Jargon Buster

Easy to use glossary of video terms relevant to website videos.

A

Accessory Shoe : A standard mounting found on some camcorders designed to support a light or a microphone. A ‘hot shoe’ supplies power for the accessory.

AE preset: A camcorder’s pre-programmed combination of exposure, white balance and shutter speed settings. Designed to deal with unusual conditions such as low light, sand and snow, sports action etc.

Ambient sound: Background noise, usually unrelated, to be aware of before starting to shoot the video.

Analog: Data recorded as a wave with infinitely varying values. They are usually electromechanical recordings and suffer from generation loss.

Aperture: The adjustable gap in a camcorder’s lens iris through which light passes to fall on the CCD. The aperture range is expressed in f-stops.

Auto focus: System which automatically adjusts the camcorder’s focus to keep the main subject sharp. There are different systems including infrared and contrast based. Manual overrides are usually available.

AVI (Audio Video Interleaved): The main file format for digital video.

B

Backlight compensation: A manual or automatic video gain boast to correct the exposure of subjects in front of a strong light.

Batch capture: Used when editing the automated capture of several seperate video clips. Start and end points for each clip are logged on the editing software system which then controls the camcorder to download the specified clips.

Battery: Rechargeable power cell on the camcorder. The most common type is Nicad (nickel-cadmium), although Li-ion (lithium-ion) and NiMH (metal hydride) offer better performance.

Bit: Smallest element in digital systems. The ones and zeros of digital video. Also used to measure color depth, the more bits per pixel, the greater the depth of color.

C

Capture card/digitizer. A card fitted in a computer enabling the conversion of analogue video to digital video that can be processed by the computer. The system can work in reverse converting digital to analog.

CCD (charge coupled device): The microprocessor optical sensor that converts light into electronic signals. Most domestic camcorders have a single 1/3″ or 1/4″ CCD while high end camcorders have three CCDs.

Codec: Abbreviation of compressor/decompressor. A codec compresses (packs) and decompresses (unpacks) image data.

Compression: Reducing the size of a file on a computer disk in order to save storage space.

Converter lens: An accessory lens that screws into a camcorder’s filter thread to alter the focal length. A wide angle lens increases the angle of view and is a most useful accessory. A telephoto lens will magnify distant objects.

Cross Fade: The playing of two clips with a fading out of the first clip while the second fades in, usually with an effect like a page turning over. The second clip takes completely over by the end of the transition.

D

Digital: A method of recording sound and light (video) by converting them into data made up of binary values (ones and zeros).

Digital Image Stabilization[/tag-tec]: Built in camera movement sensors that act as shock absorbers. If you move the camera in a jerky motion while shooting the digital image stabilization corrects for the motion and attempts to keep the picture steady.

DV (Digital video): A standard format and codec for digital video. Digital camcorders that include a FireWire port usually record DV format video.

E

External microphone socket: Socket that allows an external microphone to be attached for better quality audio. The external microphone will override the built in one.

F

f-stop: Numbers that indicate the size of a camera’s aperture opening. The formula for an f-stop is a fraction, so the larger the f-stop number, the smaller the aperture opening and the less light that can enter the camera.

Flash video (FLV): Is a proprietary file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. Notable users of the Flash Video format include YouTube, Google Video and MySpace. Flash Video is viewable on most operating systems, via the widely available Adobe Flash Player and web browser plugin, or one of several third-party programs.

FireWire connection: Also called IEEE 1394 or a DV connection, a socket for connecting your camcorder to a PC by a FireWire cable for lossless transfer of footage.

G

Generation Loss: A worsening of the signal-to-noise ratio (less signal, more noise) that occurs every time an analog recording is copied. Each copy is a lower quality generation of the original.

L

Lavalier: A tiny microphone designed to clip on to the speaker’s clothing. A lavalier microphone is often seen on the lapels of TV newsreaders, pundits and hosts.

M

MiniDV: The most common format used in camcorders. Tape based and the standard others are compared to.

MPEG: Abriviation for Motion Picture Experts Group which is a standard for video (MPEG1, MPEG2, and MPEG3) and audio (MPEG3)

P

Post-roll: Six to ten seconds of recording after the action finishes to make editing easier.

Pre-roll: Six to ten seconds of recording before the action starts to make editing easier.

S

SD (Secure Digital) Card: Solid State storage medium for stills and MPEG4s. Used by most major manufacturers except Sony.

V

Video Sharing Site: Social sites for freely submitting your videos where they can be hosted, viewed and shared by other. The videos can be embedded in other websites. YouTube is the major free video sharing site on the planet but there are many more.

W

White Balance: The method by which a camcorder sets its color temperature to obtain accurate color rendition. Most camcorders have auto and manual systems.