Also known as solarization or posterization. False contouring occurs when color shows as distinct contours or edges where there shouldn’t be any. This occurs when colors that should flow naturally between shades or brightnesses do so discretely in clearly defined bands. The visual effect is the look of a topographical map instead of a video image.Â

Federal Communications Commission. U.S. government agency responsible to Congress that regulates interstate and international communications via radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. Commenced operations in 1934.

Feedback occurs when the output of a device returns as the input of the same device. A microphone recording the sound from a speaker which is playing back the same microphone as a source is an instance where this can occur. Signals get replicated multiple times and if they are amplified, the amplification gets repeated as well. This is how room noise turns into a loud screech if microphones aren’t placed properly; however, this can occur to any electrical signal.Â

Sends signals as light pulses instead of electrical energy. Made of glass or plastic, these cables are not susceptible to electromagnetic interference.

One half of a video frame consisting of either all of the even-numbered scan lines or all of the odd-numbered scan lines in a frame.

Given as a percentage, this characteristic indicates how smooth an image will look viewing a particular display. An imaging system with a low fill rate will exhibit a screen door pattern in its images.

High speed serial bus with a speed up to 400Mbps. See IEEE 1394.

Any device that has a 'native' pixel resolution. CRTs are the only non-fixed-pixel displays where resolution is determined by bandwidth.

A state where no frequency of an electronic device is emphasized over another when output. In audio, a device with a flat response is able to transmit all frequencies fully, with equal capability. No device can actually do this perfectly.

Frequency Modulation. Method for sending information by adding the frequencies of the information to be sent to a carrier versus modulating a carrier’s wave amplitude. The carrier is filtered out.

A remote control that broadcasts its instructions with an FM transmitter, normally required in large rooms and no line of site requirement.

The distance from the surface of a lens to its focal point.

Measurement of luminance (brightness) emitted from a surface. One foot-Lambert is equal to one lumen per square foot. The metric equivalent of one foot-Lambert is 3.426259 nits or cd/m2. The SMPTE standard for theater cinema is 16 fL.

A general description of a projector or flat panel's size and shape. For example, a light projector with a small case can be said to have a small form factor, and would be good for mobile presentation. Similarly, a flat panel that is slim and wall mountable would be considered to have a small form factor.

Frames Per Second.

A frame is one complete video image. When all lines of the video image are delivered sequentially, it is called progressive video. When the odd lines and even lines are delivered as separate fields, it is called interlace video.

Measures the frequencies a component is capable of reproducing and how well it does it. Usually stated as a set of frequencies with a variance measured in decibels (dB). The ideal is to have no variance or flat response, along with a wide range of frequencies.

A system where the projector sits in front of the screen with the image getting reflected back to the audience.

A projector that sits close to the screen and is capable of throwing a large image.

Contrast is the ratio between white and black. The larger the contrast ratio the greater the ability of a projector or flat panel to show subtle color details and tolerate extraneous room light. There are two methods used: 1) Full On/Off contrast measures the ratio of the light output of an all white image (full on) and the light output of an all black (full off) image. 2) ANSI contrast is measured with a pattern of 16 alternating black and white rectangles. The average light output from the white rectangles is divided by the average light output of the black rectangles to determine the ANSI contrast ratio. When comparing contrast ratio, make sure you are comparing the same type of contrast. Full On/Off contrast will always be a larger number than ANSI contrast for a given product.