Artifacts – Distortion that occurs when audio or video is compressed to a low bit rate, also called noise.

ASF – (Advanced Streaming Format) An audio or video file encoded for use with Windows Media Player. Also see, WMV, WMA and AVI.

ASX – (ASF Streaming Redirector File) A Windows Media container file. ASX is a metafile that provides information about ASF media files, including descriptions of multimedia content. When a browser links to an ASX file, the ASX file in turn links to an ASF file on a server that points to a Windows Media audio/video streaming file.
Aspect Ratio – The relationship of width to height in a video. The standard ratio for television is 1.33:1 meaning that the image is 1.33 times wider than it is high. This standard ratio is used for NTSC Television. Other ratios that are of interest are; Anamorphic (1.85 to 1); Cinemascope (2.85:1) and High Definition Television (16:9)

AVI – (Audio/Video Interleave) A file format containing different types of rich media data, such as audio, video, and metadata.

Backbone – A segment of a network that is higher speed than the rest of the network that connects segments together.

Backhaul – Is a means for sending live rich media from its origination point to a point from which it can be distributed over a network. For example, backhaul is used to deliver a live SvBroadcast from Chicago, to a SmartVideo data center, encoded and then be made available to viewers on their individual computers live over the public Internet anywhere in the world.

Bandwidth – In digital terms, the capacity of a connection to transmit data, expressed as data speed in bits per second (bps), thousands of bits per second (Kbps) or Millions of bits per second (Mbps). SmartVideo works with Dial-Up and broadband connections 23Kbps or greater.

Bit – Describes the smallest unit of computer storage. A Bit may have a value of either 0 or 1. See Byte.

Bit Rate – The speed at which computer binary content is sent through a computer or over a network, usually measured in kilobits or megabits per second (Kbps or Mbps).

Byte – Describes a unit of computer storage. 8 bits make 1 byte.

Broadband – Describes a high-speed network connection (ISDN, DSL, Cable Modem, T-1) as opposed to a dial-up modem connection.

Broadcast Page – An HTML page, which is opened to facilitate the delivery to a viewer of audio, video, graphic and textural information during an SvBroadcast. When used in live broadcasts, the Broadcast Page also incorporates interactive viewer chat and live call in with subject matter experts and presenters.

Buffering – Is similar to the concept of "pre-filling". The stream of data begins before the rich media file actually plays. Data is sent to the viewer’s local computer at a rate faster than it takes to view so that incoming data always stays ahead of the actual data being viewed. Occasionally, if there is significant network congestion, or bandwidth of the viewer is reduced, a media file may stop playing momentarily so that the buffer can be refilled.

Cache – Memory in the computer that stores data temporarily so that it can be accessed quickly. Web pages that are viewed are generally stored temporarily on the user's hard drive, for quick access on return visits. Caching can also refer to distributing Internet content (including Multimedia Files) in server storage, which is periodically refreshed.

Cable Modem – A device that enables a PC to connect to a local cable TV line and receive data at about 1.5 Mbps. This data rate far exceeds that of the prevalent 28.8 and 56 Kbps telephone modems and the up to 512 Kbps of Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and is about the data rate available to subscribers of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) telephone service.

Cameras – The quality of the video source is the key to high quality video, and cameras that deliver good contrast and color saturation will produce a better result. See GIGO. Higher color saturation with streamed video results in a higher score from most viewers.

Capture – The process of inputting or transferring digital or analog audio and or video files to binary files, which can then be edited and encoded on a computer.

Capture Card – A device located in a computer, which facilitates the capture of analog or digital data.

CCIR-601 – (or SDI) Specifies the image format, acquisition semantic, and part of the coding for digital standard television signals. ("Standard" television is in the resolution of PAL, NTSC and SECAM) CCIR-601 gives the specification for encoding of 4:2:2signals and a tentative specification of 4:4:4 encoding. 4:2:2 means, that the color-difference signals Cr and Cb are sampled with half of the sampling frequency of the luminance signal Y, that is 13.5MHz to 6.75MHz. It also specifies the number of samples per line for 525/60(59,94) systems and 625/50 systems. The samples per total line are different, but the samples per active line are the same for both systems: 720 samples per active line. It does not specify the number of lines for both systems; this can be found in CCIR Rep. 624-4, which gives a detailed description of all parameters of the analog television systems, as NTSC, PAL, SECAM and all of the derivates. The correspondence between the video signal levels and the quantization levels is also specified. The scale is between 0 and 255, for the luminance signal you have 220 quantization levels, for the color- difference signals 225 quantization levels. The signals are only coded with 8-bit per signal.

