DMI Media Glossary

Gobbledegook. Nomenclature. Technobabble. Call it what you will, our industry’s
full of odd phrases... So DMI has a new objective. Its mission? To explore strange
new words. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man
has gone before...
AC-3 Audio Compression technology; see Dolby Digital
Aggregating Websites: Sites that collect syndicated content for easy viewing. They
usually specialize in news headlines, blogs or video.
AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format): This is an audio format originally developed
to store high-quality audio data. AIFF files are similar to Windows WAVE files in
terms of size/quality and can hold CD quality audio which can be burned onto audio
CDs. As a rule, Mac and PC Audio programs are both able to read the files.
Aliasing: A sort of ‘visual confusion’, often caused by sampling images at too low a
resolution. If you’ve ever seen someone on TV in a checked jacket that kind of
‘strobes’, you’ll get the idea. If the thing being shot has a lot of tiny, repetitive
detail, it causes poor pixelation and looks just plain wrong!
Analogue (Analog): Our senses perceive the world in analogue in as much that the
things we see and hear are transmitted in a continuous stream. That’s a bit like
analogue data! So, for example, a turntable uses a needle to read bumps and
grooves on a record in a continuous signal – so it’s an analogue device…
A CD player, however, uses a laser to read only a series of one and zero digits –
it’s digital! And because digital devices only read these ones and zeros, they kind
of approximate an audio or video signal… That means analogue data is technically
more accurate than digital data! When it comes down to it though, digital data wins
out ’cos it can be handled by computers and is more easily manipulated and
preserved.
Analogue audio (Analog audio): See Analogue
Analytics: Some say this is best described as "The science of analysis". So web
analytics is the measurement, aggregation, analysis and reporting of internet data
for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage.
Anamorphic: Shock! Horror! Standard definition television doesn’t have true 16:9
ratios. To achieve the illusion that it does, it uses anamorphic images where the
camera lens s – t – r – e – t – c – h – e – s the 16:9 image to fill up a 4:3 image! On a
4:3 – kind of squarish – T.V., the image is then ‘letterboxed’ at the top and bottom
to give its original shape. On a 16:9 set, the image is stretched out left & right to
restore its shape. See our piccies below!
Applets: Any small program written in the web programming language ‘Java’. It
can be put into a HTML page, in the same way images are included.
Aspect Ratio: Confusing business, this, so if you need more info call us on 01784 42
12 12… The aspect ratio of an image is its displayed width divided by its height.
This is usually referred to as "x:y" or "x by y". The most popular standard ratios
are:
4:3
16:9
1.85:1
2.35:1
4:3 (1.33:1)
16:9 (1.78:1)
Audible Edit: This is tricky to explain! Try and imagine it: sometimes when you edit
a picture, the accompanying audio differs between the two shots and you can hear
the transition! Exactly the kind of thing a sound engineer puts right.
Audio Dropout: A brief loss of sound.
Audio Hiss, Crackle and Hum: The breakfast of the Sound Engineer? Indeed not.
Rather, these onomatopoeic terms speak to unwanted noises in audio work. Also
quite common are pops, static, scratches clicks and ticks.
Audio Flutter: A distortion in sound often caused by variations in speed during
recording.
Audio Wow: Slow form of ‘audio flutter’. It’s common to hear the phrase ‘Wow and
flutter’ in general terms, as things to be avoided or, if they have not been avoided,
as things to be got rid of. And if they can’t be got rid of, regretted!
AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition): A high-definition recording format
that can use various storage media, including 8cm recordable DVD discs, a hard
disk, or flash memory cards. AVCHD competes with other handheld video camera
formats, notably HDV and MiniDV.
AVI (Audio Video Interleave): A multimedia format containing both audio and video
data in a standard file, allowing synchronous audio-with-video playback. AVI can
also support multiple streaming audio and video in much the same way as a shiny,
happy DVD can.
Augmented Reality: A view of a live, physical environment, elements of which are
mixed with computer-generated imagery… That is to say ‘augmenting reality’!
Bandwidth: Refers to how much data you can send through a network or modem
connection. The more bandwidth, the more information can be transferred within a
given amount of time. It’s usually measured in bits per second, or bps. See also
bitrate.
Badge (Web badge): An image on a website that promotes digital standards or a
content license.
Barker Reel: “Who dares read on and lift the veil of mystery? Who will be the first
to discover the secret and reveal the meaning of the words barker reel?” In much
the same way a Fairground Barker attracts a crowd with a compelling and
enthused pitch, a barker reel is a video piece that compels emotion, often for a
forthcoming occurrence or event.
Betacam: A family of half-inch professional videotape products, including
camcorders, tapes, video recorders and the like. Rather helpfully, Betacam’s
various incarnations - Betacam SP, Betacam SX, Digital Betacam, etc., are
consistent in size and shape, whilst the cassette shells and cases are colour coded
for easy identification! There are two sizes,
Small and Large, and ’cos they never change,
you never need to upgrade your storage area!
Betacam SP: An analogue tape which was the
broadcast industry standard and is still
popular in many parts of the world. The
difference between BetaCam and the
improved BetaCam SP is that BetaCam SP
uses a metal tape. Which is nice…
Betacam SX: Digital version of Betacam SP; a
cheaper alternative to Digital Betacam. It
stores video using MPEG 4:2:2 Profile@ML
compression, along with 4 channels of 48 kHz
16 bit PCM audio. All Betacam SX equipment is
compatible with Betacam SP tapes. Yay! S
tapes have a recording time of up to 62
minutes, and L tapes up to 194 minutes.
Betamax: Ah, yes… Remember Betamax?
Sony's 12.7 millimetre home videocassette
was introduced in 1975 and quickly began battling for domestic supremacy… Not
in a Megatron/Optimus Prime sort of way, just for – like – sales, and as you
probably recall, VHS won.
BITC (Burnt-In Time Code): An onscreen timecode for a piece of material
superimposed on a video image. BITC is
sometimes used in conjunction with
machine-readable timecodes, such as
LTC or VITC. Non-broadcast formats
such as VHS tend to employ BITC so that
copies can be traced back to a master
and the original time codes located
more easily.
