Glossary -T-
T connector — Video connector which allows three wires to connect together.
T1 — Type of tariffed service from the phone companies, where you rent the equivalent of 24 64kbps phone channels.
T-120 — Standard size of a VHS videocassette. Plays 2, 4, or 6 hours.
Tai chi stance — Body position for hand-holding a camera steady.
Tail slate — A slate identifying a scene after it has been recorded (at the tail end of the scene).
Take-up reel — On a reel-to-reel recorder, this is the empty reel that fills as tape is played.
Talent — Performer, actor, newscaster, etc.
Talkback — A loudspeaker system to allow the control-room crew to speak directly to studio personnel.
Tally light — Lamp on the TV camera which goes on when the camera’s image has been selected by the TV director. It tells both the performer and the camera operator that the camera is “on”.
Tape cleaner/evaluator — Electronic device to check video tape for defects while cleaning the tape.
Tape guides — Little posts inside a VCR to guide the tape from place to place as it plays or is threaded.
Tape remaining — Readout on some VCRs, calculating the amount of tape left on a standard cassette based on the amount of tape used.
Tariff — Published, government-controlled charges for certain phone service. Your household phone bill is tariffed to cost a certain amount per month.
TD — Technical Director, person who runs the switcher.
Teaser — Small curtain used to block light.
Technical director — The person who pushes the buttons on the switcher/SEG during the show.
Technical setup — Adjusting the video equipment prior to a show. Also the time period for this process before a show.
Telecine — Movie projector/TV camera combination designed for converting movie images to video. Also called a film chain.
Telecourse — Course taught over television, usually by videotape.
Telecourse — Lessons presented via television, often for credit through a participating college.
Telephoto converter — Lens attachment to increase the focal length (magnification) of a lens for a narrower angle of view.
Telephoto — The opposite of wide-angle, a telephoto lens magnifies the view. like binoculars. It also has a narrow field of view, concentrating on one part of a picture and cutting out the rest.
Teleprompter — Device that sits near the camera lens and allows the performer to read the text while his eyes appear to be looking at the camera lens (the viewer).
Teleprompter — Electronic device that shows script or other cues to the talent, who appear to be speaking directly to the TV camera.
Terminate — Inserting a resistance (usually 75 for video) at the end of a cable carrying a signal. A signal may be looped through several devices but must be terminated at the last one by plugging in a terminating plug or throwing a switch to the 75) position.
Terrestrial interference or TI — Electrical noise from earth-based microwave transmitters in your neighborhood that jams your satellite TV reception.
Test (or production) monitor — TV monitor designed to yield sharp, truthful images that accurately shows flaws in a TV signal or picture.
Test pattern — Chart used for measuring a camera or other video device’s performance such as resolution.
Test signal — A video (or other) signal containing certain properties (like color bars) to show whether equipment is working as it should. Test signals meet certain technical specifications useful for calibrating other equipment.
Test signal generator — Electrical device that makes test signals for calibrating and measuring performance of equipment.
Test tape — A video tape made under “perfect” conditions, used to test the performance of VCRs, VCPs, and sometimes other video equipment. Tape may include special test signals for measuring signal strengths, timing, and purity.
Texture — Data that creates a surface material, including bumps, that you wrap around a wireframe to make it solid. Grass, water ripples, and tree bark are textures.
Texture map — The data describing the color, roughness, surface design (i.e., woodgrain), and whether parts will be cut out and replaced by another surface. Several layered texture maps can be used together.
Three-chip camera — A TV camera with three pickup chips inside, one sensitive to the red parts of the picture, another sensitive to green, and the third sensitive to blue.
Three-chip camera — More expensive TV camera which has separate chips to sense each primary color in the picture.
Three-tube video projector — Video projector with three TV picture tubes for a brighter, sharper picture than one-tube models. Three-tube projectors are recognizable by their three lens snouts.
Three-two pulldown — The motion taken as a movie projector plays a 24-picture-per-second movie into a 30-frame-per-second TV system. One movie picture is scanned three times by the TV system and pulled down, and the following picture is scanned twice; then the process repeats.
Threshold or coring — Control on an image enhancer selecting which high frequencies will be boosted (enhanced) and which will be left alone, to reduce graininess in the picture.
Tier — A level of cable TV programming. Basic level, or tier 1 may be inexpensive. Tier 2 has more channels but costs more per month.
Tightener ring — A large round nut on the mounting plate of a camera head for tightening the camera to the mount.
Tilt lock — Camera head control to lock the camera in place so it can’t tilt.
Time base corrector — Electronic device to remove jitter and other timing abnormalities from a video signal, usually the signal from a VCP.