CODEC – (Compressor / Decompressor) Media is encoded or compressed using an algorithm or formula contained within the CODEC. The file is then decoded or decompressed as the user views or listens to the file.

Co-location – A location where a company may place their servers on the physical premises of a facility in order to utilize the facilities high-speed connections and safety/backup features. (See Hosting) –

Color – While streaming resolution is lower than television video the number of colors is very high. The human eye sees contrast (retina rods) and color (retina cones) differently, and high color (16 to 24Bit) video gives a much better overall viewing impression.

Composite Video – Composite video signals are connected between products with a single 75-ohm coax cable, usually with RCA or BNC connectors on each end. Composite video inputs or outputs are present on almost all-contemporary video equipment. Composite video signals can also be modulated onto an RF carrier, along with an audio signal, and transmitted over-the-air or on coax cable, by broadcast stations and cable TV systems.

Compress – It is desirable to compress media files to reduce file size and to speed up transmission. This is done using hardware, software or a combination of both. Compressed files are then decompressed on the viewer's computer.

Data Transfer Rate – (or Data Rate) is the amount of digital data that is moved from one place to another in a given time, usually in a second's time. The data transfer rate can be viewed as the speed of travel of a given amount of data from one place to another. In general, the greater the bandwidth of a given path, the higher the data transfer rate.

Decompress – (decompressing) is the act of expanding a compressed file back into its original form. After Media is compressed using an algorithm or formula contained within a CODEC; media may then be decoded or decompressed so the user may view and/or listen to the file.

Digitize – The process of changing or transferring digital or analog audio and or video files to binary files, which can then be edited and encoded on the computer. (See Capture)

DSL – (Digital Subscriber Line) Refers collectively to all types of digital subscriber lines, the two main categories being ADSL and SDSL. Two other types of xDSL technologies are High-data-rate DSL (HDSL) and Very high DSL (VDSL). DSL technologies use sophisticated modulation schemes to pack data onto copper wires. They are sometimes referred to as last-mile technologies because they are used only for connections from a telephone switching station to a home or office, not between switching stations. xDSL is similar to ISDN inasmuch as both operate over existing copper telephone lines (POTS) and both require the short runs to a central telephone office (usually less than 20,000 feet). However, xDSL offers much higher speeds - up to 32 Mbps for upstream traffic, and from 32 Kbps to over 1 Mbps for downstream traffic.

Edge Server – (Enhanced Data GSM Environment) Storage of data files on remote servers specifically designed for streaming over the Internet. EDGE is a faster version of GSM wireless service. EDGE enables data to be delivered at rates up to 384 Kbps on a broadband. The standard is based on the GSM standard and uses TDMA multiplexing technology.

Encoding – Refers to the process of converting a digitized file into a streaming format.

Failover – A backup operational mode in which the functions of a system component (such as a processor, server, network, or database, for example) are assumed by secondary system components when the primary component becomes unavailable through either failure or scheduled down time. Used to make systems more fault-tolerant, failover is typically an integral part of mission-critical systems that must be constantly available.

Film – Is projected at 24 frames per second (FPS), video at 30 FPS. To make up the difference frames are added when displaying film over video. The process is called Telecine. Since there is no difference between these frames they are easily streamed. Film over video produces good results.

Frames Per Second – (FPS) The number of video frames displayed each second. The higher the number, the smoother and sharper images appear. Video on television is sent at 30 FPS, film at 24 FPS. Voice/Image synchronization takes place at 15 FPS. A television frame from an NTSC system, displayed on a computer is typically 720 x 480 pixels.

