A DVI connector that supports analog, digital video, a USB connection, and FireWire (IEEE1394). Used primarily with Infocus projectors. M1-DA (EVC or P&D) is 3 rows or 10 pins and looks a lot like the DVI-I except for 6 more pins. The maximum video resolution supported is 1280x1024.

Sometimes used to refer to the distance from the screen that a projector can focus the image. Most of the time, it is the manufacturer's opinion of how far from a screen the projector can be to cast an image that is useable (bright enough) in a fully darkened room. Consult the Projection Calculator for guidance on proper placement of a projector for a given screen and content.

The largest image a projector can reasonable throw in a darkened room. Consult the Projection Calculator for guidance on proper placement of a projector for a given screen and content.

Maximum Resolution refers to the highest resolution that a given display device can support. If the Maximum Resolution exceeds the Native Resolution, , the image is usually scaled to match or approximate the Native Resolution of the projector. Some display devices allow pan and scan where rather than scaling the image, the display devices allows you to use the native resolution of the display to view portions of the higher resolution image. Scaling reduces the image resolution and produces some artifacts in the image that are more apparent when viewing text than graphics or video.

Megahertz. One million hertz or cycles per second.

Sometimes referred to with the acronym 'MD' as in MD-RPTV. Refers to projection-based displays using a chip-based imager. Examples are DLP, LCD and LCoS/D-ILA.

A feature of some LCD projectors where tiny lenses are aligned to individual pixels of an LCD panel in order to increase the light that passes through each pixel element. Also reduces screen-door effect.

The closest position that a projector can focus an image onto a screen.

MicroLens Array. See same.

Meridian Lossless Packing. A lossless compression format that is used on DVD-A giving a compression ratio of 1.85 to 1 without degrading quality.

An image artifact which is an interference pattern caused by two patterns overlaying each other. Looks like cross-hatching, herringbone or other patterns.

Single channel sound.

An artifact of MPEG compression which looks like a mosquito buzzing around. Usually found around sharp edges and most easily seen on solid color areas. It is a time dependent video compression impairment in which the high frequency spatial detail in video images having crisp edges is aliased intermittently.

Any artifact caused by camera panning or object movement within video. Judder and combing are motion artifacts.

MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3. Commonly used lossy audio compression format. Patent owned by Thomson and Fraunhofer. 128Kbps is a reasonably good setting for encoding.

Motion Picture Association of America. Trade association of the U.S. film industry started in 1922. Advocates for film industry to public and government.

Moving Picture Experts Group. A working group of ISO/IEC in charge of developing codecs and standards for moving pictures with synchronized audio.

Older video compression format that doesn’t compress interlace video. Although the format is capable of other resolutions, the standard expected is a 352x240 pixel image running at 30 frames a second and encoded at a constant bit-rate (CBR) of 1.5Mbps. It only supports mono or stereo sound.

The standard file format for DTV, DVDs and DBS, among others. Uses same techniques as MPEG-1 but adds support for interlace video and multichannel sound as well as offering higher bit rates.

An audio/visual file format that is designed for multimedia applications. It allows for other types of media such as 3D objects as well as video and offers interactive capabilities. It is a more efficient compressor than MPEG-2 and can be up to 50% smaller in file size at a given quality.

Multi-channel Television Sound (MTS) provides the ability to receive multiple audio channels with a single video channel allowing the user to select the type of audio desired such as mono, stereo, or Secondary Audio Programs (SAP). See SAP.

A display device capable of operating at multiple scan rates, usually starting at 30KHz up.

An audio system that can send any one of multiple sources to any one of different rooms.