Right: Colour bars with burnt-in timecode
Bitmap: Most images you see on your computer are composed of bitmaps. A
bitmap is a matrix formed of rows and columns of dots that look like a picture as
long you are sitting a reasonable distance from the screen. There are many
bitmapped formats, including JPEG, GIF, BMP and TIFF.
Bitrate: A measure of bits per second; refers to the rate that data is transmitted. In
general, the higher the bitrate the better the image but the longer it’s likely to take
to transfer. For that reason the internet uses lower bitrates than DVD for video
playback.
BitTorrent: Got to distribute a large amount of data? Then this peer-to-peer file
sharing protocol may just be the beast you’re looking for! It’s also the name for the
software and the company that maintains it.
Bling: Microsoft’s new search engine and pretender to Google’s throne!
Blog: An abbreviation of ‘Web-log’… A website or page that regularly updates with
a user’s comments and, sometimes, graphics or video. Entries tend to be
presented in reverse order; ‘Blog’ is also a verb, meaning to provide a blog.
Bluescreen: See Chroma key
Blu-ray DVD: An optical disc like CD and DVD. Developed for recording and playing
back high-definition (HD) video, and for storing larger amounts of data. Whilst CDs
and DVDs hold 700Megabytes and 4.7 Gigabytes of data respectively, a single layer
Blu-ray disc will store up to 25 Gigabytes. Course, since they’re also available as
double layer discs, you can store an impressive 50GB on one!
Blu-ray discs can hold more information because of the lasers they use. These
‘blue rays’ (see what they did there?) have shorter wavelengths than the red ones,
and focus on a smaller area, therefore using less space. See also HD/DVD and the
‘What’s HD all about?’ info sheet at www.dmiproductions.co.uk/info for more on
this.
Blag: Air of false confidence created in a vacuum of true knowledge; particularly
common in media industry pitching. For blag free consultations, visit:
www.dmiproductions.co.uk/info or call 01784 42 12 12.
.BMP or .DIB: (Device-Independent Bitmap) Bitmapped graphics format used
internally by the Microsoft Windows and OS/2 graphics subsystem; often employed
as a graphics file format on those platforms. A 32-bit version, with integrated
alpha channel, was introduced with Windows XP and is used within its logon and
theme system.
B-roll (or B roll): Usually refers to unneeded or unrelated talk during an interview
that can be edited around, removed or contextually altered. So coughs, ums, ers
and slip-ups, etc, can all be disguised by the B-roll footage.
B-roll also refers to footage given to broadcast news folk as a means of gaining
publicity. For instance, someone who runs a factory making jelly tots might film
their machines, hoping that excerpts of this be used in stories about the new
colours, flavours or shapes. This material often ends up in stock footage libraries.
B-roll, irritatingly, has yet another meaning in an Edit Decision List (EDL). Because
linear editing systems are unable to dissolve between clips on the same tape, the
EDL marks stuff that needs dubbing onto another tape as ‘B-roll’ to make the
dissolve possible.
Burnt-In Time Code: See BITC
Capture: See Digitising
Captioning: Very simply: putting captions on!
Chav: Slang term for a young yob derived either from the Romani word ‘Chavi’,
meaning a child or – unfairly, perhaps – created as an acronym for Council Housed
And Violent. The chav is widely considered somewhat unintelligent and illiterate,
with a proclivity toward the pugnacious.
Chroma key: Also known as colour keying, Greenscreen, Bluescreen or colourseparation overlay (CSO). A brilliant and endlessly useful technique that allows the
removal of a colour, or colour range, from images to reveals other images 'behind'
them. This makes all sorts of visual effects wizardry possible! Have a shufty at the
piccies below to see what we’re on about.
Here: Will
Robson
stands by
the Green
Screen
There: Now
Isolated; The
Background
is ‘taken out’
Anywhere!
Will appears
in a graphic
against a
totally new
background.
Codec: If it’s a technology for encoding or decoding a digital data stream/signal –
it’s a codec! Bit of a balderdash and piffle moment as regards where the word
comes from: it’s a hybrid of ‘Coder-Decoder'.
Colour Bars: You remember the old test card with the youngster playing noughts
and crosses with a hideous clown? Well, colour bars are a type of television test
card. The components of this pattern are standardised, so comparing stuff to it
indicates how various standards of video signal have been altered and what needs
to be happen to make it look right. They’re also used for setting television monitors
properly.
Colour-Separation Overlay (CSO): See Chroma key.
Companding (Compansion): From ‘compressing’ and ‘expanding’ comes this
rather silly word for a way to minimize the detrimental effects of channels with
limited dynamic range.
Compression: Data compression is the process of encoding information using
fewer bits to make a smaller file size. For example, this glossary could be encoded
with fewer bits if we accepted that the word ‘glossary’ would be encoded as ‘gloss’.
Compression uses less of the expensive resources like hard disk space or
transmission bandwidth. The design of data compression schemes involves
something of a balancing act between factors, including the amount of distortion
introduced, the degree of compression, and the computational resources required
to compress and uncompress the data.
MPEG, WMV, QUICKTIME, REAL all use compression in video to make the content
easier to distribute. Check out the deliverables fact sheet at
www.dmiproductions.co.uk/info
Component video: Video signal that’s been split into two or more components. In
popular use, it refers to a type of analogue video information that’s transmitted or
stored as three separate signals. Component video can be contrasted with
composite video in which all the video information is combined into a single line
level signal.
CRT (Cathode Ray Tube): CRT is the technology used in older computer monitors
and televisions. Images are created by firing electrons from the back of the tube to
phosphors toward the front of the display. These then light up and are projected on
the screen! Of course, many LCD displays now approximate the quality of CRT
monitors, so flat screen displays are increasingly popular...
CSO (Colour-Separation Overlay): See Chroma key.
Click Through Rate (CTR): Often, folk want to measure the success of websites or
online advertising campaigns. This is done in part by working out the ‘CTR’. Simply
divide the number of people who click the ad by the number of times it’s been
delivered. So a ‘banner ad’ that’s delivered 100 times, and has just one solitary
person click on it, has a CTR of… 1%!
