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Technical Glossary
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Camcorder
A portable electronic recording device that can record live-motion video and audio for later replay through VCRs and televisions. Digital camcorders are capable of being connected to a personal compute for storing and editing. The computer must be equipped with digital video editing software, a capture card, and have i.Link/FireWire/IEEE 1394 ports. Some digital camcorders also have the facility to record stop-frame animation.
Capture card
An analogue capture card converts analogue signals (from a VHS camera, for example) into digital signals for subsequent processing, such as editing. You can also buy FireWire/i.Link/IEEE1394 cards to import digital video directly. Some cards combine both analogue and digital inputs.
CCD
This stands for charge-coupled device. This is the light-sensing device inside a digital camera, which is composed of an array of individual sensors, or pixels, that 'see' the image coming in through the camera's lens. The maximum CCD resolution is the total number of pixels in a cameras sensor, so the higher the resolution the greater the detail in the picture. When comparing cameras for purchase, you should be comparing the effective number of pixels rather than the total number of pixels.
CD
This stands for compact disc. They are used to record in electronic format, store and play back audio, visual and text in digital form. CDs were originally read-only, but CD-RWs (compact disc rewritable) are now available and allow repeated recording on a disc.
CD-ROM
The compact disc (read only memory) is an adaptation of the CD and is capable of storing text and graphics as well as hi-fi sound. Computer readable, they are a popular format for software and databases.
CD-RW
Stands for compact disc, rewritable. This is a variation on the CD and allows repeated recording on a disc.
Clip
A captured portion of video.
Component Video
This is a way of transferring video which uses separate wires for the different elements that make up a picture. Different component video systems split the signal up differently; some split a picture down into separate signals for the red, green, and blue parts of the picture while others (such as S-Video) carry luminance (brightness) and Chroma (colour) on different wires. Component video usually provides higher quality pictures than composite video.
Composit Video
This is a way of transferring video which combines colour, brightness and sync into one signal using a standard such as PAL or NTSC. It is lower quality than component video systems such as S-Video.
Compression
The reduction in size of data in order to save space, for example when storing on a computer, or in transmission time, for example if streaming a video on a web site.
Copyright
The term given to an author's legal right of ownership of a piece of text, image, web site, video or music. Copyrighted material may not be used by anyone other than the copyright holder without their permission and often the payment of a fee.
Cross Platform
Applications, formats or devices which will run on more than one operating system/platform, for example PC's and Macs.