GLOSSARY AAE Automatic Assemble Editing.
AC Alternating Current. Standard 120 V 60 cycle (Hz) USA household current. Also called LINE VOLTAGE. VTRs and cameras often use the 60 Hz as a horizontal sync reference.
AEF Automatic Edit Function. An automatic assemble editing feature found on JVC and Panasonic 3/4-inch portable VCRs.
AGC See Automatic Gain Control.
ALIGNMENT TAPE A special manufacturer's tape containing picture and sound reference signals to use in aligning a VTR.
ALTERNATIVE TV Non-conventional TV programs and production processes.
APC Automatic Phase Control.
APERTURE The lens opening, F. stop or iris which determines the amount of light that enters the camera.
APERTURE GRILL A screen-like feature of Sony Trinitron TV sets which controls the amount of electrons that hit the phosphor coating of the TV screen.
ASSEMBLE EDITING "Add Editing," A new video or audio sequence that is consecutively added to a previously edited scene.
ATTENUATE Reduction of sound or picture levels. AUDIO Sound portion.
AUDIO CUE A sound that is used to "tag" or denote an upcoming production event.
AUDIO DUB The recording of sound only, without disturbing the picture.
AUDIO HEAD A magnetic recording head that records or plays back sound.
AUDIO IN Audio input jack.
AUDIO MIXER A device that allows the simultaneous combining and blending of several sound inputs into one or two outputs.
AUDIO OUT Audio output jack.
AUDIO TRACK The portion of the videotape that
stores the sound.
AUTOMATIC GAIN CONTROL An automatic circuit that controls the audio or video intensity during recording.
ALC Automatic Level Control (same as AGC).
ALC Automatic Light Control. A circuit in the camera which automatically compensates for changes in light intensity.
AUTOMATIC SCAN TRACKING (AST) A system used by Ampex 1-inch VTRs to insure perfect tracking.
AUXILARY IN Audio line input (non-micro-
phone).
AUXILARY OUT Audio line output (non-micro-
phone).
AVAILABLE LIGHT The amount of light normally present in the environment.
AZIMUTH The angle of a particular recording head.
— B
BACK LIGHT The light that is present behind the image to be photographed. Can be used to create depth or it can cause severe silhouetting.
B&W Black and White.
BEAM The flow of electrons in the camera or TV tube.
BEAM SPLITTER PRISM A device used in color cameras to separate the red, blue, and green wavelengths.
BETAMAX Sony 1-hour 1/2-inch videocassette recorder. BETA-2 Sony 2-hour 1/2-inch videocassette recorder.
BLACK Horizontal and vertical sync information without picture information.
BLACK LEVEL The bottom portion of the video waveform that contains the sync, blanking, and control signals.
BLANKING The time during which the TV scanning beam is turned off and is in the process of returning to scan another line on the TV or camera tube.
BOOM A long arm or device used to suspend a microphone or camera over the action.
BROADCAST TV A type of programming and bureaucracy that produces TV programs specifically for over-the-air broadcasting.
BURN A permanent image which persists in the same position on the target of the camera tube.
BURST Color burst. High-frequency pulses (3.5 MHz) that determine the phase of the color signal.
BUS A channel or coherent group of switches, inputs and controls.
— C
CABLE TV Television signals transmitted primarily by cable instead of antennas.
CAMERA CHAIN See Film Chain.
CANNON CONNECTOR An audio plug, also called
X LR plug.
CAPACITANCE An electronic circuit that stores a
charge.
CAPSTAN A roller and rotating shaft in the VTR that is motor-driven and determines the speed at which the tape is moved through the VTR.
CAPSTAN SERVO A speed control system used in editing VTRs which assures clean edits by causing the editing VTR to reference to the playback VTR.
CARBON BACKED A type of videotape with a carbon backing.
CARDIOD A type of microphone that has a heart-
shaped pickup pattern.
CATV Cable TV.
CCTV Closed Circuit Television. Any self-contained,
non-broadcast TV system.
CHALNICON TUBE A cadmium selenide design camera tube used in broadcast TV cameras.
CHANNEL A specific band or frequency assigned to a radio or TV station.
CHROMA (CHROMINANCE) The hue or saturation (intensity) of color.
CU Close up.
CUE A warning or indication of an event that is about to take place.
CUE CHANNEL An audio track on the videotape that contains cueing information.