CMS (Content Management System): A system that lets groups of people maintain
websites and the like, using a simple web-browser-based interface, rather than
authoring web pages manually.
Cookie (HTTP Cookie): Text stored in your computer memory by a web browser.
It’s usually bits of info such as your preferences, shopping cart contents or other
data useful to websites.
Cybersquatting: Ummm-err! This is naughty; it’s using a domain name that
includes a trademark belonging to someone else. So if we owned
www.dietcoke.com and were looking to sell it for millions of pounds… We would
be cybersquatting. And shame on us!
D-Beta: See Digital Betacam
D-1: Regarded as the first major professional digital video format, and plagued
with appropriate troubles, not least of which was its expense! Once on an even
keel, though, D-1 offered exceptional image quality. And, coincidently, its name
brings back bad memories of poor Geography grades...
D-2: Not ‘D2: The Mighty Ducks’, but D-2, a composite digital tape introduced to TV
broadcasters with the realisation it could be introduced to studio facilities without a
great deal of redesigning. The D-2 transport accepted standard RS-170A analogue
inputs and outputs.
D-3: Uncompressed composite digital video tape format employing half-inch metal
particle tape. It’s been used in data applications and there was a time when some
camcorders used the format on account of the lossless encoding scheme.
D-5: Uncompressed digital component video system that uses half-inch tape.
Whilst a standard definition D-5 deck can be engineered to record high definition
alongside an external HD input/output box, it leaves no room for error ’cos the full
bandwidth of the tape is required for the HD recording.
D-5 HD: Uses standard D-5 video tape cassettes to record HD material, using an
intra-frame compression with a 4:1 ratio. D-5 HD supports the 1080 and the 1035
interlaced line standards at both 60 Hz and 59.94 Hz field rates, all 720 progressive
line standards and the 1080 progressive line standard at 24, 25 and 30 frame rates.
Four 48 kHz 20 bit PCM audio channels, or eight 48 kHz 24 bit channels, are also
supported.
A D-1(Left) and
D-2 Player (Right)
A D-3 Tape (Right)
A D-5 Tape (Below Left)
And D-5 HD Tape (Below Right)
DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter): This is used to convert analogue information
into a digital signal that can be recognised by computers.
DAT (Digital Audio Tape, R-DAT): A signal recording and playback medium that
looks a lot like a small audio cassette and, as you might imagine, is digital rather
than analogue. Converts and records either at the same, higher or lower sampling
rates than a CD, and without compressing the data. Fancy that!
Data Rate Transfer: This measures how fast data is transferred, usually in bits per
second – not bytes per second! Look out for Internet service providers: they like to
quote data transfer rates in “bps” so people assume bytes when they mean bits…
making their access speeds sound 8x faster than they are!
Dbc: See Digital Betacam
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service Attack): Sounds exciting! It’s the term used
when ne’er do wells flood the bandwidth, or other resources, of a targeted system
– often web servers.
Decoding: See Encoding
Delicious: Yum! A scrumptious social bookmarking web service! Delicious lets you
store, share and discover web bookmarks and favourites.
Digital 8: A digital video recorded on Hi8 media, using the industry standard DV
codec. In engineering terms, Digital8 and MiniDV are indistinguishable at the
logical format level. Digital8 uses the same cassettes as Video8, but otherwise has
no resemblance to the Video8 analogue video system. Some Digital8 equipment
can play - but not record - Hi8/Video8, but this isn’t a standard feature of Digital8
technology.
Digitize: Capturing an analog signal in digital form.
Dissolve: Watch a bunch of films and you’ll almost certainly see a number of
scenes sort of ‘fade out’ as they end, whilst the beginning of the next scene grows
bolder… That’s a dissolve!
Digital: See Analogue
Digital Video (DV): A digital video format that, along with its smaller tape form,
MiniDV, has become a standard for home and semi-professional video production.
Course, there are professional uses as well. We’re not snobs! Useful for
filmmaking and electronic news gathering (ENG), there have been some variations
on the DV standard, most notably DVCAM and DVCPRO, targeted at professional
use.
From Left to Right:
DVCAM, DVCPRO and
MiniDV
Digitise: To make
digital! So importing, say, a VHS tape to your computer with an analogue-to-digital
converter (DAC) converts the analogue signal to a digital stream… Digitising it!
Since digital data can be endlessly copied with no loss of quality and edited by
computers, most of today's audio and video media are created in a digital format.
Distressed genes: Parental shock and aversion to teenage fashions such as might
be experienced in the build up to a landmark birthday.
Digi: See Digital Betacam
Digitbeta: See Digital Betacam
Digital Betacam: Not content with having one silly name, this is also referred to as
Digibeta, d-beta, dbc and Digi. It supersedes both Betacam and Betacam SP whilst
delivering high quality and reliability. Costs significantly less than the D-1 format,
too...
Digital Betacam equipment is arguably the best format for standard-definition
digital video, outperforming cheaper formats such as DVCAM and DVCPRO.
Equipment is a little pricey, but
you know what they say about
getting what you pay for! Size S
tapes have up to 40 minutes
running time; size L tapes up
to 124.
Right:
Digibeta Tapes
Discrete: Meaning distinctly separate rather than discreet – tactful or secret!
Dolby Digital (AC-3): An audio compression technology containing up to six
discrete channels of sound. The Right Front, Centre, Left Front, Right Rear and Left
Rear channels are for normal-range speakers (20 Hz – 20,000 Hz) and the
remaining channel (20 Hz – 120 Hz) is for the subwoofer driven, low frequency
effects. The Dolby Digital format supports mono and stereo uses as well. All of
which means it’s super!
Dropout: A glitch or temporary loss of picture due to errors, problems or gremlins
in the tape.
DRM (Digital Rights Management): Hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright
holders and others who wish to restrict the use of their digital content and devices
use control technologies and theses are known as ‘DRMs’.
DTV: See High-Definition television
DV: See Digital Video
DVCAM: A professional variant of the
Digital Video standard that uses the
same cassettes as Digital Video and
MiniDV and the same codec as regular
DV, but transports the tape 50% faster.