GIGO – (Garbage-in-Garbage-Out) High quality source video encodes better than low quality. If there is noise in the video the process will do its best to encode the noise – using available bandwidth to send unwanted artifacts. Normal composite video works, but for best quality use S-Video (Y/C) or SDI (Digital) as the source.

GSM – (Global System for Mobile Communications) One of the leading digital cellular systems. GSM uses narrowband TDMA, which allows eight simultaneous calls on the same radio frequency. GSM was first introduced in 1991. As of the end of 1997, GSM service was available in more than 100 countries and has become the de facto standard in Europe and Asia.

HDTV – (High Definition Television) is a television display technology that provides picture quality similar to 35 mm. movies with sound quality similar to that of today's compact disc. HDTV generally uses digital rather than analog signal transmission. "HiDef" systems have a screen aspect ratio of 16:9, i.e. 16 units wide by 9 high.

Hosting – A Hosting Services Provider (HSP) is an application service provider dedicated to providing hosting services. Typically operates a Web server farm, either at a data center or co-location facility.

HTML – (HyperText Markup Language) The authoring language used to create documents on the World Wide Web. HTML is similar to SGML, although it is not a strict subset. HTML defines the structure and layout of a Web document by using a variety of tags and attributes. The correct structure for an HTML document starts with <HTML><HEAD>(enter here what document is about)</HEAD><BODY> and ends with </BODY></HTML>. All the information you'd like to include in your Web page fits in between the <BODY> and </BODY> tags. There are hundreds of other tags used to format and layout the information in a Web page. Tags are also used to specify hypertext links. These allow Web developers to direct users to other Web pages with only a click of the mouse on either an image or word(s).

I-Frame – An intermediate frame that causes all data to be displayed

ISDN – (Integrated Services Digital Network) An international communications standard sending voice, video, and data over digital telephone lines or normal telephone wires. ISDN supports data transfer rates of 64 Kbps (64,000 bits per second). There are two types of ISDN: Basic Rate Interface (BRI) -- consists of two 64-Kbps B-channels and one D-channel for transmitting control information and Primary Rate Interface (PRI) -- consists of 23 B-channels and one D-channel (U.S.) or 30 B-channels and one D-channel (Europe). The original version of ISDN employs baseband transmission. Another version, called B-ISDN, uses broadband transmission and is able to support transmission rates of 1.5 Mbps. B-ISDN requires fiber optic cables and is not widely available. A SmartVideo ISDN Connection requires 3BRI, which has 384K of bandwidth.

ISP – (Internet Service Provider) Companies that offer Internet access to subscribers.

Kbps – (Kilobits Per Second) A measure of data transfer speed. Modems, for example, are measured in Kbps. Note that one Kbps is 1,024 bytes.

LAN – (Local-Area Network) A computer network that spans a relatively small area. Most LANs are confined to a single building or group of buildings. However, one LAN can be connected to other LANs over any distance via telephone lines and radio waves. A system of LANs connected in this way is called a wide-area network (WAN). Most LANs connect workstations and personal computers. Each node (individual computer) in a LAN has its own CPU with which it executes programs, but it also is able to access data and devices anywhere on the LAN. This means that many users can share expensive devices, such as laser printers, as well as data. Users can also use the LAN to communicate with each other, by sending E-mail or engaging in chat sessions. There are many different types of LANs, Ethernets being the most common for PCs. LANs are capable of transmitting data at very fast rates, much faster than data can be transmitted over a telephone line; but the distances are limited, and there is also a limit on the number of computers that can be attached to a single LAN.

Latency – The delay of the transmission of data or the amount of time it takes for a switch or router after receiving a packet of data to determine which switch or forward it to next.

Line Resolution, TV NTSC – Television systems display a total of 525 Lines, of which approximately 480 are viewable.

Lighting – For live video, the subject should be lit well enough to produce reasonable contrast and color saturation. Most modern cameras will compensate for a range of lighting conditions, up to a point; but generally, the more light on a subject the better.

LMS – (Learning Management System) A software system, that allows the development and delivery of educational courses using the Internet as a delivery system. (See SvLearn.)