CUT Stop action or make an edit.
CHROMAKEY An electronic matte where one image is matted on top of another without image bleed-through (an electronic blindfold).
CHROMIUM DIOXIDE A magnetically-sensitive
coating on videotape.
CLEAN EDIT A perfect undistorted transition from
one scene to another.
CLIPPING A circuit that eliminates excessive variations in the video signal.
CMA ADAPTOR Sony camera adaptors.
C-MOUNT Standard screw-in 16 mm lens-mount found on most video cameras.
COAXIAL CABLE COAX. The standard single-ground, single-conductor cable which is used for most video connections. Technically referred to as 75 ohm Type RG-59U cable.
COBALT DOPED Magnetically sensitive coating on
videotape.
COLOR BARS A series of colored bars or calibrated signal that is used as a reference for brightness, contrast, color intensity, and correct color balance. Usually generated electronically.
COLOR DISSECTOR TUBE A camera tube capable of separating an image into red, blue and green color values.
COLOR LOCK A circuit that stabilizes the color hues during playback.
COLOR PHASE The timing relationship of the color signal. The correct color phase will produce the correct color hues.
COLOR SUBCARRIER The 3.58 MHz carrier frequency that contains the color signal information.
COLOR SYNC The complete reference and control signal necessary to record and reproduce color--3.58 MHz (contains the color subcarrier also).
COLORIZER Device that produces electronically-
generated color.
COMPOSITE SYNC The complete sync containing
both horizontal and vertical sync signals.
COMPRESSION The elimination of excessive sound or picture elements that are either too high or too low. Produces a single sound or picture level.
CONDENSER MICROPHONE A high-quality microphone that uses condenser plates to produce sound. Condenser mikes contain built-in amplification and require batteries.
CONTRAST RATIO The degree of difference or ratio between the light and dark areas of the scene.
CONTROL TRACK The portion of the tape containing the speed control pulses.
CONTROL TRACK HEAD The head which records or plays back the control track pulses.
CONTROL TRACK PULSES Speed control pulses
created by the VTR.
COMPATIBILITY The ability of one piece of equipment to interface with another (interchangeability).
COSMIC INTERFERENCE Influences generated from sources not normally perceived by the senses.
CRT Cathode Ray Tube. The vacuum tube used in all TV sets.
CROP The cutting off of picture elements by the camera framing.
CROSSTALK The undesirable interference created by one track on another.
CRYSTAL SYNC GENERATOR A high-quality sync generator.
— D — db See decibel.
DC Direct Current. Electrical current that maintains a steady flow and does not alternate.
DC RESTORATION A circuit in a camera or VTR which restores the DC signal elements to the picture, resulting in good blacks.
DECIBEL A subjective measure of sound volume or strength.
DEFINITION The degree of detail or sharpness in a TV picture.
DEPTH OF FIELD The area of the picture between the closest and the farthest objects that are in focus--varies with the F stop.
DICHROIC MIRROR A mirror that reflects only certain wavelengths or colors and allows others to pass through it.
DIN Deutsche Industrie-Norm. German standard for plugs and connectors--4-Pin and 6-Pin plugs.
DIRECT COLOR PROCESS A method of color recording used by high-band broadcast VTRs whereby the color can be recorded directly.
DIRECTIONAL A narrow pickup pattern used by
microphones.
DISSOLVE The gradual fading in of one picture while the other fades out.
DOLLY The movement of a camera toward or away from an object. Also the wheeled apparatus on which the camera is mounted.
DROPOUT A loss of picture signal during tape playback--displays as a black or white streak in the monitor.
DROPOUT COMPENSATOR (DOC). An electronic circuit that replaces a missing line of video information (dropout).
DUBBING The duplication of a videotape or the addition of new audio information to the tape.
— E —ECU Extreme Close Up.
EDITING The process of putting into a predetermined
sequence the various segments of master tapes.
E FP Electronic Field Production.
EIA Electronic Industries Association. The American TV standards committee.
EIA SYNC Also called EIA RS-170, the standard
broadcast sync.
EIAJ The Electronic Industries Association of Japan. The Japanese standards committee which set standards for'/2-inch helical scan videotape recorders.
EIAJ TYPE I The standard for'/2-inch helical scan reel-to-reel VTRs manufactured after 1969.
EJ Electronic Journalism.
