Jargon Explained

A

Amplifier
The engine of a sound system, powering the speakers.

Auto set up
Automatic tuning feature which will scan for and store all available stations. Make sure the aerial is plugged in first!

Av receiver
Usually integrated with an amplifier, an AV receiver receives and decodes sound signals to be sent to the amplifier and speakers. Found in home theatre systems.

B

Blu-ray
New High Definition disc & player format. A Blu-Ray disc holds up to 50GB of information, enough for a full movie in 1080p High Definition resolution, or up to 23 hours of standard definition video.

Brightness
Measured in candela per square metre. One candela is roughly equivalent to the light given off by one candle. High brightness is desirable in viewing locations with high ambient light levels.

C

CD
Compact Disc. Disc for storing digital data, usually music, but also data files. Developed by Philips and Sony, and launched in 1982.

Component video
High quality video connection. Even better than RGB SCART, Component video splits picture signals into their component Red, Green and Blue colours. A separate audio connection is required.

Composite-video
Basic video connection, often used to connect camcorders or games consoles to a TV. Carries a composite of colour and brightness picture signals. A separate audio connection is required.

Contrast ratio
The ratio of the luminosity of the brightest colour to the darkest colour in the display. High contrast ratio is desirable, but does not determine picture quality on its own.

CRT
Cathode Ray Tube. The original television technology, often referred to as 'tube' television. First launched in 1922, now being superceded by LCD and Plasma technology.

D

Dab
Digital Audio Broadcast. Found in many new radios, giving crystal clear reception without the need for retuning. DAB radio's often include FM reception too.

Digital tuner
Tuner capable of receiving and decoding digital video or audio transmissions. Improved picture & sound quality compared to analogue tuners.

Digital tv
Also known as iDTV (integrated digital television) - a television with a digital freeview receiver built in. Benefits include wider range of programmes to access and improved picture and sound quality.

Digital zoom
Crops and enlarges an image to reproduce the effect of a longer zoom lens, but with a loss in resolution and image quality.

Dolby digital
Digital multi-channel surround sound. Usually 5.1 surround sound, with five independent channels of sound for front left & right, centre, and rear left & right speakers. The .1 refers to a dedicated subwoofer channel.

DTS decoding
Digital Theatre System. Alternative to Dolby Digital surround sound, thought by some to provide slightly better surround sound quality. Only available from DVD discs bearing the DTS logo.

DVD recorder
Rapidly replacing the VHS video recorder. Uses a blank DVD instead of a tape cassette, resulting in better quality recordings with greater longevity.

DVI
Digital Video Interface. Alternative to the HDMI connection, DVI carries High Definition picture signals, but requires a separate audio connection. HDMI - DVI adaptor leads are available.

E

EPG
Electronic Programme Guide. Gives full programme listings for all available channels up to eight days in advance.

F

Fastext
Teletext feature allowing shortcuts to related text pages by pressing the coloured buttons on your remote.

Freeview
Free to air digital television service offering channels, radio stations and interactive services from the BBC, Sky and others. Accessed via a set-top box or a television with a digital freeview receiver built in.

Front av
Audio/Video input sockets found on the front of a television or recording device. Usually includes composite video and s-vhs connections, with RCA audio inputs, for connecting camcorders, games consoles.

G

Graded stock
Items which have been returned to the manufacturer, either because of slight cosmetic damage, a minor fault or defect, or as a store 30 day return. All Graded products are factory reconditioned to the manufacturer's original specification, and come with a complete 1 Year guarantee.

H

Hard drive
Sometimes referred to as Hard Disc. Data storage device used in some PVR's and DVD recorders, with storage capacity shown in gigabytes (GB).

HD DVD
Much like BluRay, this format is set to replace DVD. HD DVD is an extremely high quality format disk which can hold masses of information. This allows for extra footage and special features to be added to the disk as well as high quality video footage. To play HDDVD, you will need a HD DVD player.

HDMI
High Definition Multimedia Interface. Sometimes called a 'digital scart', this is the highest quality picture & sound connection available. Prerequisite for HD ready televisions.

High definition
New standard for picture displays. Guarantees a minimum of 720 horizontal lines of image resolution, providing greater picture clarity. HDMI or DVI connection required for HD capabilities.

I

I link
Also known as Firewire or IEEE 1394. Digital interface connection, used commonly on camcorders to connect to data storage devices such as DVD recorders.

J

Jpeg
Joint Photographics Expert Group. Compression format for picture files, used for storing photographic files.

K

L

M

Megapixels
1 million pixels, or picture elements. The higher the number of pixels, the sharper the picture quality.

MP3
MPEG 1, layer 3. Downloading music from the internet or CD's onto your audio device or PC can take a long time. MP3 files remove all the sound you cannot hear, reducing file sizes dramatically to make downloading much quicker.

