Glossary of Home Theater Terminology

Glossary of Audio, Video and Home Theater Terms

There is a very large vocabulary of technical and descriptive terms that go with home theater. We've included the terms that you are most likely to encounter. If you are very technically involved you may find some of the more technical terms omitted from our list.

# - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M

N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Native Format - Televisions have a fixed set of pixels or scan lines. That is their native resolution. However, the programming displayed on the set may have its own native format which differs from that of the television. When this happens the program has to be converted to fit the native format of the television.

Noise Reduction - Refers to any of a variety of systems used to reduce background noise in analog audio signals. Dolby and dbx are two of the most well known noise reduction systems.

NR - Noise Reduction.

NTSC - National Television System Committee. U.S. government created organization which over 60 years ago defined the analog standard for broadcast television. The term is also used to refer to the standard itself and to devices that use the NTSC standard. The standard calls for 525 scan lines of which 480 are used for picture display. The NTSC is used primarily in North America and Japan.

NUON Enhanced - An enhancement for DVD players that promises additional control, features and uses for this component. The addition of a processor may enable the DVD player to take on a new role in your multimedia system. NUON was created by VM Labs.