HDTV Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

120 Hz
The frame rate of some newer HDTV sets. Typical sets display images at a rate of 60 Hz (Hertz, or "frames per second"). Movies and most DVDs are filmed at a rate of 24 Hz, which can look jerky when displayed on a 60 Hz display, because 24 doesn't go into 60 evenly. Since 24 does go into 120 evenly, movies look perfect on a 120 Hz set.

3:2 Pulldown
An adjustment in the display process that allows 24-frame-per-second movies to be shown on 60-frame-per-second displays without causing effects such as ghosting and other distortions.

Analog TV
A way of broadcasting a TV signal. An analog TV creates a picture by responding to variations in the frequency of an electromagnetic wave, while a digital TV builds a picture from a series of binary digits, like computers do. The FCC has mandated that all TV broadcasts will be digital by 2009.

Anamorphic DVD
A video that has been filmed in a 16:9 widescreen format, compressed to fit the 4:3 TV standard, and then expanded to fit a widescreen display. Non-anamorphic DVDs are shown letterboxed on 4:3 TVs, and blown up on 16:9 TVs, resulting in a loss of detail. DVDs labeled "anamorphic" or "enhanced for widescreen" will give the best picture on a widescreen display.

ATSC Tuner
A device that can relay high-definition signals from an antenna to your TV. Also called HDTV tuners or digital tuners. Sets that have them built-in are called integrated HDTVs. ATSC stands for Advanced Television Systems Committee, a TV industry standard-setting committee.

Banding
A display defect that makes the picture appear as a "series of stripes" rather than one picture, or displays mysterious horizontal lines across the screen. Sometimes banding is very hard to notice, but sometimes it is very distracting. Banding is becoming less and less common as manufacturers fine tune the design process.

Bezel
The frame around the outside of the TV screen. Black and silver are the most popular bezel colors.

Black Level
The intensity of black in the television picture. Setting the black level correctly is important to picture quality, especially the ability to see detail in dim areas.

Burn-In
A display problem where static images displayed on a part of the screen become "burned in" and still faintly appear even when the picture changes. This can be caused by letterboxing, news channel information tickers, or any image that stays in one place for a long time. Burn-in can be a problem for plasma sets, especially in the first 100 hours of use, but not for LCD or DLP sets.

CableCard
A small card, similar to a computer memory card, that can be inserted into some HD-ready TVs to allow them to receive digital cable service without a set-top box.

Coaxial Cable
The typical cable-TV cable that comes out of the wall. It has a thin copper wire in the center, then an insulating material, then usually a copper braided tube around that, then the outer casing.

Comb Filter
A feature that helps you get the best quality out of DVDs. The comb filter is only necessary if you are using a composite video or RF cable to connect the DVD player to your TV.

Component-Video Cable
A set of three audio-video cables that split a signal into different components like Y, Pb, and Pr. It gives a high quality signal, but not as high as HDMI.

Composite-Video Cable
A video cable, usually with a yellow tip, that combines all the video information into one signal. This type of cable is typical on regular TVs, and gives a low quality signal.

Compression
A way to transmit data so that it takes up less space. A digital signal can be compressed, sent across a cable or through a satellite, and then uncompressed to view on the TV. Sometimes a little data is lost during compression, and this is called lossy compression.

Contrast Ratio
The maximum difference between the brightest white and the blackest black that a screen can display. Bigger is better.

Digital TV (DTV)
A way of broadcasting a TV signal. An analog TV creates a picture by responding to variations in the frequency of an electromagnetic wave, while a digital TV builds a picture from a series of binary digits, like computers do. The FCC has mandated that all TV broadcasts will be digital by 2009.

Direct-View TV
Any TV that is not a projection TV.

DirecTV
A direct broadcast satellite service that provides TV programming to people in the United States. DirecTV and Dish Network, another satellite provider, mainly compete with cable TV providers for customers.

Dish Network
A direct broadcast satellite service that provides TV programming to people in the United States. Dish Network and DirecTV, another satellite provider, mainly compete with cable TV providers for customers.

DLP
Digital Light Processing. A TV display type where the image is projected from a computer source onto a large screen using many tiny mirrors. The mirrors move back and forth to control the picture on the screen. For more info: Plasma, LCD, DLP

DVI
Digital Visual Interface. An official standard dreated by the Digital Display Working Group, an electronics industry consortium. Also refers to a type of cable that connects source to display. There are three different DVI configurations: DVI-A for analog signals, DVI-D for digital signals, and DVI-I (integrated) for both analog and digital signals.

DVR
Digital Video Recorder. A device, such as TiVo, that records one or more broadcast signals to a hard drive, enabling you to pause live TV or record one show while watching another. The DVR is the VCR of the 21st century.

EDTV
Enhanced Definition TV. A sort of intermediate between regular TV and HDTV, with an 852 x 480 resolution. EDTVs can display HDTV images, but with less detail.

FCC
The Federal Communications Commission. The U.S. Government agency that regulates communication by telephone, radio, TV, cable, and satellite. The FCC's influence is extremely broad, ranging from broadcast decency standards to bluetooth devices to HDTV broadcast specifications.

FiOS
Fiber-Optic Service. A source of HDTV programming from Verizon, which can potentially deliver more channels than cable, due to the higher capacity of fiber optic cables. At this time FiOS is only available in a few areas.

Fixed-Pixel Display
any HDTV or monitor that uses pixels to produce an image, including flat-panel LCD and plasma screens.

Frame rate
The rate at which images are changes in a TV display. Also known as Hertz or Hz, which stands for "cycles per second". Most TV sets in the US use a frame rate of 60i, which stands for 60 interlaced half-frames per second, and equates to 30 full frames per second. Movie cameras use a frame rate of 24 per second.

HDMI
High Definition Multimedia Interface. A standard type of interface, or cable, that was designed as the successor to DVI. HDMI cables are very commonly used to connect components like HDTVs, cable boxes, DVRs, and game consoles together.

HD-Ready
Also known as HDTV-Ready or HDTV Monitor. Any TV set that can display high definition images, but does not have a built-in ATSC (high definition) tuner. An HD-Ready TV may have an NTSC (regular definition) tuner built in, though.

LCD
Liquid Crystal Display. One of the main types of display for HDTVs, computer monitors, cell phones, and even digital watches. For more information: Plasma, LCD, DLP

Letterboxing
Formatting that makes a widescreen image fit on a more square TV screen, by using black bars above and below the image. Also see "pillarboxing".