Dictionary of Video and Television Technology Newnes is an imprint of Elsevier Science. Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. [This page intentionally left blank.] No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, Elsevier Science prints its books on acid-free paper whenever possible. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN: 1-878707-99-X British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The publisher offers special discounts on bulk orders of this book. For information, please contact: Manager of Special Sales Elsevier Science 225 Wildwood Avenue Woburn, MA 01801-2041 Tel: 781-904-2500 Fax: 781-904-2620 For information on all Newnes publications available, contact our World Wide Web home page at: http://www.newnespress.com 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America Dictionary of Video and Television Technology Keith Jack Vladimir Tsatsulin An imprint of Elsevier Science Amsterdam Boston London New York Oxford Paris San Diego San Francisco Singapore Sydney Tokyo [This is a blank page.] CONTENTS Preface ............................................................................................................. vii About the Authors ...................................................................................... ix # ............................................................................................. 1 A ............................................................................................ 3 B........................................................................................... 22 C........................................................................................... 39 D .......................................................................................... 75 E ......................................................................................... 100 F ......................................................................................... 113 G ........................................................................................ 129 H ........................................................................................ 135 I .......................................................................................... 146 J ......................................................................................... 159 K ........................................................................................ 161 L ......................................................................................... 164 M ....................................................................................... 176 N ........................................................................................ 193 O ........................................................................................ 199 P ......................................................................................... 205 Q ........................................................................................ 224 R......................................................................................... 227 S ......................................................................................... 239 T ......................................................................................... 271 v U ........................................................................................ 289 V ........................................................................................ 292 W ....................................................................................... 311 X ........................................................................................ 316 Y ........................................................................................ 317 Z ......................................................................................... 319 APPENDIX A: Associations ................................................. 321 APPENDIX B: Standards Organizations............................... 325 vi PREFACE Just a few short years ago, the applications for video were fairly confined— analog broadcast and cable television, analog VCRs, analog settop boxes with limited functionality, and simple analog video capture for PCs. Since that time, a tremendous and rapid conversion to digital video has taken place, with consequent changes in broadcast standards and technologies. “Convergence” is the buzzword that has come to mean this rapid coming together of various technologies that were previously unrelated. Today we have: • DVD and SuperVCD players and recorders, with entire movies being stored on one disc, with newer designs supporting progressive scan capability for even higher video quality. • Digital VCRs and camcorders, that store digital audio and video on tape. • Digital settop boxes, which interface the television to the digital cable, satellite, or broadcast system. Many also now support interactivity, datacasting, sophisticated graphics, and internet access. • Digital televisions, which receive and display digital TV broadcasts, either via cable, satellite, or over-the-air. Both standard-definition (SDTV) and high-definition (HDTV) versions are available. • Game consoles, with high-definition graphics and powerful process- ing, and with the newer systems supporting DVD playback and internet access. vii • Video editing on the PC, using real-time MPEG decoding, fast MPEG encoding, and other powerful techniques. • Digital transmission of content for broadcast, cable and satellite sys- tems, with the conversion to HDTV underway. This is a complex and ever-changing field and there is a need for a refer- ence that documents the evolving terminology, standards, and acronyms. The Dictionary of Video and Television Technology contains the most up-to- date terms and their usage. The book is a valuable reference for engineers working in the fields of analog and digital video, broadcast personnel, tech- nicians, or anyone charged with the task of understanding, using, or implementing video and television signals. We hope this companion vol- ume to the popular Video Demystified, 3rd Edition proves just as valuable to those creating and working with the converging technologies of the 21st century. viii ABOUT THE AUTHORS Keith Jack has architected and introduced to market over 25 multimedia ICs for the PC and consumer markets. Currently director of product mar- keting for Sigma Designs, Inc., he is working on next-generation digital video and audio solutions. He has a BSEE from Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana, and holds two patents for video processing. Vladimir Tsatsulin is a retired military officer with an electronics engineer- ing degree from MVIZRU Military Academy. Following his retirement from the military, he worked as a TV technology professor at “Elektrons” state company in Riga, Latvia and later was a member of the expert group that developed a TV and PC database for the Invention Machine Co. Today Tsatsulin is a technical writer and translator for the Belorussian State Univer- sity of Informatics and Electronics in Minsk, Belarus. He is co-author of The English-Russian Dictionary on Television and Audio/Video Equipment, a stan- dard reference now in its third edition. ix [This is a blank page.] # 0h A reference time moment at the mid-level crossing cable, many digital cable systems continue to use point of the leading edge of the line sync pulse. This QAM modulation technology. is the default timing reference in the TV environ- 2-D Two-dimensional. ment (as opposed to the active line start which is (2+3)D mode A mixture mode in which both the commonly used in computing environments). Syn.: 2D-image and the 3D-image are displayed as mixed. line datum; line start [moment]; time datum. 2.5D effect A digital video effect similar to a 2D effect 0v A reference time moment given by the line datum but with the appearance of three dimensions. E.g., coincident with the beginning of the first equaliz- a picture can be distorted and put on the surface of ing pulse (525-line standard) or with the beginning a disk to give the illusion of being put on a sphere. If of the first broad pulse in the vertical sync group this disk is rotated 90 degrees about its x-axis it will (625-line and 1125-line standards). Commonly ac- be seen to be a single line, providing its 2D nature. cepted as a timing reference point for color framing A true 3D effect may be rotated and viewed about and SCH determination in 625-line standard. Syn.: any axis and still maintain an appropriate shape. frame datum. 2D effect A digital video effect where picture trans- 1.78:1 16:9 ratio for “wide-screen” TV. formations and manipulations are restrained within 10-bit The generic description for equipment having a an arbitrary plane surface. data path 10 bits wide. Such a path can represent 2H Sync pulse with period of two lines, the rising edge data having up to 1024 different values (four times of which marks the start of a line with positive that of an 8-bit system). polarity of V component in a PAL chrominance sig- 100% [color] bars 1. In PAL/SECAM countries and in nal or the start of a Dr line in Dr/Db sequence in a Japan: color bars with the nomenclature 100/0/100/0. SECAM chrominance