That means a higher track width of 15
micrometers - which lowers the
chances of frustrating and costly
dropout errors!
Right: DVCAM
DVCPRO: DVCPRO indeed! Where do they get these names; it sounds like a
dominatrix rally... Alright. Panasonic’s idea when designing the DVCPRO series
was to offer better linear editing capabilities with electronic news gathering (ENG)
specifically in mind.
Right: DVCPRO
DVCPRO25: Like a grown up version of Digital Video, working at about half the data
rate as its bedfellow DVCPRO50.
DVCPRO50: The DVCPRO50 standard doubles the bitrate of coded video. The higher
data rate cuts recording time in half whilst picture quality rivals Digital Betacam.
DVCPRO HD (DVCPRO100): Uses four parallel codecs and a coded video bitrate of
approximately 100 Mbit/s, depending on the format.
Right: DVCPRO
DVD: Standing either for ‘Digital Versatile Disc’ or ‘Digital Video Disc’ astonishingly no-one’s 100% sure - this is a high quality video and sound quality
optical disc. Used for data storage and, of course, movies!
Dynamic range: Simpler than it sounds; bear with us… Describes the ratio
between the smallest and largest possible values of a changeable quantity. So, for
example, the dynamic range of men’s tee shirts might be S - XXXL! A bit more
complicated in the media biz, but you get the idea.
EDL (Edit Decision List): Flashy way of saying the ‘road map’ for how a film or
video will look when cut together! Usually carries timecode and other relevant
information. Comes into its own when transferring edits from different sources offline to online editing systems, for example.
Electronic News Gathering (ENG): As it sounds – gathering new information by
electronic means. Can be anything from one bloke with a video camera to a full
T.V. crew beaming stories around the world by satellite.
Encode: When digital information is converted from one format to another, it is
called ‘encoding’.
Encoding: The process of turning information from one format into another. The
reverse is called decoding: making a signal into a form suited for transmission or
storage, generally done with a codec.
ENG: See Electronic News Gathering
EPK (Electronic Press Kit): See Electronic Press Kit
Electronic Press Kit (EPK): A press kit in an electronic form, obviously, but why
would you care? Well, there’s no better way to promote stuff via the mass media!
Can include promos, featurettes, clips from programmes, interviews, b-roll
footage and bonus materials amongst others.
EuroSCART: See SCART
Euroconnector: See SCART
Exlaxation: Ephemeral period of optimism and relief experienced between upsets
of the stomach when ill.
Facebook: The world’s most popular social media platform! Let’s you stay in touch
with friends, family and colleagues. You can update your status (I am eating a
piece of burnt toast), upload photos and videos (Here’s me eating burnt toast) and
join groups of like-minded people (Folk who love burnt toast).
File Transfer Protocol (FTP): System used to transfer data or exchange files
between computers over the Internet, or through a network. FTP servers can be
set up between physical servers and internet hosts.
Filming: The tangible bit of a project where people show up with cameras!
Generally speaking, even a small shoot will have a full camera and sound kit and,
very often, some form of lighting. The latter may gets chopped off when shooting
vox pops or footage of things that happen naturally – ‘fly-on-the-wall’
documentaries, for example. More formal interviews require lighting, though, as
viewer’s expectations tend to be a lot more unforgiving once ‘off the street’!
Firewall: Part of a computer or network system that blocks unauthorised access
while permitting welcome communications. A bit like a castle drawbridge over a
moat!
Firewire (IEEE 1394): High-speed interface used to connect devices such as digital
video cameras, hard drives, audio interfaces, iPod and MP3 players to computers.
Flash: If you want to add animation and interactivity to web pages, ‘Flash’ is often
the way to do it! You can use it to create animations, adverts, web page
components and to integrate video into web pages; more recently it’s been used to
develop rich internet applications. You’ll find our whole website uses ‘Flash’; check
out www.dmiproductions.co.uk.
Flash Memory: Computer ‘memory’ mainly found in memory cards and USB flash
drives. Ideal for general storage as well as transferring data between digital
products.
Flash Memory Card (Flash card): Type of Memory card that uses flash technology
to re-programme in blocks rather than bytes… Basically, it’s faster! Flash cards
have also been suggested as a replacement for the hard-disk in Mp3 players,
although USB memory drives have been doing this job quite nicely! See also
Memory card.
Flicker: If the frame rate of a video is too low, then our poor old peepers can’t
handle it! There is sometimes a perceived ‘flicker’ and this is what we refer to
here.
Flikr: A very popular online community that shares photos; not to be confused with
the visual atrocity of ‘Flicker’.
Folksonomies: When online tags are created, managed and categorized, they’re
often referred to as ‘folksonomies’. They make managing content such as photos,
videos and bookmarks easier.
FTP: See File Transfer Protocol
Fwargh: The small, sanitizing puff of air produced when blowing on dropped food
in order that it can be deemed “Still okay to eat”.
Gaffer tape (Camera tape, Duck tape, Duct tape, Gaffa tape): Strong, adhesive tape
- used extensively in media production on those rare occasions when the roll is
where you thought it was. Gaffer tape is often missing as a result of gremlin
interference.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format): A popular, if limited, way to store lowresolution data.
Graphic Novel: A graphic novel is a 'comic book' style video that uses photos,
sketches or drawings instead of film to provide the action. You can see how
effective this looks when you click here for a case study.
Greenscreen: See Chroma key.
Gremlins: Tiny, mischievous creatures known to move, steal and otherwise spoil
things whilst you’re trying to work.
GUI: (Graphical User Interface) Interacting with electronic devices such as
computers, MP3 Players, Portable Media Players or Gaming devices, household
appliances and office equipment, but through images rather than text commands.
Like when you click on a ‘window’, for example!
Happy Slapper: Participant in a modern craze which sees pranksters play practical
jokes, usually of a violent nature, on unsuspecting folk. Some chav with a
recording device tapes the inevitable upset and merriment of victim and
perpetrator respectively.