Time code — A way of measuring where (how far from the beginning of a tape) scenes are located. Usually a magnetic pulse recorded on the tape that can be converted into a listing of hours, minutes, seconds, frames.
Time code generator — Electronic device that makes the time code signal, which may then be recorded on the tape.
Time code reader — Electronic device that decodes the time code from a tape on playback and converts it into recognizable numbers: hours, minutes, seconds, frames.
Time elapsed counter — An electronic indicator on a VCR that measures the length of recorded tape that has moved through the VCR, in hours, minutes, seconds, and sometimes frames.
Time lapse — Method of compressing time by taking a picture every few seconds (or minutes) and playing them back 30 per second, to speed viewing. Time lapse VCRs can record many hours on the tape.
Timeline — A graphic ruler stretching across a computer screen on which clips are placed during editing.
Timeline — Like a ruler stretched across the computer screen, the non-linear editor’s timeline lists every moment in the TV program; indicating which scenes go where, what graphics and titles appear, what audio will be heard, and what transitions occur between scenes.
Tone generator — Electronic circuit often built into mixers, which can create an even, standardized audio signal. Used for checking volume levels, it provides a handy reference tone.
Top loading — Cassette goes into a trapdoor that opens on the top of older VCRs.
Touch screen — A touch-sensitive TV screen whereby viewers can point to or press their fingers against the screen in response to computer questions rather than using a keypad or computer keyboard.
Track — A pathway along a tape set aside for a discrete (usually audio) signal. In digital audio editing, a sequence of sounds grouped as if they were on a track of a tape.
Track — Place on a timeline to drag-and-drop clips. Several tracks allow you to indicate A/B rolls and effects.
Trackball — Computer input device, like a mouse, that moves the cursor when you rotate a ball imbedded in the holder.
Tracking — Adjustment on VTRs so that they play the video tracks from the tape following exactly the path that the recorder took. Good tracking results in a clear, stable picture.
Transcoder — Electronic device to convert video signals between Y/688, Y/C, Y/R-Y/B-Y, and others.
Transformer splitter — A combined device which does the job of a matching transformer and a band splitter.
Transitions — Ways of changing from one title or graphic to another.
Translator box — A device that converts computer commands into one or more VCR protocols, such as LANC, CONTROL-M, CONTROL-S, etc.
Transponder — One of the transmitters on a satellite. Each one has its own frequency, so by tuning in the various frequencies you can pick up various signals from the same satellite. Each transponder can handle two analog TV signals, both audio and video, or ten compressed digital TV signals.
Treatment format or rundown — Script format listing general description of program’s content, direction, and style.
Trim — Adding or subtracting numbers from the time code at the edit point to make the edit occur earlier or later than originally planned.
Trim or gain control — Volume control that adjusts the mixer’s input sensitivity. Turned up, the input works with mikes; turned down it works with hi level sources.
Trim — To precisely define the edit-in and edit-out points of a scene.
Tri-standard — A TV or VCR which can work with an NTSC, PAL, or SECAM TV signal.
Tri-standard TV — A TV which switches from NTSC to PAL to SECAM standards to display foreign video signals or broadcasts.
True color — Ability of a graphics card to display millions of colors, as opposed to a select 64 or 256 from a palette.
Trunk line — 24 telephone signals grouped onto one pair of wires.
Tungsten-halogen — Common TV lamp bulb with a tungsten filament (glowing wire inside) and a quartz bulb filled with iodine (a halogen) gas. It’s small, generally operates at 3200K color temperature and runs very hot.
TV black or reference black — The blackest black allowable in an NTSC TV picture; 7.5 IRE.
TV coupler — A small electrical device which allows two or more TVs to share signals from the same antenna wire.
TV monitor/receiver (or receiver/monitor — ) A TV set that can act either as a monitor (using video) or a receiver (using RF).
TV projector — Usually found in the home, a device designed to project images from TV signals, typically RF from cable TV or antennas. Essentially a video projector with a tuner. TV projectors may have separate audio and video inputs.
TV receiver — A TV set that tunes in channels but doesn’t have audio or video inputs.
TV standard — Set of technical specifications describing how a TV picture is made. In the USA, the FCC (Federal Communications Committee) ordained the NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) standard. In Europe, they use a different, incompatible standard, PAL.
TVRO — Television Receive Only, the dish antenna and receiver which can pick up signals but not transmit them.
Tweeter — Small speaker, efficient at reproducing high notes.
Twin lead — Flat ribbon-like antenna cable containing two wires, nearly always 300.
Twisted pair — Common telephone wire.
Twisted pair — Two skinny wires, twisted together, used frequently for telephone service.
Two-channel audio — Capability of recording two sound tracks on a tape.
Type C — Aging professional reel-to-reel recorder format using 1-inch tape.
