Inputs:

BNC connector - A type of connector used on some video and RF equipment providing twist-lock capability.

Coaxial - Coaxial is a conventional type of connection, which is typically, used with traditional over-the-air antennas, satellite or cable service.

Composite - A Composite connection uses a single RCA-type cable to carry the video signal where luminance and chrominance are combined. A composite signal is of higher quality than a Coaxial RF signal, but is inferior to an S-Video connection.

S-Video - A S-Video connection uses a 4-pin S-Video type cable where the chrominance and luminance portions of the video signal are transmitted separately, thereby increasing the quality of the picture. A S-Video connection is generally superior to either a Coaxial or Composite connection, but is inferior compared to a Component connection.

Component - A Component connection splits the TV signal into three lines (and three RCA-type cables), where the luminance (brightness) and chrominance (color) components of the picture are separated, thus increasing the bandwidth for color information and improving picture quality. Component video comes in several varieties: RGB (red, green, blue), YUV (luminance, sync, and red/blue) and Y/C (luminance and chrominance).

DVI (Digital Video Interface) - A DVI connection is capable of high bandwidths required to support very high resolution screens. DVI connection is used by some advanced set-top boxes to carry High Definition (HDTV) signals to your TV.

FireWire - Firewire connectors are relatively small and come in both four- and six-pin configurations. Unlike DVI, which was designed for one-way transmission of digital video, FireWire is a two-way connection that can be used to route both audio and video.

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) - A much smaller connector than DVI, capable of carrying multichannel audio in addition to video signal.

RCA - also referred to as a phono connector or CINCH/AV connector.

RGB+H/V - a connection that uses a quintet of either standard RCA jacks or BNC jacks with the five wires bundled together into a single cable to transmit RGB (red, green, blue) signals.

SCART - A 21-pin AV connector commonly used on televisions and video recording/playback equipments, especially in Europe.

SERIAL PORT - An interface that can be used for serial communication, in which only 1bit is transmitted at a time. The standard serial port uses RS-232 or RS-422 protocols.

VGA (d-Sub-15) - The connectors are shaped like an angular letter D and contain 15 pins, used to transmit RGB signals, which is a high-quality picture signal with separate red, green and blue components.

Y Pb Pr - two chrominance channels of blue minus luminance, red minus luminance. Technical shorthand for component video.

Y Cb Cr - two chrominance channels of blue minus luminance, red minus luminance. Technical shorthand for component video.

Y R-Y B-Y - two chrominance channels of red minus luminance, blue minus luminance. Technical shorthand for component video.

Wide Viewing Angles - Some Nikada TV's feature Wide Viewing Angles, up to 176 degrees, which will allow comfortable viewing by anyone from just about anywhere in the room.

Picture-in-Picture (PIP) - allows viewer views to two TV programs at the same time. With Picture-in-Picture, the first program is shown on the whole screen, with the second program in a smaller window which covers part of the first.

Picture-Out-Picture (POP) - allows viewer views to two TV programs at the same time. With Picture-Out-Picture, the whole screen is divided into two windows side-by-side, each showing a separate TV program.

The TV industry is in the midst of a conversion to the High Definition Television (HDTV) format. HDTV encompasses pictures with at least 720 lines of information, compared with 480 lines in a standard traditional television picture. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has established a timetable for over-th-air broadcasters to change their broadcasts to HDTV by the end of 2006.

TV's optimized for Traditional broadcasts are not well-suited for HDTV viewing. For viewing any broadcasts in HDTV format (with the appropriate tuner), it's best to select TV's optimized for Digital/HDTV broadcasts which can also handle Traditional broadcasts as well.

Nikada's TV's come in various resolution levels, but in general are optimized for viewing either Traditional Broadcasts or Digital/HDTV broadcasts.