Hashtag: To help you search for words or phrases used in expansive media like
‘Twitter’, short messages are ‘tagged’ by prefixing parts with a # symbol. This
allows for the tags to be syndicated and searched on request. So writing ‘#innocent
is my favourite fruit drink’ ensures that innocent is identified in a search!
HDMI: Stands for "High-Definition Multimedia Interface." HDMI is a digital interface
for transmitting audio and video data in a single cable. It is supported by most
HDTVs and related components, such as DVD and Blu-ray players, cable boxes,
and video game systems.
HDCAM: High Definition version of Digital Betacam.
HDCAM SR: Commonly used for High Definition television production, this uses a
higher particle density tape and captures much more of the full bandwidth of the
High Definition signal.
High Definition (HD): Generally refers to a video system of higher resolution than
standard-definition (SD) video. Most commonly seen at display resolutions of
1280†720 (720p) or 1920†1080 (1080i or 1080p). Commonly used in television
broadcast, video recording formats, and optical disc delivery systems.
Pixel comparisons
HD DVD (High-Definition DVD): A high-density optical disc format designed to
succeed the standard DVD format for the storage of data and high-definition video.
It tried to best its rival ‘Blu-ray’ but accepted defeat in early 2008, despite boasting
a large storage capacity. See the ‘What’s HD all about?’ info sheet at
www.dmiproductions.co.uk/info for more on all that malarkey.
HDTV (High-Definition Television): A digital television broadcasting system with a
significantly higher resolution than NTSC, SECAM, PAL and so on. Mostly
broadcast digitally, ’cos digital television (DTV) requires less bandwidth, HDTV also
uses a different aspect ratio to Standard-Definition Television (SDTV)…
While previous broadcasts used a 4:3 ratio - 4 units wide for every 3 units tall HDTV uses a ratio of 16:9. The three formats used by HDTV are 1080i (interlaced),
720p and 1080p (progressive) and supports up to 6 channels of audio.
Hi8 (High-band Video8): After Super-VHS (S-VHS) came along, Sony introduced
Video Hi8 which improved recorder electronics and media-formulation to increase
picture detail. Sounds like the name of a droid from Star Wars, too, so not
unlovable.
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol): Not what allowed the Millennium Falcon to the
make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs; rather the set of standards
governing how computers contact web servers to receive web pages. Without it,
there’d be no internet!
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol secure): Combines the above with a coding
system for extra security. Payment sites tend to use these, for obvious reasons, as
do sites with sensitive info.
Hypervideo: When a video stream contains embedded, clickable links to let you
navigate between video and other elements, it becomes ‘Hypervideo’.
IEEE 1394 (Firewire): Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers See Firewire
IPTV (Internet Protocol Television): So you want to watch television on your laptop.
Well, open it up, click on and bish, bash, bosh… you can! And that’s thanks to IPTV
which is the system that delivers digital television using Internet Protocol via the
internet instead of coming via broadcast and cable.
Interlace Scan / Progressive Scan: Interlacing is a way to compress video. Each
interlaced frame of signal shows alternating horizontal lines of the image. The
signal switches between odd and even lines at 60 frames per second, so the video
image looks smooth to our little eyes!
Now, because only half the image is sent with each frame, interlacing uses
roughly half the bandwidth than it otherwise would. The only downside is fast
motion can appear slightly blurred.
With Progressive Scan, pictures are drawn with every line in sequence, like writing
text on a page. This involves twice as much data being sent than with interlaced,
which these days will usually mean a smoother picture - but with twice the
bandwidth!
If you see video formats written out as, say, 576i or 720p, the numbers reveal how
many horizontal lines of resolution the signal will use and the ‘p’ tells us it’s a
progressive scan signal. In the same way, the 1080i format means there are 1080
lines of resolution, and the ‘i’ means it’s interlaced. Both 720p and 1080i are used
by HDTV. Also, check out www.dmiproductions.co.uk/info for our ‘What’s HD all
about?’ sheet.
Internet Protocol: System by which computers talk to each other over the web!
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): Image files that employ JPEG
compression are commonly called ‘JPEG’ files. In computing terms, this is a
method of compression for photos and the like. The most common file extension
for this format is ‘.jpg’, though ‘.jpeg’, ‘.jpe’, ‘.jfif’ and ‘.jif’ are also used. It’s
possible for JPEG data to be embedded in other file types, such as TIFF format
images.
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display): You’ve seen it even if you don’t know it! A thin, flat
display device in front of a light source or reflector. Much loved by engineers ’cos it
uses tiny amounts of power, and is therefore suitable for use in battery powered
devices – watches, calculators – you know the kind of thing!
Linear editing: The process of picking the bits you want and arranging them on
videotape from whatever source. Until the arrival of hi-tec ‘non-linear editing’ in
the early 1990’s, of course, linear video editing was the only option – so it’s also
known as just ‘video editing’.
Line Up: A test signal comprising audio and video recorded at the beginning of a
tape. This is used as a reference for future recording and playback.
LinkedIn: Like Facebook, only for business! You can put C.V.s online; recommend
people you’ve worked with and link to referrals and other people you trust.
Linnacle: Broken part of a child’s doll - especially an arm, leg or head - that
inexplicably appears in derelict houses.
Lip smack: An unwanted puckering sound made by actors, actresses and voice
over artists during recording.
Lossy compression: Form of compression that usually causes some loss of
quality.
LTC: Linear (or Longitudinal) Timecode (LTC): Often referred to as "Litsy", this
encodes an SMPTE timecode as an audio signal. The signal is commonly recorded
on a VTR track or the like.
Malarkey (Arkey malarkey, malarky): Exaggerated or foolish talk; nonsense.
Mashup: A web page or application that meshes together either pre-existing
functions or data or from a number of other sources to provide a new service.
Megatron/Optimus Prime: Ah, C’mon! They’re Transformers: E-wah-wah-oo-wah!
Robots in disguise...
Memory Card (Mem-card): A memory card, or flash memory card (Flash card), is
an electronic data storage device. Used with digital cameras, mobile computers,
phones, music players, game consoles and the like, they offer high quality ‘rerecordability’, power-free storage and so on.