Lossy Compression – Data compression achieved by eliminating perceptually insignificant information, however, since lossy compression introduces inaccuracies, it should only be used with graphics, audio, and video. Data files and executable programs can only be compressed with a loss-less algorithm (i.e., a zip file).

Mbps – (Megabits Per Second) A measure of data transfer speed (a megabit is equal to one million bits). Network transmissions, for example, are generally measured in Mbps.

Metadata – Data about data. Metadata describes how and when and by whom a particular set of data was collected, and how the data is formatted. Metadata is essential for understanding information stored in data warehouses and has become increasingly important in XML-based Web applications. Additional file related information that can be stored as part of a compressed file or kept in a separate location or database. Examples include text-based information, such as author, title, copyright, time etc.

ModemS – (Modulator Demodulator) - A modem modulates outgoing digital signals from a computer or other digital device to analog signals for a conventional copper twisted pair telephone line and demodulates the incoming analog signal and converts it to a digital signal for the digital device, usually a computer.

Motion – SmartVideo deals with high motion video very well. But there are limits. Normally we think of motion as natural activities seen on the video, like a moving automobile caught on a security camera, or a person waving their arms as in a to way videoconference. But in streaming motion is any difference in two video frames. A poor source video that contains noise, "sparkles" or other artifacts, or a video produced with zooms, pans and other motion unrelated to the context and quality of the content will force the system to work much harder to produce the desired viewer experience.

MP3 – MP3 is an acronym for MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 audio layer 3. MP3 is the file extension for MPEGaudio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes (layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3) for the compression of audio signals. Layer 3 uses perceptual audio coding and psychoacoustic compression to remove all superfluous information (more specifically, the redundant and irrelevant parts of a sound signal. The stuff the human ear doesn't hear anyway). It also adds a MDCT (Modified Discrete Cosine Transform) that implements a filter bank, increasing the frequency resolution 18 times higher than that of layer 2.

MPEG – (Moving Picture Experts Group) Standards developed for digital video and digital audio compression. MPEG standards are an evolving series of Codecs, each designed for a different purpose. To use MPEG video files, you need a personal computer with sufficient processor speed, internal memory, and hard disk space to handle and play the MPEG file (which has a file name suffix of .mpg). MPEG viewer software is required that will play MPEG files.

NAS – (Network Attached Storage) A hard disk storage device that is set up with its own network address rather than being attached directly to the computer that is serving applications or files to a network's users. By using a NAS, both applications and files can be served faster because they are not competing for the same processor resources. The NAS is attached to a local area network (typically, an Ethernet network) and assigned an IP address. File requests are mapped by the server(s) to a NAS file server. A NAS consists of hard disk storage, including multi-disk RAID systems, and software for configuring and mapping file locations to network-attached device(s). Network-attached storage can be a step toward, and be included as part of, a more sophisticated storage system known as a SAN (Storage Area Network).

NTSC – (National Television Standards Committee) The NTSC is responsible for setting television and video standards in the United States (in Europe and the rest of the world, the dominant television standards are PAL and SECAM). The NTSC standard for television defines a composite video signal with a refresh rate of 60 half-frames (interlaced) per second. Each frame contains 525 lines, of which approximately 480 lines are visible per frame, and can contain 16 million different colors. A typical TV shows 380 Lines. The NTSC standard is incompatible with most computer video standards, which generally use RGB video signals. However, you can insert special video adapters into your computer that convert NTSC signals into computer video signals and vice versa.

Network Congestion – Traffic on the Internet, WAN or LAN that slows the transmission of data.

Noise Reduction – A variety of processes applied to audio or video signals to lower the amount of noise in the given signal.

PAL – (Phase Alternating Line) The dominant television standard in Europe. The United States uses a different standard, NTSC. Whereas NTCS delivers 525 lines of resolution at 60 half-frames per second, PAL delivers 625 lines at 50 half-frames per second. Many video adapters that enable computer monitors to be used as television screens support both NTSC and PAL signals.

