Technological terms made easy
Click on one of the terms below to find out more:
Aspect ratios
Dictates the ratio of width to height of the image:
- 4:3 or standard enables standard sized images to be viewed with a border on the left and right of the picture.
- 16:9 or widescreen enables images to be viewed across the whole width of the screen by stretching out the image horizontally.
- Zoom is ideal for the viewing of DVD films recorded in ‘letterbox’ format. The zoom feature extends the picture to the full dimensions of the screen removing the top and bottom boarders around the picture.
Brightness
This measures the maximum illumination produced by the screen. It is measured in cd/m2. This is candelas per meter squared and it measures the light properties radiating from a one-meter square surface. A higher candela means a brighter vibrant picture.
Connections
- Scart sockets: these are twenty one-pin socket connections at the rear of televisions. The scart socket allows direct connection, via a scart lead, of additional equipment such as a DVD player, digital set top box or satellite receiver to your television. The more scart sockets a television has, the greater flexibility there is to add multiple devices.
- HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) / DVI (Digital Visual Interface): If you choose a HD-ready TV it will have either HDMI or DVI connections to allow it to accept a digital signal from HD receiving equipment. You’ll need a HDMI or DVI cable to allow you to watch High definition broadcasts.
- PC input: to connect your PC and use the screen as a monitor
- S Video: This uses a small round four-pin connector and gives improved picture quality. Audio has to be carried separately through a standard phono connection.
- CAM: Conditional Access Module, used for pay to view services e.g. Setanta sports, Top Up TV
- DV in: connect extra equipment e.g. Camcorder
- Component: Provides a far higher picture quality connection to a DVD player (with a corresponding output), however it does not carry any sound
- Composite: basic connection for linking to old VHS recorders
- Phono socket: Two or three round sockets are usually located at the front or side of a television, depending whether or not the television is NICAM equipped. The sockets are colour coded:
• Yellow – video signal
• White – left channel audio signal
• Red – right channel audio signal
• Televisions not equipped with NICAM decoders only have a yellow (video) and white (mono audio) socket. Phono sockets only carry a signal one way, either input or output.
Contrast
This is the difference between the brightest and darkest colours on the colour spectrum. The greater the ratio, the greater colour definition and clarity there is between the brightest whites and darkest blacks.
Freeview
Provides free access to digital TV and radio stations through your TV for a one-off payment for either a digital set top box or digital television recorder.
Freeview can also be received through an integrated digital tuner if this is supplied within your TV. Freeview offers more than 40 additional TV channels and 20 digital radio stations with no annual subscription fee. To check for coverage in your area call 0870 880 9980 quoting your area postcode, or visit
Visit freeview.co.uk for more information.
High Definition Ready
High definition allows your TV to display images with far greater definition and clarity as well as pure digital surround sound. Traditional screens consist of a picture made up of 625 lines of pixels. HD offers a much higher picture resolution of 720 or 1080 lines of pixels.
For best results viewing HD pictures will require the following:
- A HD Ready LCD TV with a HDMI or DVI socket connection.
- A HD digital set top box currently available via cable or satellite providers
- For optimum viewing results use of a HDMI cable linking the HD digital set top box to the HD Ready TV is recommended to ensure no loss of HD signal strength between the two devices.
- For high definition DVD playback a HDMI enabled DVD player linked to the HD Ready TV via a HDMI cable will be required.
The 720-line system is the most common format for the launch of HDTV. The
720 lines of vertical display resolution gives over twice the resolution of a 625 standard definition picture.
The 1080 line system has 1080 vertical pixels with up to 5 times the resolution of a standard definition picture. 1080p, also known as Full HD, is a1080 panel with progressive scan which means all pixels are updated resulting in a smoother and more detailed screen refresh.
Integrated Digital Tuner
Traditional analogue signals will be switched off by 2012 and will be replaced with digital broadcasting. (This has already begun in some areas) The transfer from analogue to digital signalling will be a phased approach, TV region by TV region, depending on where you live. Digital TV offers enhanced television capable of receiving both the five traditional terrestrial broadcast channels, which will be switched over to a digital broadcast signal by 2012, alongside the new digital broadcasts channels for even more programme choice at no extra cost. For more information on digital TV see Freeview.
Resolution
This refers to the number of pixels on the screen. For example a TV with resolution 1024x768 means that 768 lines are drawn from top to bottom of the screen and each line is made up of 1024 separate pixels. The higher the resolution the more detail the screen can show.
Response time
Response time is the time required for an LCD pixel to change from fully active (black) to fully inactive (white), then back to fully active again. It is measured in milliseconds and the lower the number the quicker the screen will update.
Screen size
Measured diagonally from corner to corner. Widescreen televisions are measured in the same way.