Metadata: Data about data! An item of metadata might describe an individual
content item, or a collection of multiple content items. A bookshop, for example,
contains many books, and the data would be the titles of the books. Metadata about
the titles would include the author, the ISBN, the number of pages and so on.
Similarly, a computer file would be data, the name & type of file, the
administrator’s name and the like would be metadata.
MJPEG (M-JPEG / Motion Jpeg): A format in which each video frame or interlaced
field of a digital video sequence is separately compressed as a JPEG image. Often
used in mobile stuff: digital cameras, phones and the like making it, among other
things, the Happy Slapper’s tool of choice!
MiniDV: Compact version of Digital Video; see that entry under High Definition.
Missing effects: In audio terms, exactly as it sounds – or doesn’t sound! A dropped
can of paint on screen that has yet to have an appropriate effect added to it would
be described this way.
Moir€ / Moire: The effect of a pattern being created on screen when one should not
be there. If you’ve ever looked at an optical illusion that creates the impression that
something is there that is not, then you’re looking at a Moir‡! Bricks, check patters
and concentric circles are among the usual suspects for causing this effect…
Right: Moir‡ effect caused by concentric circles
Mood board: This is a visual tool, often used early in the creative process to
communicate initial feelings around an idea. It might comprise colours, font
examples, shapes, words, images and other expressions of the ‘mood’ of the
proposed piece.
Morocall: The implicitly sad countenance of a discarded soft toy strapped to the
front of a dustcart.
MPEG: Usually, MPEG refers to a type of multimedia file, identified by the extension
‘.mpg’ or ‘.mpeg’. These are compressed movies that can contain both audio and
video. Though compressed, MPEG files
largely maintain the quality of an
uncompressed movie. That’s why many
videos on the Web, such as movie trailers
and music videos, are available in the
MPEG format.
MPEG can also stand for ‘Moving Picture
Experts Group’. The MPEG organization,
which works with the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO),
develops standards for digital audio and
video compression. The group works to
develop more efficient ways to compress and store audio and video files. Well. It’s
a living…
MPEG IMX: A development of the Digital Betacam format, it uses the MPEG
compression system, but at a higher bitrate than Betacam SX. The IMX format
allows for a standard video signal, with 8 channels of audio and timecode track but
lacks an analogue audio (cue) track. Rather, it reads it as ‘Channel 7’ if used for
playback.
Mulkin: Any piece of dropped food that requires fwarghing.
MXF (Material eXchange Format): A format for professional digital video and audio
media defined by a set of SMPTE standards. It can hold additional information like
multiple audio and video streams, subtitles, chapter-information, and metadata,
along with the synchronization information needed to play back the various
streams together. So there.
NICAM: Acronym for ‘Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex’. Which is,
in itself, gibberish! You can look up companding if you like, or relax in the
knowledge that NICAM’s just a form of Lossy compression for digital audio that
was developed for point-to-point links within broadcasting networks. NICAM has
also been used to compress transmissions of TV stereo sound.
Ne’er do well: A lazy, irresponsible or somewhat puckish person; a rascal.
New Media: Another term for ‘digital media’, meaning everything from mobile
phones, video streaming and email to mp3 players, virtual reality environments
and web sites.
Noise: Random, high frequency sounds that haunt the sound crew are called
‘noise’.
Non-linear editing system (NLE): A video or audio editing system which allows
random access on the source material. The data is first digitised to hard disks or
the like. Once imported, the data can be edited on a computer using any of a wide
range of software.
NTSC: So named ’cos of the body that adopted it - the National Television
Standards Committee – this is an analogue TV system used in many parts of the
world. See our standards sheet at www.dmiproductions.co.uk/info for more on this
sort of thing. The NTSC format uses 29.97 interlaced frames of video per second
instead of PAL’s 25. Each frame consists of 486 lines out of a total of 525 and the
rest are used for non-pictorial information.
Offline editing: A rather fun stage in most projects ’cos you get to play a lot! Offline
editing is a process in which footage is copied and edited, usually at a lower
resolution, without affecting the original film or tape. Once a programme has been
completed in this way, the original media will be conformed in the online editing
stage.
Online editing: When the offline edit is complete, the pictures are re-assembled at
full resolution. All the fancy guff - graphics, audio mix, etc - gets added in, often
overseen by the folk that pay the bills! And the editing process winds down…
Oojermeflip (Oojamaflip, Thingamajig, Watchamacallit): Any obscure or inveterate
piece of equipment, the real name for which continues to prove elusive.
Open ID: Allows you to use an existing online identity to sign into multiple
websites, with the same password. For example, you can setup a Twitter feed
using your Google account user details.
Optical disc: In computing, sound reproduction and video, this is a disc that stores
data in the form of pits, or bumps, on an otherwise flat surface - usually along a
single spiral groove that covers the entire recorded surface. Examples include
DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray, laserdisc, minidisc and compact disc.
Out of Sync.: Ever been watching T.V. or video and noticed that the words a
character is speaking are a little out of synchronization with the on-screen image.
That’s what this refers to!
PAL (Phase Alternating Line): Not at all “Something out of Star Trek”, rather a
colour encoding system used in parts of the world in broadcast television. There
are other worldwide standards, including SECAM and NTSC; see our ‘Which
country uses what standards’ info sheet at www.dmiproductions.co.uk/info
PC: Personal Computer.
PDA: See Personal Digital Assistant
PDP: See Plasma Display Panel
Pedition: The slow-dawning realization that the shoes you thought would stop
pinching after you’d broken them in are, in fact, just too small and will forever
remain hellishly uncomfortable.
Peer-To-Peer (P2P): Nothing to do with Kidneys… Rather, it’s a network system
made up of participants that make some resources available to their peers. In
other words, they share technical demands through a network rather than a sole
server.
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA): Any of the many portable gadgets that help
organise your life!
Plasma Display Panel (PDP): Mmmmm, plasma… Flat panel display increasingly
used for large and gorgeous TV’s. Many tiny cells located between two panels of
glass hold a mixture of gases. The gas in the cells is electrically turned into a
plasma, which then excites phosphors to emit light. So now you know!