ELECTRONIC EDITING The process whereby a videotape is edited.
ELECTRON GUN The assembly inside the TV or camera tube which fires electrons at the face of the tube and performs the scanning process.
ELECTRET CONDENSER MICROPHONE A very sensitive microphone that requires a power supply in the microphone and needs a battery.
ELECTROSTATIC FOCUS A newer type of camera tube that is able to focus the electron beam without using heavy deflection coils.
ENCODING The combining of electronic elements. ENG Electronic Newsgathering.
ERASE HEAD A magnetic head that erases electronic information on the tape.
E TO E Electronics to Electronics; a method of analyzing the output of a VTR relative to its input.
ETV Educational Television.
EXTENDED PLAY TAPES Tapes that are longer than usual.
— F
FADE A gradual change in the picture or sound intensity.
FADE TO BLACK The picture is faded out until the screen is dark.
FERRITE A brittle, high frequency response material that is used to make video heads.
FIELD One half of a complete TV scanning cycle, or 262'/2 scanning lines; one half of a 525-line TV frame.
FILM CHAIN An optical system whereby an image from a film or slide projector is transferred to a video camera for use in a television system.
FIRST GENERATION The original recording or
master tape.
FLAGGING Skew induced distortion produced at the top of the playback picture.
FLUID HEAD TRIPOD A tripod head that moves very smoothly.
FOCAL LENGTH The distance between the center of a lens and where the image is in focus, usually the image plane or the camera tube's target plate.
FOCUS COIL An electromagnetic coil that surrounds
the camera tube and focuses the electron beam.
FOLLOW FOCUS The continual adjustment of a lens to keep the subject in focus when the subject and/or the lens are moving.
FOOTCANDLE FT-c; generally measured in LUMENS per square foot. The amount of illumination from 1 international candle falling on a 1-square-foot surface at a distance of 1 foot.
FORMAT A limited grouping of similar VTRs, such as in 14-inch and 3/4-inch or small-format and large-format.
FRAME A complete TV picture of 525 horizontal lines which is composed of 2 scanned fields of 2621/2 lines each. One complete TV frame is scanned in 1/30th of a second.
FRAME RATE The speed at which the frames are
scanned--30 frames a second for video.
FREQUENCY The number of times a signal vibrates per second.
FREQUENCY RESPONSE The ability of an electronic
device to reproduce a wide range of frequencies.
F-STOP A calibration on the lens that indicates the
width of the opening of the lens iris.
FLYING ERASE HEAD An extra video head which erases video information during the editing process.
— G
GAIN The level of signal amplification. GEL CELL A lead gelled acid battery.
GENERATION The number of copies away from the original.
GEN LOCK The locking up of the sync generators of one or several sources to a main sync source; i.e., a VTR locked up to an SEG.
GLITCH Any picture distortion.
GRAY SCALE The various shades of gray in a TV picture which correspond to color.
GUARDBANDS The separations between the video
tracks on the tape.
H
HEAD An electromagnetic device that records or re-
trieves information from magnetic tape.
HELICAL SCAN A helix-like method of recording video information on tape in which the signal is recorded diagonally in adjacent strips. Also called SLANT TRACK recording.
HERTZ (Hz) Cycles per second.
HETERODYNE COLOR PROCESS A method of reduction color recording used by small-format VTRs.
HIGH BAND A method or recording that utilizes very high frequency response characteristics--5 MHz-8 MHz.
HIGH DENSITY Videotape that packs more magnetic particles per square inch on the tape.
HIGH IMPEDANCE (HI-Z), 800-10,000 ohms. See
Impedance.
HORIZONTAL RESOLUTION The number of vertical lines that can be perceived by a video camera in a horizontal direction on a test chart.
HORIZONTAL SYNC The sync pulses that control the horizontal scanning of the electron beam--generally 15.73 kHz.
HPF Hot Pressed Ferrite.
— I —IC Integrated Circuit.
IMAGE ENHANCER An electronic device that sharpens the picture.
IMAGE PLANE The point at which the image is fo-
cused—generally at the camera tube target plate.
IMAGE RETENTION "Lag;" the tendency of the
Vidicon tube to retain the image.
IMPEDANCE The resistance of a component to the flow of electrons--rated in ohms (1). Generally expressed as high impedance (hi-Z) or low impedance (low-Z).
INDEX ELECTRODE Part of the color derivation system used inside the Sony Trinicon tube.