PDA – (Personal Digital Assistant) A handheld device that combines computing, telephone/fax, Internet and networking features. A typical PDA can function as a cellular phone, fax sender, Web browser and personal organizer. Unlike portable computers, most PDAs began as pen-based, using a stylus rather than a keyboard for input. This means that they also incorporated handwriting recognition features. Some PDAs can also react to voice input by using voice recognition technologies. PDAs of today are available in either a stylus or keyboard version.

Packet Loss – Data is transmitted in small units known as packets. Occasionally, packets are lost or delayed due to network congestion, resulting in dropped frames.

Pixel – One unit of screen information. A video image is composed of individual colored dots, referred to as pixels. Depending on how a monitor is set, a pixel can take up 8 bits/1 byte (256 colors), 16 bits/2 bytes (high color), or 24 bits/3 bytes (true color).

POTS – (Plain old telephone service) POTS refers to the standard telephone service that most homes use. In contrast, telephone services based on high-speed, digital communications lines, such as ISDN and FDDI, are not POTS. The main distinctions between POTS and non-POTS services are speed and bandwidth. POTS is generally restricted to about 52 Kbps (52,000 bits per second). The POTS network is also called the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

RAID – (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) A category of disk drivers that employ two or more drives in combination for fault tolerance, performance, capacity and security. RAID disk drives are used frequently on servers but aren't generally necessary for personal computers.

RGB – (Red, Green, Blue monitor) A monitor that requires separate signals for each of the three colors. This differs from color televisions, for example, which use composite video signals, in which all the colors are mixed together. All color computer monitors are RGB monitors. An RGB monitor consists of a vacuum tube with three electron guns -- one each for red, green, and blue -- at one end and the screen at the other end. The three electron guns fire electrons at the screen, which contains a phosphorous coating. When the phosphors are excited by the electron beams, they glow. Depending on which beam excites them, they glow either red, green, or blue. Ideally, the three beams should converge for each point on the screen so that each pixel is a combination of the three colors.

Redundancy – A systematic approach to eliminating single points-of-failure in a network or data storage system.

Rich Media – Is an Internet term for Web content that uses advanced technology such as streaming video, downloaded applets (programs) that interact instantly with the user.

Router or Switch – A switch is a device used throughout a network that receives incoming data and determines the route for the date to travel in order to reach its intended destination. A router is a switch with built-in capabilities that enhance its functions and performance.

SAN – (Storage Area Network) Is a high-speed sub-network of shared storage devices. A storage device is a machine that contains nothing but a disk or disks for storing data. A SAN's architecture works in a way that makes all storage devices available to all servers on a LAN or WAN. As more storage devices are added to a SAN, they too will be accessible from any server in the larger network. In this case, the server merely acts as a pathway between the end user and the stored data. Because stored data does not reside directly on any of a network's servers, server power is utilized for business applications, and network capacity is released to the end user.

SDI – (Spatial Data Infrastructures Or CCIR-601), specifies the image format, acquisition semantic, and part of the coding for digital standard television signals. ("Standard" television is in the resolution of PAL, NTSC and SECAM) CCIR-601 gives the specification for encoding of 4:2:2signals and a tentative specification of 4:4:4 encoding. 4:2:2 means, that the color-difference signals Cr and Cb are sampled with half of the sampling frequency of the luminance signal Y, that is 13.5MHz to 6.75MHz. It also specifies the number of samples per line for 525/60(59,94) systems and 625/50 systems. The samples per total line are different, but the samples per active line are the same for both systems: 720 samples per active line. It does not specify the number of lines for both systems; this can be found in CCIR Rep. 624-4, which gives a detailed description of all parameters of the analog television systems, as NTSC, PAL, SECAM and all of the derivates. The correspondence between the video signal levels and the quantization levels is also specified. The scale is between 0 and 255, for the luminance signal you have 220 quantization levels, for the color- difference signals 225 quantization levels. The signals are only coded with 8-bit per signal.

SECAM – One of two video signal formats used primarily in France and Russia and has 625 lines total, 576 lines visible.

Scalability – The ability to expand capacity of an existing data storage system or network without requiring replacement.

Sound – The overall perception of a streaming video is weighted by the quality of the sound (audio). Use good quality audio equipment, microphones and mixers.

