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| Term | Definition |
| 5.1 surround sound | Surround sound which delivers six channels of digital sound using 5 discrete channels of sound plus a separate subwoofer channel. See also: AC3, DTS (Digital Theatre Systems) |
| Absorption | Reduction of acoustical energy usually by |
| AC:3 | Audio Codec 3. This was the original and more technical name for Dolby Digital. Replaced by marketing mavens when they realized that Dolby's name was not in the title. Some RF modulated, 5.1-encoded laser discs were labeled as AC3. Later versions were labeled as Dolby Digital.This home cinema sound system uses 5 separate channels (front left, front centre, front right, left surround and right surround) and one subwoofer. This is known as a 5.1 surround system, (5 speakers, and 1 subwoofer). See also: Dolby Digital (AC3) |
| Academy Curve | An intentional roll-off in a theatrical system's playback response above ~2kHz (to -18dB at 8kHz) to minimize noise in mono optical tracks. Some many) transfers to home video of mono movies have neglected to add the Academy filter during transfer, giving many old movies a screechy sound they were never intended to have. A few home processors have an option for this, making them a must for old-movie buffs. Has been used since 1938.
(many) transfers to home video of mono movies have neglected to add the Academy filter during transfer, giving many old movies a screechy sound they were never intended to have. |
| Acoustically Voice/tone Matched | Ensuring that the many different loudspeakers used in a Home Cinema system have a sufficiently similar tonal, or timbre match, such that when a sound is panned between them there is no change in character of the sound. |
| Active:Powered | Powered. An active cross-over is electrically powered and divides the line-level signal prior to amplification. An active speaker includes an active crossover and built-in amplifier. |
| Amplifier | Electronic system used to boost, or increase signals to drive loudspeakers. It can be a single box or separated into two components - pre-amp and power-amp. |
| Analogue | An electrical signal analogous to the original sounds in non-digital form For example LPs and cassette tapes store audio in an analogue form. |
| Anamorphic | Process that horizontally condenses (squeezes) a 16:9 image into a 4:3 space, preserving 25 percent more vertical resolution than letterboxing into the 4:3 space. For the signal to appear with correct geometry, the display must either horizontally expand or vertically squish the image. Used on about two or three promotional laser discs and many DVDs. Also called Enhanced for Widescreen or Enhanced for 16:9 |
| Aspect Ratio | The ratio of image width to image height. Common motion-picture ratios are 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. Television screens are usually 1.33:1 (also known as 4:3), which is similar to the Academy standard for films in the '50s. HDTV is 1.78:1, or 16:9. When widescreen movies (films with aspect ratios wider than 1.33:1) are displayed on 1.33:1 televisions, the image must be letterboxed, anamorphically squeezed, or panned-and-scanned to fit the screen. |
| Bass | The low frequencies. Often reproduced by a subwoofer system in a home cinema entertainment system. |
| Bass Drive Unit (Woofer) | A speaker (drive unit) designed to produce bass frequencies only. In classic two-way designed speakers, the bass drive units are more accurately described as bass/midrange units. |
| Bi-amping | A separate amp channel drives each drive unit of a speaker, so a pair of two-way speakers needs two stereo amps and two runs of cable to each speake. See also: Bi-wiring |
| Bi-wiring | Some of the benefits of bi-amping but at a lower cost. You need speakers with two sets of inputs and a split crossover, then twin runs of cable from the same amplifier to each speaker. See also: Bi-amping |
| Bipolar |
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| Bit Rate | The number of bits transferred in one second by a digital device such as a CD player. |
| Black Level | Light level of the darker portions of a video image. A black level control sets the light level of the darkest portion of the video signal to match that of the display's black level capability. Black is, of course, the absence of light. Many displays, however, have as much difficulty shutting off the light in the black portions of an image as they do creating light in the brighter portions. CRT-based displays usually have better black levels than DLP, plasma, and LCD, which rank, generally, in that order. |
| Bridging an amplifier | Increasing power (up to four-fold, depending on the amplifier's power supply capability) by connecting a stereo power amp for use in mono, then adding a second 'bridged-stereo' amplifier for the other channel. This can only be achieved with amplifiers that are designed and specially built for this purpose. |
| Brightness | For video, the overall light level of the entire image. A brightness control makes an image brighter; however, when it is combined with a contrast, or white level control, the brightness control is best used to define the black level of the image (see Black Level). For audio, something referred to as bright has too much treble or high-frequency sound. |
| Cathode Ray Tube | Analog display device that generates an image on a layer of phosphors that are driven by an electron gun. |
| CD-R | Recordable Compact Disc |
| CD-RW | Rewritable Compact Disc |
| Center Channel | The center speaker in a home theater setup. Ideally placed within one or two feet above or below the horizontal plane of the left and right speakers and above or below the display device, unless placed behind a perforated screen. Placement is important, as voices and many effects in a multichannel mix come from this speaker. |
| Channel | In components and systems, a channel is a separate signal path. A four-channel amplifier has at least four separate inputs and four separate outputs. |
| Chrominance | Chrominance: (C) The color portion of a video signal. |
| Component Video | A signal that's recorded or transmitted in its separate components. Typically refers to Y/Pb/Pr, which consists of three 75-ohm channels: one for luminance information, and two for color. Compared with an S-video signal, a Y/Pb/Pr signal carries more color detail. HDTV, DVD, and DBS are component video sources, though most DBS material is transcoded to component from composite signals. |
| Composite Video | A signal that contains both chrominance and luminance on the same 75-ohm cable. Used in nearly all consumer video devices. Chrominance is carried in a 3.58-mHz sideband and filtered out by the TV's notch or comb filter. Poor filtering can result in dot crawl, hanging dots, or other image artifacts. |
| Contrast | Relative difference between the brightest and darkest parts of an image. A contrast control adjusts the peak white level of a display device. |
| Crossover | A component that divides an audio signal into two or more ranges by frequency, sending, for example, low frequencies to one output and high frequencies to another. An active crossover is powered and divides the line-level audio signal prior to amplification. A passive crossover uses no external power supply and may be used either at line level or, more commonly, at speaker level to divide the signal after amplification and send the low frequencies to the woofer and the high frequencies to the tweeter. |
| Crossover Frequency | he frequency at which an audio signal is divided. 80 Hz is a typical subwoofer crossover point and is the recommended crossover point in theatrical and home THX systems. Frequencies below 80 Hz are sent to the subwoofer; signals above 80 Hz are sent to the main speakers. |
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