Glossary -N-
Nanosecond — Billionth of a second, a number used to describe the sharpness of a character generated letter. Professional quality CGs have 35 nanosecond or lower numbers specifying their sharpness.
Network — Group of computers communicating together via wire or optical fiber, sharing data, perhaps collectively rendering an image.
Network — Group of TV broadcasters or cable TV companies wired together to share signals from each other.
Neutral density filter — A gray glass lens attachment that diminishes light coming through the lens, thus reducing picture brightness.
NFM or near field monitor — Small speaker designed to be positioned near the listener. [10-30.2]
NiCd or Nicad — NIckel CADmium. Lightweight, high-power battery for camcorders.
NLE — Non-Linear Editor.
Noise bars — Bands of snowy hash across the TV screen usually evident in still and scan modes and when mistracking occurs.
Noise reduction system — Electronic device that attempts to reduce electronic noise when something gets recorded and/or played back.
Noise temperature — Rating in degrees Kelvin for how “quiet” (doesn’t make spurious signals) a satellite signal amplifier is; the lower the temperature, the better.
Noise — Unwanted interference that creeps into your signal. Audio noise could be hum or hiss. Video noise could be snow, graininess, or streaks in the picture.
Noise-canceling microphone — Microphone that is used close to the mouth, and rejects surrounding noise.
Noncomposite — video — Video (picture) signal without sync combined.
Nondestructive editing — Computerized audio editing whereby the playlist changes as you edit and delete sounds, the original sound files remain undamaged.
Non-drop frame — SMPTE time code mode that continuously counts frames, skipping no numbers.
Non-linear editing — Assembling video sequences that are randomly accessible, typically digitized onto a hard drive. The process is much like word processing in that items can be moved, deleted, copied, or changed electronically before being printed or copied to video tape.
Non-linear editor or NLE — Computerized video editor that permits scenes to be selected and rearranged on the computer’s screen before being assembled (by the NLE) on the master tape.
Non-Lossy — Compression scheme that reduces redundant data that will never be missed, thus retaining full picture quality while reducing the file size by a moderate amount.
Normal-through or normaled — In a patch bay, the top socket is automatically connected to the socket directly beneath when no patch cable is plugged into either. The signal “normally” travels through from one to the other.
NTSC — National Television Standards Committee. United States organization that developed the NTSC video standards which ensure that all TV signals in the United States are compatible.
NTSC video — National Television Standards Committee method used in the United States for electronically creating a color TV signal. The color and brightness aspects of the image travel together on the same wire.