Sound types
The main sound systems available with televisions are:
- Nicam Stereo - Near Instantaneous Compounded Audio Multiplex. This is a simple, clear stereo sound that comes from built-in speakers
- Virtual Dolby - Virtual surround sound goes a step further by distributing the sound around the room from the twin, built-in speakers creating the illusion of surround sound.
- Dolby ProLogic - Also known as surround sound. Similar to NICAM, but instead of two channel audio (left & right), televisions equipped with Pro-Logic decoders can receive four channels of audio. This is a five-speaker system, which most programmes broadcast in.
- Dolby Digital – brings cinema sound to your home. Sound is divided into five channels, three at the front and two at the rear to completely surround you with sound; it also includes a sub woofer to fill the room with bass.
Television types
There are three main types of TV available on the market today
- CRT – (Cathode Ray Tube) are the older style televisions. They carry a tube in the rear of the TV to create and project the picture. CRTs are big, and the tube makes them very deep taking up lots of space in the home.
- LCD – (Liquid Crystal Display televisions) is a liquid crystal solution, sandwiched between two panels and electrified. The advantages of LCD over Plasma are that they are lighter, so are ideal for wall mounting, and give brighter images.
- Plasma - Ionized gas is sandwiched between panels of glass that are embedded with wire. The wires meet at right angles, creating pixels. Images are created by sending an electrical current through selected intersections, causing the gas to break down at those points and produce plasma discharges. The benefits of Plasma over LCD is the contrast ratios; as Plasmas do not have a back light like LCDs they can reproduce the deepest blacks, plasma panels are typically 37” and above as it is more cost effective to produce in the larger screen sizes.
VESA
Mounting holes ensure that if the LCD TV is required to be wall mounted that a VESA compliant wall-mounting bracket will be compatible and suitable for this purpose.
Viewing Angle
Determines the sweep across a room from which the picture can be clearly viewed with no loss in picture quality. The larger the viewing angle, the greater the numbers of people within a room able to clearly view the picture.
DVD player
Digital video disc or digital versatile disc. DVD films and players are region coded to prevent films from one region being played in another, for copyright reasons. The regions are as follows:
1 - U.S.A, U.S. territories and Canada
2 - UK, Europe, Japan, Middle East, Egypt, South Africa, Greenland
3 - Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong
4 - Mexico, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Caribbean
5 - Russia, Eastern Europe, India, North Africa, North Korea, Mongolia,China.
DivX
DivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc. It is one of several codes commonly associated with ripping, where audio and video multimedia are transferred to a hard disk and transcoded. “DivX Certified” DVD players are able to play DivX encoded movies.
HDMI upscaling
The product will have a chip, which upscales the lower resolution input to a higher resolution HD Ready TV through an HDMI connection. This will give sharp, near HD playback on an HD ready TV.
Playback compatible
This is the types of disc the product will play e.g. DVD-R/RW.
Recording format
This is the type of disc the product is able to record onto e.g. DVD+R/RW.
STB
A Set top box gives you access to all the Freeview digital channels, see Freeview in the TV section.
DTR
Digital Television Recorder, previously known as a Personal Video Recorder (PVR). Allows Digital television to be recorded onto a hard disk drive, a single tuner means that only the channel the TV is on can be recorded, while a twin tuner means you can watch and record different programmes.
EPG
Electronic Programme Guide - this shows listings of future TV shows. These can vary from only showing now and next programmes, to showing up to 14 days of future shows.
Freeview Playback
This logo will be on the packaging of DTRs that have received Freeview Playback accreditation. It means the products have met certain requirements e.g. series recording capabilities, easy EPG layout. This logo will be on the packaging of DTRs that have received Freeview Playback accreditation. It means the products have met certain requirements e.g. series recording capabilities, easy EPG layout.
HDD
Hard Disk Drive, this specifies the amount of memory space in the product, 80gb and 160gb are the most common memory sizes currently. This is often combined with details of the recording time, which shows how many hours of recording the product can store.
Recording time
This shows how many hours of recording the device can fit on the Hard Disk Drive.
DAB radio
Digital Audio Broadcasting means the radio will receive more stations and have better reception. You can check you can receive DAB in your area at by visiting digitalradionow.com
Playback compatible
This is the type of disc the product will play, this could include MP3 or WMA (Windows Media Audio), which are CDs, burnt from downloading or ripping music onto a computer.
PLL tuner
This is an alternative to the manual dial tuners on radio. It is a digital display which allows more accurate tuning.
Speaker output
Shows the volume and quality of sound measured in W RMS, which is the average power measured in Watts transferred from the audio amplifier to the loudspeaker. (RMS means Root Mean Square). The higher the number, the better the sound. 2x means the speakers play in stereo.
