8VSB: Follow this link for an explanation

Analog: Traditional, less-efficient and lower quality system that uses radio frequency (RF) waves to transmit and display pictures and sound.

Aspect ratio: Screen’s width as compared to its height. For example, for 4x3, the traditional TV aspect ratio, a 32-inch TV would be 25½ inches wide and 19 inches tall. A 16x9 widescreen 32-inch TV is closer to a movie screen than a traditional TV, and would be 28 inches wide and 16 inches tall.

ATSC: Advanced Television Systems Committee is a group which defines the standards for digital television transmission in the United States and many other counties. ATSC is the digital replacement for the earlier analog standard, NTSC. The ATSC standards include high definition television (HDTV), standard definition television (SDTV), data broadcasting, multi-channel surround-sound audio, and satellite direct-to-home broadcasting.

Broadcast Digital-to-Analog Converter Box: A stand-alone device that receives and converts digital signals into a format for display on an analog television receiver.

CableCARD: Security card that digital cable ready TV owners must obtain from their cable company in order to view scrambled programming such as premium services.

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Screens: Traditional color television screens are available for both analog and digital TV. Their resolution and scanning vary from model to model. These screens have a very bright picture, but are limited in size and can be quite heavy.

Clear QAM: An unencrypted digital signal

Closed Captioning: Service that allows persons with hearing disabilities to read dialogue, or the audio portion of a video, film, or other presentation, on the TV screen.

Coaxial: Coaxial inputs (sometimes just called "cable") provide a simple and common way to transmit video. Now coaxial inputs are mostly used for connecting a TV set to an antenna or cable system.

Component Video: Also known as "Y Pb Pr," this connector splits the video signal into three parts. With two audio connections, this 5 wire solution is the most common way to connect EDTVs to DVD players and most HDTV monitors to their receivers or other set-top boxes.

Composite Video: Also called "RCA" connectors, it is the most common way to connect peripherals and other components. It consists of one yellow connector for video and two audio connectors for "right" and "left". Composite connectors cannot transmit high definition pictures, so for HDTV, another connector option, such as HDMI or Component Video (see above), must be used.

Digital Broadcast Satellite (DBS): TV programing delivered via high-powered satellite. Signals are transmitted to a small dish (usually 18 - 24 inches across) mounted outside.

Digital Cable Ready TV (DCR): Also referred to as "plug-and-play," this is a DTV or other device for digital cable customers that plugs directly into the cable jack, and does not require a separate set-top box to view analog and unscrambled digital cable. Used with a CableCARD, it can receive scrambled programming such as premium services.

Digital Converter Box: Also referred to as a "digital-to-analog converter box," this is a stand-alone device that receives, decodes, and converts over-the-air digital programming into analog. When connected to an analog television, it permits digital programming to be displayed in analog.

Digital Television (DTV): Digital technology television that uses radio frequency (RF) to transmit computer code and display it as pictures and sound.

Dolby® Digital: Form of multi-channel digital sound, it provides efficient encoding and noise reduction for high quality surround sound.

Downconvert: Process by which a high resolution signal is reduced to a lower resolution for display. Usually, extra lines are simply ignored when drawing the lower resolution image, but sometimes more sophisticated methods are used.

DVI: Digital Video Interface (DVI) is a high quality digital connector. Similar to HDMI and sometimes with HDCP (see definition), DVI can digitally transmit uncompressed high definition video, preserving perfect picture quality. Unlike HDMI or Firewire (see definition), DVI requires a separate audio connection.

Enhanced Definition TV (EDTV): Better digital television transmission than SDTV with at least 480p (progressive), in a 16x9 or 4x3 display and Dolby digital surround sound. 480p is the quality of most progressive scan DVDs and players.

EPG: Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is an interactive list of upcoming TV programming that can be transmitted along with a DTV program.

Flat Panel TVs: Flat Panel TVs are thin, lightweight TVs that can be hung on a wall. Current flat panels use Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or plasma screen technology.

Firewire: See IEEE 1394.

Front Projectors: TVs that create the image on a small display, then enlarge it by projecting it onto a wall or stand-alone screen (much like a movie theater). Front projectors tend to be dimmer than direct flat panels or CRTs, and often require the room to be dark to be able to see the image clearly.

HDCP: High Definition Content Protection, a technology used to prevent piracy of high quality uncompressed video, primarily over DVI connections.

HDMI: High Definition Multimedia Interface, a high quality digital connector. Similar to DVI and sometimes with HDCP, HDMI can digitally transmit uncompressed high definition video and audio on the same cable, preserving picture and sound quality.

High Definition TV (HDTV): The highest quality digital television, generally widescreen 16x9 with at least 720 progressive lines or 1080 interlaced lines and surround sound.

HDTV Monitor (also HDTV Ready): TV set with the inputs and capability to become an HDTV with the addition of an HDTV tuner, HD cable set-top box, or HD satellite receiver.

