TV JARGON

TV JARGON
INCOMPREHENSIBLE NO MORE !

You may have remembered that there are CRT, plasma TV, LCD TV, and projection TV. Now we are going to focus on the jargon often used in TV brochures. Television technology is full of confusing technical jargon and abbrevitations crated by the manufactures for marketing purposes. Each manufacturer claims that their technology is the best. However, these technologies are mostly similar in function, namely to improve picture and sound quality using the right monitor and connectors. Below are some common recent terms.

Aspect ratio : this term describes the shape of a TV screen. The number represents the comparison between width and height. 4:3 means square 16:9 means wide screen/letter box.

Component Input : if there's no HDMI port, component input can also transfer better image data that standard connection. You can enjoy a sharper picture from your DVD player of game console using this connection. The component cable is colored red, green, and blue.

Composite input : this is the standard connector, found in cheap televisions. It consists of yellow, white, and red jacks. For many people, the picture is good enough to watch VCDs or DVDs.

Contrast Ratio : LCD TV uses this term to define the maximum brightness it can display. 3000:1

Dolby 5.1 : the audio terms means that the gadget can provide 5 audio channels : left, middle, right speakers, 2 satellite speakers for sorround sound, and one subwoofer for heavy bass sound. It is a setup for a home cinema, but you have to buy those additional speakers. Usually, a standard TV only has 3 way speakers :midrange, subwoofer, and tweeter (for treble sounds).

Digital 100 Hz: one feature of HDTV is that it can scan images faster in 100 Hz instead of in 50 Hz found in standard TVs. The result is clearer, flicker-free images. Our eyes are not easily tired watching the screen.

DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) : this feature eliminates the ant effect (which is technically called noise) to produce clearer image. Unfortunately, it also reduces the details of the image.

HDMI Port : (High Definition Multimedia Interface). This is a connector found in next-gen TVs. It transfers uncompressed data from various HD gadgets. The images will be very sharp. HDMI port is important since we will mostly use our HDTV for viewing HD images from a DVD player, game console, digicam, or videocam.