16:9 - Widescreen aspect ratio used for video display. The displayed image is 16 units wide (horizontal measure) by 9 units tall (vertical measure) creating a rectangular effect similar to the screen at a movie theater. The 16:9 aspect ratio is the new standard to be used for digital television broadcasts. As we progress into the digital television age, the 16:9 aspect ratio will become standard and create wider televisions that show complete movies and more movie-like television shows.

4:3 - Traditional nearly square aspect ratio used for most current analog television screens. This aspect ratio will be phased out in favor of the wider, more panoramic and movie-like 16:9 ratio. The 4:3 ratio is fine for standard television programming, but creates problems with movie material originally designed for theater release. The movies are created with a wider, more rectangular aspect ratio (16:9 or wider) in order to create a larger viewing surface and bring the viewer more into the film. On a traditional 4:3 aspect ratio display, these movies must be letterboxed (where the entire image is shown with black bars above and below it) or cut down in size (pan and scan where portions of the image are cropped resulting in an image which fills the 4:3 screen but does not contain the entire movie image as seen in the theater).

Aspect Ratio - is the ratio of the screen width to height. The aspect ratio of a normal TV set is 4 to 3 (4:3 ratio), whereas the HDTV video format has an aspect ratio of 16 to 9 (16:9 ratio). The standard aspect ratio for digital HDTV is 16:9 resulting in screens that are more rectangular. Traditional, analog programming and movies on VHS tape typically use the squarish 4:3 format. HDTV programming and movies (in their original widescreen format) use the widescreen format. Movies on DVD are offered in either, or both formats, depending on the DVD.

Screen Size - the size of the picture you will be viewing, measured diagonally.

Digital/HDTV Broadcasts - uses a 720 horizontal line progressive (or 720p) format or 1080 interlaced (or 1080i) format. Progressive signals show all lines in the picture every 1/60th of a second.

Traditional Broadcast - uses a 480 horizontal line interlaced format with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Interlaced means the odd horizontal lines in a video frame are shown in one 1/60th of a second, then the even lines in the next 1/60th.

HDTV-Ready - Most Nikada's TV's are HDTV-ready, meaning that they will handle any of the HDTV formats (such as 720p or 1080i), when combined with the appropriate HDTV tuner. By purchasing a Nikada TV, you will be ready for the ongoing conversion to HDTV.

Anamorphic - is a process where a "wide" video image (typically in a 16-by-9 widescreen format) is compressed or squeezed horizontally to fit a more narrow video display standard but expands to full size when played over a wide video display.

Letterbox - also known as a widescreen, is a format for showing the entire image by filling the width of a standard analog television's 4:3 aspect ratio display and placing black bars above and below the image. The end result is a "short" image that does not fill the screen but does show the entire movie as it was seen in movie theaters.

Pan-and-Scan - is a method of fitting a widescreen aspect ratio movie onto a narrow 4:3 aspect ratio video display by fitting the movie into the height of the video display and cutting off portions of its sides. Pan-and-scan is different from letterboxing, which shows the entire movie image fitting its width into the width of the video display and placing black bars above and below the picture. Pan-and-scan works by cropping off the sides of a wide movie to fit a narrow screen.

Widescreen Video - Video format that shows the entire image in a movie by fitting the movie image's width into a standard analog 4:3 aspect ratio video display and placing black bars above and below the image (see Letterbox).

Video signals are made up of color portions (chrominance) and luminance (the information about brightness, darkness and contrast). Black, white and all the levels of gray have no chrominance since they have no color - they need only the luminance portion of the video signal. The chrominance aspect of a signal tells the video display what colors to use while the luminance portion of the signal gives the colors depth and contrast by adjusting the darkness and brightness of the image. The chrominance portion of the signal tells a video display what color to show. The luminance value adjusts the color to be light or dark, bright or shadowed so it has the proper contrast and color depth. Chrominance is abbreviated with the letter "C" and luminance is abbreviated with the letter "Y."