Podcasts: Digital media files, usually audio or video, which are released
episodically for you to download.
Pre-production: Anything that happens before the cameras roll is covered by the
phrase pre-production. For example, our free consultation, designed to help get
ideas up, running and looking great, is a pre-production meeting; other preproduction considerations include, say, the setting up of crew, equipment and all
the logistics.
Print through: An undesired kind of ‘echo’ found in audio work that comes either
just before or just after the real audio.
Progressive (Progressive Scan): See Interlace
Ratio: See Aspect Ratio
R-DAT: See DAT
Resolution: Insert a pithy remark about New Year here! Actually refers to the
quality of an image, usually measured in a number of lines & pixels. Analogue TV
uses around 200,000 pixels compared to HDTV which has more than 2 million – in
other words, the better the resolution, the clearer the picture.
Retweet: A ‘Twitter’ term that relates to re-posting something once posted by
another user. A ‘retweet’ is usually preceded with "RT" and "@username" to give
credit to the original author.
RGB Analogue Component Video: RGB just stands for Red, Green and Blue, whilst
‘Analogue component video’ is a video signal standard found in many European /
Japanese televisions and most modern computers.
Rottlecrum: A mulkin that’s deemed unsalvageable despite fwarghing, such as
those later found between sheets, sofa cushions or in furniture crevices.
RSS Feeds: Controversial! It might stand for ‘Really Simple Syndication’ or it might
be for ‘Rich Site Summary’… No-one’s quite sure! Either way, it refers to info from
things like blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video that are digital and
updated often in a standardised format. These feeds are read using software
called ‘RSS readers’, ‘feed readers’, or ‘aggregators’, which can be web, desktop,
or mobile-device based
Same Day Edit: The undeniably edgy, clever and impressive process of taking
footage captured during the day and having it edited, audio-mixed, mastered and
played back, with a soundtrack to inspire, the same day. DMI loves to provide
dedicated editors to achieve the somewhat awesome effect this has in a quick
turnaround time.
Scan conversion: A method by which one changes the vertical / horizontal scan
rate of video signal. Examples of this would be converting computer signals to a TV
set and so on. The magical tool that does this for you is, rather predictably, called a
scan converter.
Scan rate: Without getting too sucked into it, this describes the frequency at which
a CRT moves the electron beam from the display’s left to the right side - and back!
This determines the number of horizontal or vertical lines on a screen per second.
SCART (Le Syndicat des Constructeurs d'Appareils Radior‡cepteurs et
T‡l‡viseurs): Of course, having had their own snazzy name catch on all over the
place, those wily French just called it P‡ritel! Elsewhere it’s known as the 21-pin
EuroSCART or Euroconnector.
All over Europe, SCART remains the most common way to connect audio-visual
equipment, and has become the standard connector for such devices. But you
know how it is… Things popular in Europe: not so much elsewhere. David
Hasslehoff’s music, for example.
SDK (Software Development Kit): Not content to let us accept that every profession
has its nomenclature and, indeed, its own special, mystical ways, someone
somewhere has conjured the abbreviation ‘SDK… This needlessly describes the
development tools of software engineers such as they might use to create
applications, frameworks, computer & operating systems, video game consoles,
hardware and other platforms.
SDTV: Standard Definition Television. Just television until HDTV came along and
lifted our hearts.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): If you want to promote your website, you’ll
probably aim to increase your visibility on search engine pages. The art and
science of doing so is called SEM and involves things like ‘paid placements’,
‘inclusion’ and ‘contextual advertising’.
Search Engine Optimizers (SEO): These are the people and techniques that carry
out the donkey work for the above!
SECAM: The wily French bring us ‘S‡quentiel couleur ˆ m‡moire’ or "Sequential
Colour with Memory". Commonly used in Eastern Europe and France, it’s an
analogue colour TV system. SECAM television’s a bit faffy to edit, so postproduction is often handled in PAL & converted into SECAM at transmission point.
Shufti: A butcher's, a look; a bit of a gawp.
Sibilance: Sibilance is the hissing sound associated with sentences such as these!
Anytime there are a lot of S’s, Sh’s or Ch’s, you get sibilance. It’s relevant in media
terms because sibilance can indicate an imbalance in audio equipment. Or
someone who hisses when they speak, obviously!
Sizzle: A sizzle is a short piece designed to excite, inform, motivate or otherwise
stimulate the senses. Visit www.dmiproductions.co.uk/casestudies for an example
of a sizzle or two.
Skype: Want to chat to a chum overseas? There’s a good chance ‘Skype’ will help
you do it! It’s now the most popular ‘voice over internet’, or’ VOIP’, software going.
You can call ‘Skype to Skype’ free of charge or set things up so that you call
regular landlines or mobiles. That’ll cost you something, though
SMPTE: The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Based in the USA,
this organisation recognizes over 400 standards, and recommends practices and
guidelines for T.V., motion pictures, digital cinema, audio and medical imaging.
Social Media: Anything ‘put out there’ via online social interaction. Networks take
many forms, including internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, wikis, podcasts,
pictures, video, rating and bookmarking. Technologies include: blogs, picturesharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowd
sourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few.
Social Networking Service: Online communities of people sharing interests or
activities. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of
ways for people to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.
Solid state: Essentially, a solid state device is one in which no mechanical action
occurs and are, understandably, considered more durable. For example,
calculators, mobile phones and USB keys have no moving parts inside and are
solid-state; CD players and computer hard drives have moving bits and are not.
Rather excitingly, solid state cameras are currently in their infancy; theoretically
these will make life much quicker and easier.
Standards: See our standards info sheet at www.dmiproductions.co.uk/info
Storyboards:
Streaming: When a multimedia file can be played back without being completely
downloaded first, it’s called streaming. Some files, such as software updates off
the Internet, don’t stream data, whilst others, like Real Audio and QuickTime, can.
With a fast Internet connection, you can actually stream live audio or video.
Subwoofer: Must… Resist… Joke… Speaker used to carry low end frequencies;
commonly found in surround sound set ups.