Mpeg
Moving Picture Experts Group. Compression format for audio or video files, used to reduce file size for compact storage and quick access.

Multi region
Refers to DVD players. U.K. DVD players are Region 2, and will not play DVD's from other countries. A multi-region DVD player will play discs from all over the world.

N

Nicam
Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex. Stereo sound from a television broadcast.

O

Optical zoom
Magnifies the target image without any loss of resolution.

P

Pal
Phase Alternating Line. Television broadcast standard used in Great Britain and most of Europe. A PAL picture displays 576 lines of image per frame, at 50 frames per second (50Hz).

Pause and rewind
Handy feature on some DAB radios. Allows you to pause or rewind the broadcast, and recommence where you left off without missing anything!

Pc input
VGA / 15 pin d-sub connection for linking a laptop or PC to a television display. Often found on LCD or Plasma televisions.

Pixel
Short for "picture element", where "pix" is an abbreviation of "picture". More pixels usually means a sharper picture.

Power output
Used in reference to amplifiers. The Power Output rating indicates the wattage supplied to the speakers by the amplifier. Higher power output usually means greater volume and improved sound quality.

Progressive scan
Denoted by 'p' after the number of lines, ie 720p. Draws each line of the picture in sequence, as opposed to interlaced scan which draws odd lines in one frame, followed by even lines in the next.

Q

R

Rds
Radio Data System. Found on many FM radios, RDS allows information such as station name, programme title or time to be shown on the radio display screen.

Rear projection
Large screen television, housing picture projection unit in rear of set. Uses LCD, CRT or DLP (Digital Light Processing) projector, with DLP usually providing best picture quality.

Resolution
In this context, image resolution. Refers to the number of pixels making up the whole image. The higher the number of pixels, the better the resolution.

RGB
Red, Green, Blue. Found in Scart connections, RGB splits the picture into its component colours to reduce signal loss and improve picture quality. DVD / Digital box will usually require setting up to output RGB to a television.

Rms
Root Mean Square. The standard measurement of Watts power output from an amplifier/speaker system.

S

Safety glass
Glass with increased strength. If broken, will shatter into small square pieces to minimise risk of injury.

Scaling DVD
DVD player which 'upscales' DVD images from the native 480 horizontal lines of picture to 720 / 1080 lines by artificially creating extra lines. Produces sharper image ideal for HD Ready televisions.

Scart
21 Pin connection. The standard connection for audio-visual devices, SCART carries picture and sound signals via a single lead.

Sleep timer
Press the button before you doze off! The sleep timer will automatically switch the unit off after a period of time.

Smart Link by Sony
Most manufacturers have a standard for their products to communicate with each other. Smart Link allows you to connect different Set-top boxes, DVD players and other peripherals together and allow you to control all of them from one remote. This means that you can make your DVD recorder record directly from what you are viewing on your TV. The same protocol is used by other manufacturers with the same results, these are: Megalogic (Grundig), Easylink / Cinemalink (Philips), Q-Link (Panasonic), T-V Link (JVC) or Euro View Link (Toshiba).

Subwoofer
Speaker dedicated to reproducing low frequency bass sounds. Used in home theatre systems to reproduce the bass frequencies which smaller satellite speakers are incapable of.

S-video
Video connection. A step up in quality from Composite Video, S-VHS seperates the picture signal into brightness and colour. A separate audio connection is required.

T

Top up tv
Subscription TV service available via a freeview box or television with a card slot. See www.topuptv.com for more details.

Twin digital tuner
Two digital freeview tuners built in. Allows viewing of one channel while recording another, or two channles to be viewed at once in 'Picture In Picture' mode.

U

USB
Universal Serial Bus. Common connection on computers, now available on some television and recorders to allow software downloads or playback from media storage devices.

V

VCR
Video Cassette Recorder. Analogue recording device, quickly becoming redundant with the advent of superior DVD and Hard Disc recorders.

VHS
Video Home System. A recording and playback standard for VCR's introduced by JVC in 1976.

Video+
Convenient system for programming a recording device. Enter a VideoPlus code, found alongside programme listings, into the recorder, and channel number, start and finish times are set automatically.

W

Wall mountable
Has screw socket array on the rear of the set to allow fixing of a wall bracket. Wall mountable designs have a removable pedestal or floor stand.

Widescreen
Indicates the aspect ratio of a television screen and/or picture. 16:9 widescreen is the standard for modern television screens and digital TV broadcasts.

Wireless
Without wires! In home cinema, wireless rear speakers receive audio signals via infrared or RF transmissions, eliminating the need for cables trailing from the front to the rear of the room.

X

Y

Z