Black Level - The level of brightness at the darkest (black) part of a visual image or the level of brightness at which no light is emitted from a screen resulting in pure black. Also referred to as Brightness.

Brightness - The black level of a video display image.

Cd/m2 - Candelas per meter squared, or cd/m², is a unit of measure that used to be called "nits". It is a measure of luminance equal to 1 candela per square meter. Higher numbers indicate brighter displays.

Chroma - The color information contained in a video signal, consisting of hue (phase angle) and saturation (amplitude) of the color sub carrier signal. Color information in a video signal. The chroma consists of saturation and hue. Saturation is the degree to which the pure color has been mixed with white - a high level of saturation has little white and more pure, vibrant color while a low level of saturation is washed out with lots of white. Hue is the quality of the color itself - a red hue or a blue hue.

Chrominance (C) - The color part of a video signal. The color portion of a video signal carrying the saturation and tint (hue) information for any given point in the image. Higher chrominance levels produce more powerful or stronger colors (bright red versus pink).

Color temperature - Measurement of the color of light, often expressed in Kelvin. Higher numbers indicate bluer light; lower numbers indicate a warmer light.

• Daylight = 5000-5500 deg.K
• Fluorescent = approx. 4100 deg.K
• Indoor incandescent = 2800 deg.K

Contrast - The difference in brightness between the lightest and darkest parts of a picture. A high-contrast picture is dominated by black and white and few values between. A low contrast picture has a lot of middle tones without many very dark or very light areas.

Contrast Ratio - The difference in luminance between a white square centered on the screen and the black surrounding area. A relationship between the extremes of brightness in a picture.

Gray Scale - Series of gray levels ranging from true white to true black. There are many subtle levels of gray within the overall gray scale ranging from slightly gray and almost white to very dark charcoal colors that are nearly black. The level of gray (or white or black) in a video signal is derived from the luminance portion of the signal.

Hue - Distinction or difference between colors ranging from red to blue. Colors such as red, blue, green, yellow and others are all hues. However, black, white and the levels of gray in between are not considered hues. Hue and saturation are the two portions of chroma, the color portion of a video signal.

Luminance (Y) - The brightness component of the video signal (the black and white part of the signal). The black and white portion of a video signal which carries the information for brightness and darkness and contrast. Luminance ranges from pure black to pure white. When combined with the color portion (chrominance), a complete video image can be developed.

Nit - A measure of luminance equal to 1 candela per square meter. Higher numbers indicate brighter displays. Also see Cd/m2.

Refresh Rate - The rate at which a monitor repaints an image. A low vertical refresh rate (e.g. 60Hz) produces visible flicker. For most people, flicker cannot be seen above 75Hz.

Saturation- refers to the intensity of a specific hue.

SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO (S/N) - The ratio in decibels (dB), of an audio or video signal, between the signal's maximum peak-to-peak signal voltage and the measured voltage of what remains when the signal is removed, (i.e., the ratio of the signal to that of the noise). In video, the higher the ratio, the less snow is visible. In audio, the higher the ratio, the cleaner the sound.

Tint - Color attribute describing a color somewhat varied from a primary color such as pink being a tint of red. A tint is similar to and based on a primary color but is slightly different having been mixed with additional white or black.

Video Response (response time) - The time it takes to turn a pixel from OFF to ON to OFF again. A low number is desirable to display moving images without ghosting.

Viewing Angle - A cone perpendicular to the LCD in which the contrast ratio exceeds 10.

White Level - Brightness of the lightest portions of an image (white areas). The contrast control on a video display adjusts the white level. When it is adjusted, the brightness of light areas changes more than the brightness of dark areas. If the white level is set too high, the picture will look washed out and lose detail. If it is set too low, the image will be dark and details will be lost into dark areas.

Downconvert - A term used to describe the format conversion from a higher resolution input signal number to a lower display number, such as 1080i input to 480i display.