S-VHS: S-VHS, or Super VHS, is a refinement of VHS for consumer video cassette
recorders. It has improved picture detail, with a horizontal resolution of 425 lines
per picture height, as opposed to your common or garden VHS, which limps along
with 240.
Tag: A keyword or term assigned to a piece of info, such as an internet bookmark,
digital image, or computer file, etc. They make it easier to search through the
plethora of stuff online.
Ticker: On news broadcasts, pay per view television channels and the like, the
banner that scrolls messages across the screen is called a ‘ticker’.
TIFF: Not only an argument between folk and a long time Eastenders' favourite,
but also an acronym for ‘Tagged Image File Format’, a complicated file format for
storing photographs, line art and the like. It happily handles multiple data in a
single file by using ‘tags’ in the header. The tags indicate basic details of the image
or outline how the info is arranged, etc. Files originating on one computer may be
unreadable by another ’cos of TIFF’s complexity.
Timecode: see BITC, LTC and VITC
Twitter: Social media platform that allows short messages – known as ‘Tweets’ –
to be posted.
U-matic: This was among the first video cassette formats to contain tape inside a
cassette, as opposed to being an ‘open-reel’. No longer used in mainstream
production, but many T.V. facilities still use a U-matic recorder for playback of
archive material.
USB (Universal Serial Bus): Without getting too technical, it’s a system that allows
the easy transfer of data between computer components not only inside a
computer, but also between computers.
VGA (Video Graphics Array): Really, it’s a colour display graphic standard that’s a
bit out of date in modern terms. However, some people now refer to VGA meaning
a resolution of 640†480, regardless of the hardware at hand as it’s becoming fairly
standard in pocket PC’s and PDA’s. Sometimes VGA may refer to a wee 15-pin
connector which is often used to carry analogue video signals – there are too many
to list here, but common ones include SVGA and XGA. Call 01784 42 12 12 for more
info.
Video Sharing Sites (Video Hosting Site): Sites for the distribution of videos! You
Tube is the most popular video-sharing site on the internet.
VHS: Bizarrely, it’s short for Video Home System - you’d have thought Home Video
System made more sense! Made with half inch tape, it was used domestically – in
Billy Joel’s words – “Oh-whoa, hoa… For the longest time!”
Video8: Quietly sauntering into a market dominated by the bulkier VHS and
Betamax formats came the Video8. Quality and performance wise, Video8 and VHS
performed similarly and both operated with 240 horizontal lines.
Video Editing: See Linear editing
VITC: (Vertical Interval TimeCode): This is pronounced "vitsy"; sometimes
shortened to "vits". A form of SMPTE timecode embedded as a pair of black-andwhite bars in a video signal. In practical terms, VITC can be more 'frame-accurate'
than LTC, particularly at very slow tape speeds on analogue formats. At fast
forward and rewind speeds, VITC is often made unreadable by distortion, so the
LTC is used instead.
Vlogs: A ‘blog’, but specifically done on video.
VoD (Video on Demand): Anything that allows users to view video – er – on
demand!
Voice Over Internet (VOIP): See ’Skype’.
Vox pop: From the latin ‘Vox populi’. Latin! Ah, yes. There was that poem… “Latin’s
a dead language, as dead as dead can be… It killed off all the Romans, and now
it's killing me!” Anyway, it literally means ‘voice of the people’. Those mini
interviews with members of the public in the street are usually called vox pops.
VTR: Video Tape Recorder
Waveform: A waveform is an image that represents an audio signal or recording. It
shows the changes in amplitude over a certain amount of time. The amplitude of
the signal is measured vertically on the y-axis, while time is measured
horizontally on the x-axis.
Web 2.0: Refers to the so-called “second generation” of web development and
design… Which itself led to the evolution of web-based communities, hosted
services, and web applications. So all the social-networking sites, video-sharing
sites, wikis, blogs, ‘mashups’ and ‘folksonomies’ are the result of web 2.0…
Webisodes: Episodes on the web! That’s to say online content that’s distributed
episodically.
Widget: Oh gosh, oh golly, oh wow! This word’s been around for a while… It’s the
name given to a small ball found in some beer cans, a marvel comics’ character
AND a catch all name for technologies yet to be invented! Now, though, it’s also a
software service that lets you run and display ‘applets’ on a graphical user
interface, such as that of the desktop, mobile phone or website.
WiFi: Technologies that allow systems to work together wirelessly. Most common
in personal computer operating systems, many video game consoles, laptops,
smartphones, printers and so on.
Wiki: A website that uses specific software to allow the interlinked Web pages to
be made and maintained by ordinary human beings. These ‘Wikis’ are often used
for collaborative and community websites, corporate intranets, and knowledge
management systems.
XDCAM: An optical disc based
professional video system that
features tapeless recording of
DVCAM, MPEG IMX and, in the
XDCAM HD variant, HDV video
data, as well as MXF metadata.
XDCAM discs can be used within a
traditional tape-based workflow;
the decks can also serve as
random access computer drives
for easy import of the data files
into non-linear editing (NLE)
systems.
XDCAM HD: High Definition version of the tapeless XDCAM format, with a capacity
of 50 GB and an MPEG 4:2:2 HD codec with bitrate up to 50 Mbit/s.
Y'PbPr Analogue Component Video: Like RGB, but not using the Red, Green, Blue
components! Instead, a colourless component called luma combines with one or
more colour-carrying components - chroma - that gives colour information. The
Y'PbPr scheme is most likely what’s being referred to if folk talk about component
video.
Well, there you have it. Either you’re going off now with the feeling that looking up
that word has helped you learn something, or the feeling that looking it up here
has simply taught you a lesson… Hope it’s the former!
Finally, if you chance across media phrases and the like that aren’t here, call us on
01784 42 12 12. There’s usually someone floating around who knows these things
and, whilst we’ve tried to cover most things, there’s still a load of technical talk
that we haven’t made room for.
€ DMI Productions 2010. The Voice of DMI holds full copyright for the material contained herein.
You may think that’s like padlocking a dustbin, but it’s our dustbin, and it’s our lock.