| Dynamic Contrast Ratio | Dynamic Contrast Ratio is when the backlight brightness is adjusted automatically (through the display's electronics) for darker scenes to give you better viewing. |
| E | |
| EDTV | Enhanced Definition Television is an industry recognized for of DTV. The EDTV format is essentially 480 lines of resolution in progressive scanning, or 480p. |
| Top of Page | |
| F | |
| Fixed Pixel Displays | Examples of fixed pixel displays are LCDs, PDPs and DLPs. These display devices have actual pixels (picture elements) that make up the display. Unlike CRT and scanning devices, Fixed Pixel Displays have clearly measurable display resolution. |
| Front-projection | A front-projection television provides a viewing experience closest to being in an actual movie theater. It's a two-piece system, using a projector and a separate screen. The projector can be placed on a shelf or a coffee table, or mounted to a wall or ceiling. Front-projection systems require external components such as speakers and a TV tuner, making the total system substantially more expensive. |
| H | |
| HDTV | High Definition Television is the highest performance segment of the DTV system used in the US. It's a wide-screen, high-resolution video image, coupled with multichannel, compact-disc-quality sound. |
| HDTV Ready | Any device that is immediately capable of receiving and displaying any high-definition signal sent to it. |
| HDCP | High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection is a scrambling system used on DVI and HDMI connects to protect content by prohibiting all recording/copying of the content. |
| HDMI | High-Definition Multimedia Interface is the digital connection between A/V devices, such as a set-top box, DVD player or A/V receiver, and a digital television. HDMI offers exceptional video and audio quality with a single quick-disconnect connector. HDMI supports multi-channel digital audio transmissions and component video color spacing for true rendering of high-definition video. |
| Top of Page | |
| I | |
| Inputs | Video and Audio inputs designed for use with HDTV products. Inputs include: HDMI, Component, Composite, S-Video, Digital Audio, Optical Digital Audio. |
| Interlaced Scanning | This process divides and presents each video frame as two fields, which form a frame. Imagine a video frame being divided by the odd and even horizontal lines that make up the picture. The first field presents the odd lines; the second field represents the even lines. The fields are aligned and timed so that, with a still image, the human eye blends the two fields together and sees them as one. |
| L | |
| LCD | Like plasma TVs, LCD TVs are flat panel displays. LCD technology works by sending varying electrical currents through a liquid crystal solution that crystallizes to form the image you see on the screen. Although prices for large screen LCDs are falling, they still tend to be more expensive than their plasma counterparts. LCD TVs are fast becoming the definitive replacement technology for CRT. |
| N | |
| Native Display Resolution | All fixed-pixel displays have a native resolution specification that tells you how many pixels the display actually has. Native resolution is the absolute limit on the amount of detail you'll see. Typical native resolutions include 1080p and 720p. |
| NTSC | National Television System Committee set the standard for analog television. It is also the name of the current analog transmission standard used in the US, which was created in 1953. |
| Top of Page | |
| P | |
| Picture and Picture (PaP) | Picture and Picture (PaP) allows you to watch more than one TV program (channel) at the same time. With the PaP feature, two programs are shown side by side on the screen with the sound from one program being played through the speakers, and the sound from the other being sent to headphones. |
| Picture in Picture (PiP) | Picture in Picture (PIP) allows you to watch more than one TV program (channel) at the same time on television sets. With the PIP feature, one video source will be displayed on the full TV screen as one or more other programs are displayed in inset windows. Sound is usually from the main program only. |
| Picture outside Picture (PoP) | Picture outside Picture (PoP) allows you to watch more than one TV program (channel) at the same time. With the PoP feature, the screen can be divided into two same-sized screen for two different programs. |
| Pixel Dot Pitch | Pixel Dot Pitch is a specification for a television display panel (HDTV or computer monitor) describing the distance between LCD cells or pixels of the same color. |
| Pixels | The small "dots" that make up all television screens. Each is a discrete element of the picture, but when viewed from a distance the pixels are small enough that they blend into one another to create a smooth picture. |
| Plasma | A plasma TV is a thin, high-resolution flat panel screen. Plasma displays are bright, have a wide color range, a wide viewing angle, and produce deep, true blacks. A plasma screen uses a matrix of tiny cells that are charged by precise electrical voltages to create a picture. |
| Progressive Scan | Progressive or non-interlaced scanning is any method for displaying, storing or transmitting moving images in which the lines of each frame are drawn progressively (one line after another). This gives a smoother, more realistic image. |
| Top of Page | |
| R | |
| Rear-Projection | A rear-projection television refers to a TV in which images are projected and reflected onto the screen from behind. Like plasma and LCD TVs, rear-projection TVs support the most advanced levels of high definition on the market today. They have flat screens that can be manufactured in very large sizes. Rear-projection TVs tend to take up more space than flat panel monitors, but with high performance and affordable prices, they're a cost-effective alternative to plasma and LCD displays. |
| Resolution | Resolution refers to the number of pixels per inch that a screen can display. All flat panel LCDs and plasmas are what is called "fixed-pixel" displays, which means they use pixels to display an image. HDTVs are quantified by the number of pixels per vertical line. TVs designated as "720" have 720 vertical pixels; as "1080" have 1080 vertical pixels, and so on. TVs with a higher pixel count have a higher resolution which produces a clearer, more detailed image, than those with a lower pixel count. |
| Response Time | A measurement of how quickly a pixel can change colors. Typically listed in milliseconds (ms), the faster the response time, the smoother the image will appear. |
| S | |
| S-Video | A better quality video connection where the picture's brightness and color information are carried separately. |
| Screen Size | The screen size of a HDTV is its screen's diagonal measure in inches. |
| SDTV | The lowest performance level of the three basic formats of DTV. SDTV has about the same picture resolution (detail) as today's analog television, but may appear clearer since it does not suffer from analog interference. |
| Top of Page | |
| V | |
| V-Chip | V-Chip is a generic term used for a feature of television receivers allowing the blocking of programs based on their ratings category. It is intended for use by parents to manage their children's television viewing. All 13-inch and larger televisions manufactured for the United States since January 1, 2000 are required to have the V-Chip technology. |
| Viewing Angle | Viewing angle listed in the horizontal and vertical values is the deepest viewing angle possible of a given flat panel television. |
| W | |
| Widescreen | A term given to picture displays with a wider aspect ratio than NTSC 4:3. Digital HDTV or SDTV is referred to as "16:9 wide screen." Most motion pictures also have a 16:9 wide screen aspect ratio. Most Digital TVs have a screen that is wider than it is tall (if a Digital TV screen is nine inches high, it's 16 inches wide). When watching a show recorded in the wide screen format on a Digital TV, viewers see more of the movie. When viewing widescreen format on an analog TV, cropped edges are evident. |
| Top of Page |