Terms for Home Theater Are Becoming as Plentiful as the Products They Describe. Here’s Some Help in Figuring Out What the Words Really Mean.
Every profession and every industry has its own vocabulary, whether it’s the medical field, general contracting or even the fast-food business.
Learning the new language of a foreign industry, fine-tuning an intermediate knowledge, and keeping up with the latest industry terms can be daunting tasks. Nevertheless, these are the very scenarios that many new homebuilders find themselves in as they try to learn about the latest products and technologies that drive consumer interest.
Among the amenities, technologies and services that builders have been forced to learn to remain competitive include whole-house audio and video, surround sound, structured wiring, home control and monitored security. Within these categories there are technologies that are emerging as the next generation drivers of consumer demand.
To help homebuilders assimilate themselves into the fast-moving world of home theater, TecHome Builder has put together a list of commonly used home theater terms.
Amplifier
A device that multiplies the power of an incoming signal. An example of that would be a source component (such as a DVD player) connected to an A/V receiver. The receiver amplifies the power of the DVD player signal, which allows users to listen to the DVD player.
Aspect Ratio
The ratio of screen height and screen width. High-Definition television has a standard aspect ratio of 16 units by 9 units or 16:9.
A/V Receiver
A component that is the heart of a home-theater system. An A/V receiver switches between source components, processes complex functions such as surround sound formats, and provides system amplification.
Bass
Audio frequencies that are below 200Hz.
Brightness
A user feature on a television that controls the black levels in a picture.
Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT)
Most people know this technology, which employs an electron gun that scans a phosphor layer, as a TV tube. This is the technology that most televisions currently use.
Center Channel/Center Channel Speaker
In a surround-sound system this is the channel that handles most of the dialog in a television program or movie. The center-channel speaker is placed on a television or above and below a video screen. This placement is used to better replicate the voices emanating from the people on the screen.
Coax Cable
An A/V cable that uses a single center pin as the hot lead and an outer shield as a ground.
Component Video
This can be an analog input or output that separates the luminance in and red and blue colors within a video signal. Component video is the highest quality video connection available to the general public. Currently many HDTV set-top boxes output a HD signal via component, as do progressive scan DVD players.
Composite Video
This is available as an analog input or output connection that squeezes both the color and luminance into one signal. Many are familiar with this means of connection as it is the yellow-coded RCA connection on the back of DVD players, cable boxes and most new televisions.
Contrast Ratio
The measured difference from the darkest level of black to the highest levels of white. The contrast on a television controls the levels of white in a television picture.
Crossover
An electrical device that separates and divides an audio signal.
Decibel (dB)
A logarithmic system of measurement used to describe the loudness of sound.
Digital Light Processing (DLP)
A technology developed by Texas Instruments that employs millions of small mirrors and a color wheel to produce a video image. DLP has become a popular, space-saving and cost-saving technology for most front-projector manufacturers. The technology is also slowly working its way into some rear-projection television product lines from SIM2, Optima and Samsung.
(See September/October issue of TecHome Builder for Part II)