Stylus - A pen-like pointing and writing device for handheld computers. Writes directly on the screen.
Filters - Software that is used to modify digital images by altering the values or arrangement of selected image pixels.
Ambience (home theatre) - Describes the effect of a home theatre system, where the room in which the system is used is given the sound and feel of other environments.
Subwoofer - A speaker that is dedicated to reproducing the lowest octaves on a soundtrack. Powered subwoofers include their own amplification, while passive models must be driven by external amplification. Most powered subwoofers include crossover circuitry that blends the subwoofer's output with the main speakers.
Flying Erase Head - Erases unwanted material an instant before new, wanted video is edited over. Provides clean edits with no noise or rainbows.
Timbre - The "voice" or basic tonal quality of a speaker. To avoid distractions and achieve realism in a home theatre system, each of the system's speakers should have an identical, or at least similar, timbre.
Smooth - A process that softens, blurs or makes an image, color or pattern to appear out of focus.
16 Base - The 2048 x 3072 pixels image that is scanned and stored on a Photo CD and suitable for digital imaging and desktop publishing applications.
3:2 pull-down - This is the process of converting a 24 frames/sec image into a 30 frames/sec image. Some line-doublers will reverse this process to acquire the original, and then re-perform it.
Aspect Ratio - the ratio of image width to image height. The term may apply to the display device configuration, or the shape of the content being displayed. (See Letterboxing) HDTV uses an aspect ratio of 16 units wide by 9 units high. Conventional television programming and displays are at an aspect ratio of 4 - 3. Digital SDTV programs may aspect ratios from 4 - 3 to 16 - 9, dependant on content and its source (e.g. upconverted NTSC is likely to be 4 - 3).
Comb filter - A circuit in NTSC sets that separates the color information from the brightness information.
Descreening - A feature of some scanners that allow them to eliminate moir‚ patterns that can occur.
Franklin eBookMan - A line of eBook reader and content playing handhelds developed by Franklin.
Hertz (Hz.) - A scale used for measuring the number of cycles per second.
IEEE1394 - High-bandwidth digital connection that uses MPEG-2 compression. Requires a decoder for playback and offers networking capabilities.
Interlaced Scanning - Some HD televisions and most conventional televisions use the "interlace" method of scanning, in which the picture is transmitted and painted on the screen in two passes. In the first pass, every other line is painted and in the second, the lines in between. Some display types, such as LCD, plasma and DLP cannot display directly images transmitted as interlaced signals and must convert them to a progressive format prior to their display.
Sampling - This is the digital process by which analog information is measured, often millions of times per second, in order to convert analog to digital.
Surround Output Level - Allows adjustment of the rear speaker level relative to the front speaker level according to viewing location and individual preference.