Streaming Media – Allows the user to watch or listen to a media file without downloading it. The file is simultaneously "streamed" to the user as he or she is watching or listening to it. The user needs a player to view or listen to the files - a media player that is compatible with the format of the file must decompress files.

SvBroadcast – SmartVideo's trade name for the streaming of live, scheduled or on-demand programs over the Internet, to viewers with both dial-up and broadband connections. SvBroadcast's typically incorporate video, with synchronized audio, graphic data, broadcast controls contained in a broadcast page.

SvCore – SmartVideo's trade name for its technologies used for broadcasting rich media content to dial-up and broadband viewers over the Internet.

SvMail – SmartVideo's trade name for its E-mail product allowing the inclusion of rich media within E-mail messages.

S-Video – (Super-Video) A technology for transmitting video signals over a cable by dividing the video information into two separate signals: one for color (chrominance), and the other for brightness (luminance). When sent to a television, this produces sharper images than composite video, where the video information is transmitted as a single signal over one wire. This is because televisions are designed to display separate Luminance (Y) and Chrominance (C) signals. (The terms Y/C video and S-Video are the same.)

Subscriber – User of the SmartVideo products and services provided by SmartVideo's Customer

T1 – A dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of 1.544Mbits per second. A T-1 line actually consists of 24 individual channels, each of which supports 64Kbits per second. Each 64Kbit/second channel can be configured to carry voice or data traffic. Most telephone companies allow you to buy just some of these individual channels, known as fractional T-1 access. T-1 lines are a popular leased line option for businesses connecting to the Internet and for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) connecting to the Internet backbone. The Internet backbone itself consists of faster T-3 connections. T-1 lines are sometimes referred to as DS1 lines.

Text – Text is high frequency video that does not stream easily using large fonts.

TDMA – (Time Division Multiple Access) A technology for delivering digital wireless service using time-division multiplexing (TDM). TDMA works by dividing a radio frequency into time slots and then allocating slots to multiple calls. In this way, a single frequency can support multiple, simultaneous data channels. TDMA is used by the GSM digital cellular system.

Transcoding – The conversion of one digital file format to another digital file format (i.e., MP3 to Windows Media). The ideal method for encoding to multiple streaming media formats is to use the original, uncompressed source material and encode it into the new formats, avoiding transcoding completely.

Viewer – A person seeing and interacting with a SmartVideo delivered presentation.

VOD – (Video on Demand) Video that can be accessed, over the Internet, at any time by a user or subscriber.

WAN – (Wide-Area Network) A computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area. Typically, a WAN consists of two or more local-area networks (LAN's). Computers connected to a wide-area network are often connected through public networks, such as the telephone system. They can also be connected through leased lines or satellites. The largest WAN in existence is the Internet.

Webcast – (Internet Broadcasting) Is the process of capturing, encoding, hosting and delivering multimedia events, such as training, infomercials, concerts, meetings, or conferences, usually from a remote location, for Internet broadcast on a one-time or limited basis. Live events usually require establishing an Internet connection and/or links for streaming over the Internet. Events can also be archived for viewing on demand.

Wi-Fi – (Wireless Fidelity) It's a term used by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance to describe wireless networking technology. The term is used interchangeably with 802.11b. Instead of moving data through a network using Ethernet cable, Wi-Fi uses radio waves in the 2.4-GHz spectrum to move data across different frequencies. This is the same range used by a cordless phone and like a cordless phone's signal it can be distorted by large objects and walls.

WMA – (Windows Media Audio) An audio file encoded for use with Windows Media Player.

WMV – (Windows Media Video) An audio and video file encoded for use with Windows Media Player.

Y/C – A technology for transmitting video signals over a cable by dividing the video information into two separate signals: one for color (chrominance), and the other for brightness (luminance). When sent to a television, this produces sharper images than composite video, where the video information is transmitted as a single signal over one wire. This is because televisions are designed to display separate Luminance (Y) and Chrominance (C) signals. (The terms Y/C video and S-Video are the same.)

ZIP – A popular data compression format. Files that have been compressed with the ZIP format are called ZIP files and usually end with a.ZIP extension.