INSERT EDIT The addition of new video and/or audio information into any point of a pre-existing video program.
INSTANT VIDEO CONFIDENCE A feature of IVC finch VTRs that permits immediate tape monitoring.
INTERLACE The process of scanning whereby the alternate lines of both scanned fields fall evenly between each other.
INTERNAL INTELLIGENCE The inherent energy-
bonding pattern present in all matter.
I PS Inches Per Second--Tape speed or writing speed,
IRIS The adjustable opening on the lens which controls the amount of light entering the camera.
J— JACK A plug or connector.
JOY STICK A lever that controls the position of a special effect on a screen, or the motion of tape on a VTR during the editing process.
— K
KELVIN (K) The unit of measurement which denotes the temperature of light--ex pressed in °K.
KEYING The matteing of one picture over another,
KEY LIGHT The light used for primary illumination of a scene.
KILOHERZ (KHz) Thousand cycles.
KINESCOPE "Kine;" the process of recording a TV picture by photographing a TV set with a film camera.
— L —LAG See Image Retention.
LAP DISSOLVE See Dissolve.
LARGE FORMAT Video equipment that uses very
large videotape such as 2-inch.
LAVALIER MIKE A small microphone worn around the neck.
LED Light Emitting Diode.
LENS SPEED The ability of the lens to collect light A
"fast" lens collects more light than a "slow" one.
LEVEL The average intensity of an audio or video
source.
LIGHT LEVEL The intensity of the light as measured in footcandles.
LIMITER An electronic circuit which adjusts or limits the audio or video intensity to a preset level.
LINE FREQUENCY The number of horizontal lines
scanned in one second--15,750 lines or 15.7 kHz.
LINE IN An audio input for other VTRs or an audio mixer.
LINE LEVEL 600 ohms; a low inpedance signal. LINE OUT Audio output.
LIP SYNC The process whereby the picture of a person's lips matches the sound of his voice.
LIVE The process of transmitting a program the instant it is taking place.
LOCK OUT LOGIC An electronic circuit which prevents the improper sequencing of controls.
LONG LENS A telephoto lens.
LONG SHOT A shot from a great distance.
LOW BAND A reduced frequency recording--less than 4 or 5 MHz.
LOW IMPEDANCE 30 to 600ohms--see Impedance. LOW LIGHT Subdued illumination.
LUMEN See Footcandle.
LUMINANCE The photometric brightness or radiance of a light source.
LUX An old-fashioned measurement of light. One Ft-c =10.76 lux.
M
MACRO LENS A lens that is capable of close-up
focusing.
MAGNETIC FOCUS-MAGNETIC DEFLECTION A tube-focusing design that requires external focusing coils.
MATCHING TRANSFORMER A device which changes the impedance of the audio or TV signal.
MATRIX An electronic circuit that is used to combine several electronic signals.
MATTE An effect or device which blocks out an adjacent signal or light.
MEDIUM SHOT The camera view between a close up and a long shot.
MEGAHERTZ (MHz) Million Hertz.
MICRON A unit of measurement used for denoting
videotape width, 1 MICRON= 25.4 MI Ls.
MIL A unit of measurement used for denoting videotape width, 1MI L= .001 inch.
MINI-PLUG A small audio plug, sometimes called a
Sony plug.
MISTRACKING The picture distortion caused by improper tape-to-head or tape-path contact.
MIXED FIELD (MF). A method used by the Sony Trinicon color camera tube to derive color.
MIXER A device that combines and blends 2 or more audio or video sources.
MODULATION The process of adding video and audio signals to a predetermined carrier frequency.
MOIRE Herringbone interference patterns in a TV
picture.
MONITOR A TV set without receiving circuitry that is used primarily to display video signals.
MONITOR/RECEIVER A dual function standard TV receiver and monitor.
MONOCHROME Black and white.
MULTIPLEXER A system of optics that allows simultaneous use of slide and film projectors as inputs for a video camera.
-
N
NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTER A filter that reduces the amount of light entering a camera without affecting the color.
NEWVICON TUBE A Panasonic camera tube which has
very good sharpness and low light characteristics.
NI-CAD Nickel Cadmium battery.
NOISE Random undesirable picture or sound inter-
ference.
NON-COMPOSITE VIDEO SIGNAL A video signal that contains picture and blanking information only, n