Interlacing / Interlaced Scanning Mode - A scheme that takes two passes to paint an on screen image, painting every other line on the first pass and sequentially filling in the rest of the lines on the second pass. This scheme usually causes flickers (Rosch, 1991).

Pixel - The smallest information building block of an on-screen image. The resolution of a monitor is determined by the number of pixels covering the width and height of the complete on-screen image.

Progressive scanning / Non-interlaced Scanning Mode - A scheme for scanning an on-screen image that paints all the lines in one pass and then repeats with an entirely new frame. A non-interlaced scanning mode reduces flicker.

Resolution - The density of pixels available to create sharpness in the screen image. For example, a monitor with a resolution of 1024 x 768 has 1024 pixels running horizontally and 768 pixels running vertically for a total of 786,432 pixels available to create an image. Each pixel consists of a red, green or blue sub-element to allow different colors to be displayed.

Scaler - Circuitry or device that converts a video signal to a resolution other than its original format. Scaling can involve up conversion or down conversion, and may also include a conversion between progressive- and interlaced-scan formats.

Scaling - An operation performed by a digital signal processor to fill the screen with an image not being displayed in the native resolution of the display.

Sub pixel - A red, blue, or green liquid crystal shutter. One sub pixel of each color forms a pixel capable of displaying as many as 16.7 million colors.

Up convert - The term used to describe the conversion of a lower apparent resolution to a higher number, such as "up converting" 720p to 1080i. This is a misnomer, though, since to accomplish this, the horizontal scanning frequency is actually lowered from 45kHz to 33.75kHz. Resolution quality is not improved by this method.

QXGA - resolution of 2048x1536 or approximately 3.2 million pixels. Stands for Quantum Extended Graphics Array.

SXGA - resolution of 1280x1024 or approximately 1.3 million pixels. Stands for Super Extended Graphics Array.

SVGA - resolution of 800x600 or approximately 480,000 pixels. Stands for Super Video Graphics Array.

VGA - resolution of 640x480 or approximately 207,200 pixels. Stands for Video Graphics Array.

XGA - resolution of 1024x768 or approximately 786,432 pixels. Stands for Extended Graphics Array.

UXGA - resolution of 1600x1200 or approximately 1.9 million pixels. Stands for Ultra Extended Graphics Array.

WXGA - resolution of 1366x768 or approximately 1.05 million pixels. Stands for Wide Extended Graphics Array.

ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) - The ATSC is the committee responsible for developing and establishing Digital-HDTV Standards; as well as all (18) formats of Digital TV.

NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) - Color television standard used in Japan, USA and some other countries. Uses 525 lines and 60Hz.

PAL (Phase Alternating Line) - Color television standard used in the UK, most western European countries, Australasian, much of Asia, and some other countries. Uses 625 lines at 50Hz.

SECAM (Sequential Color a Memory) - Color television standard used in France, some parts of Eastern Europe, some parts of the Middle East, and some other countries. Uses 625 lines and 50Hz.

There are 18 digital television formats prescribed by the Advanced Televisions Systems Committee. Six are considered HDTV formats (1080p, 1080i, and 720p). Each format has a different combination of screen resolution, scan mode, frame rate, and aspect ratio requirements as shown below:

Vertical Scan Lines - the number of horizontal lines a television can display to create an image. The higher the number, the better the picture quality.

Horizontal Pixels - the number of individual pixels making up a horizontal line in a display. The higher the number, the better the picture quality.

Aspect ratio - the ratio of the TV screen's width over its height. A 16:9 aspect ratio refers to a wide-screen picture format, and a 4:3 refers to a standard TV format.

Scan Mode - There are two methods to draw' a television picture: 1-interlaced scan or 2 - progressive scan. Progressive scan modes create the same picture twice as often as an interlaced scan thus creating a smoother picture with less perceptible flicker.

Frame Rate - is the number of frames or images that are projected or displayed per second. The higher the frame-rate, the smoother the picture displayed.