HDTV Tuner (also known as decoder or receiver): Device capable of receiving and decoding HDTV signals. HDTV tuners can either be built into a TV set (see 12 Integrated or Built-In) or be a stand-alone device (see Set-Top Box).

IEEE 1394: Also called Firewire or I-link, IEEE 1394 is a way to transmit compressed data and video between components on one cable.

Interference: Unwanted electrical signals or noise causing impairments in the video signal.

Integrated (or Built-In): HDTV or DTV set with the tuner built into the set. It does not need a separate set-top box to receive over-the-air signals.

Interlace Scan: Way to scan vertical lines onto a TV picture by scanning all the odd lines first, then filling in the even lines. (This happens in the blink of an eye.)

Letterbox: Blank bars above and below the image when viewing 16x9 aspect ratio content on a 4x3 screen. The opposite of pillar box.

Multicasting: DTV technology that allows each digital broadcast station to split its digital bandwidth into two or more individual channels of programming and/or data services. (For example, on channel 7, you could watch subchannel 7-1, 7-2, 7-3 or 7-4.)

Multi-Channel Digital Sound: Feature of DTV that permits numerous streams of sound to be transmitted for a given program, providing stereo, surround sound, and even other languages.

Native Resolution: Specific resolution that a television, whether or not integrated, or a monitor, is designed to display. All other resolutions must be either upconverted or downconverted for display.

NTSC: National Television Systems Committee is the standard for analog television transmission in the United States and many other counties worldwide. NTSC was developed in 1953 by the National Television System Committee. Alternatives to NTSC were developed later, including PAL and SECAM. NTSC provides 482 lines of vertical resolution and 16 million colors. NTSC transmits 525 lines, but some lines are used for sync, vertical retrace, and closed captioning. NTSC delivers 29.97 frames per second. NTSC does this by delivering 59.94 interlaced half-frames per second. Interlacing is a technique of alternating the transmission of even lines and odd lines to raise the effective resolution without increasing bandwidth utilization. NTSC has an aspect ratio of 4:3.

Pan-and-Scan: Alternative to letterboxing, the process by which a 16x9 image is converted for display on a 4x3 television by zooming in on the picture and panning to the part of the image that is most interesting. This allows the image to fill the entire screen, but causes some portions of the image not to be displayed.

Pillar Box: Blank bars to the left and the right of an image when viewing 4x3 aspect ratio content on a 16x9 screen. The opposite of letterbox.

Pixel: Smallest area of a television picture capable of being sampled and transmitted through a system, and displayed on a monitor.

Plug-and-Play: See Digital Cable Ready (DCR).

Postage Stamp: Occurs when an image is both letter and pillar boxed. When viewed on a television, the image will appear as a smaller box within your screen.

Progressive Scan: Way to scan vertical lines onto a TV picture by scanning all the lines consecutively (progressively). At the same number of lines, progressive scan produces a higher quality picture than interlace scan. All flat panel and many digital projection televisions are progressive scan, so they display progressive scan images more clearly compared to interlaced images.

Pulldown, 3-2: Process by which a movie shot in 24 frames per second (fps) is shown as an interlaced television image at 30 frames per second.

QAM: Follow this link for an explanation

RCA Connectors: See Composite Video.

Rear Projection TVs: Potentially much larger than standard CRT TVs, rear projection TVs create an image on a small display, then enlarge it onto the back of the screen. Old rear projection TVs used a small CRT, while new digital projection TVs use LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), DLP (Digital Light Processing), or LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) to create brilliant, wide angle pictures.

Resolution: Amount of detail that can be seen in a broadcast image. For television, resolution is measured in horizontal lines displayed (commonly 480, 720, or 1080).

Set-Top Box: A stand-alone device that receives and decodes programming so that it may be displayed on a television. Set-top boxes may be used to receive broadcast, cable, and satellite programming.

Spectrum: Range of electromagnetic radio frequencies used in the transmission of radio, data, and video.

Standard Definition TV (SDTV): Basic digital television format closest to traditional analog TV.

Ultra High Frequency (UHF): Part of the radio spectrum from 300 to 3000 megahertz which includes TV channels 14-69. After the DTV transition, UHF TV will be changed to 470 to 698 MHz, which includes channels 14-51.

Upconvert: Process by which a digital, high definition television takes a lower definition picture and converts it into a higher definition picture. This may be done by doubling each line as it is drawn on the screen, or by using advanced algorithms to interpolate the data between each lower resolution line, filling in the missing image.

Very High Frequency (VHF): Part of the radio spectrum from 30 to 300 megahertz, which includes TV Channels 2-13, and the FM broadcast band.

Widescreen: Term used generally to describe an aspect ratio wider than 4x3. For television, refers to the 16x9 aspect ratio.

Yagi Antenna: Type of antenna, generally designed for UHF frequencies, that is ideal for receiving most DTV stations. Ranging in size from several inches to many feet, a yagi antenna is the most common design for roof-top antennas.

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