Category 5 cable, commonly known as Cat 5, is an unshielded twisted pair type cable designed for high signal integrity. The actual standard defines specific electrical properties of the wire, but it is most commonly known as being rated for its Ethernet capability of 100 Mbit/s. Its specific standard designation is EIA/TIA-568. Cat 5 cable typically has three twists per inch of each twisted pair of 24 gauge copper wires within the cable.

CAT-5e

Similar to Cat 5 cable, but is enhanced to support speeds of up to 1000 megabits per second.

CRT

Cathode Ray Tube: a common type of computer display hardware

DDC

Short form for Display Data Channel. It is a VESA standard for communication between a monitor and a video adapter. Using DDC, a monitor can inform the video card about its properties, such as maximum resolution and color depth. The video card can then use this information to ensure that the user is presented with valid options for configuring the display.

DDWG

Digital Display Working Group DDWG are the creators of the DVI specification.

Dolby Digital

This is a digital surround sound technology used in movie theaters and upscale home theater systems that enhances audio. Home theater components with this technology work in conjunction with a "8.1-speaker" system (Eight speakers plus a low-frequency subwoofer) to produce true-to-life audio that draws the listener into the onscreen action.

DTS

Digital Theater Systems sound. Discrete 8.1 channel surround system similar but not the same as Dolby Digital. Dolby Digital is the DTV standard, but DTS competes with it on DVD and in the movie theaters.

DVI

Digital Visual Interface. Connection standard developed by Intel for connecting computers to digital monitors such as flat panels and DLP projectors. A consumer electronics version, not necessarily compatible with the PC version, is used as a connection standard for HDTV tuners and displays. Transmits an uncompressed digital signal to the display. The latter version uses HDCP copy protection to prevent unauthorized copying.

Fiber Optic

Refers to the medium and the technology associated with the transmission of information as light pulses along a glass or plastic wire or fiber. Optical fiber carries much more information than conventional copper wire and is in general not subject to electromagnetic interference and the need to retransmit signals.

HDCP

High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection. Created by Intel, HDCP is used with HDTV signals over DVI and HDMI connections and on D-Theater D-VHS recordings to prevent unauthorized duplication of copy written material.

HDMI

The High-Definition Multi-media Interface (HDMI) is an industry-supported, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface. HDMI provides an interface between any compatible digital audio/video source, such as a set-top box, DVD player, and A/V receiver and a compatible digital audio and/or video monitor, such as a digital television (DTV).

HD-SDI

High Definition Serial Digital Interface. This standard transmits audio and video over a single coaxial cable with a data rate of 1.485 Gbit/s.

HDTV

High-Definition Television. The high-resolution subset of our DTV system. The ATSC defines HDTV as a 16:9 image with twice the horizontal and vertical resolution of our existing system, accompanied by 5.1 channels of Dolby Digital audio. The CEA defines HDTV as an image with 720 progressive or 1080 interlaced active (top to bottom) scan lines. 1280:720p and 1920:1080i are typically accepted as high-definition scan rates.

IEEE 1394a

A type of cabling technology for transferring data to and from digital devices at high speed. Some professional digital cameras and memory card readers connect to the computer over FireWire. FireWire card readers are typically faster than those that connect via USB. Also known as IEEE 1394, FireWire was invented by Apple Computer but is now commonly used with Windows-based PCs as well.

IR remote

A type of wireless transmission using infrared light waves.

KVM

Short for keyboard, video, and mouse.

LCD

Liquid Crystal Display. A display that consists of two polarizing transparent panels and a liquid crystal surface sandwiched in between. Voltage is applied to certain areas, causing the crystal to turn dark. A light source behind the panel transmits through transparent crystals and is mostly blocked by dark crystals.

NTSC

NTSC is the acronym that stands for “National Television Systems Committee” and the name of the current analog transmission standard used in the US, which the committee created in 1953.

PAL

Phase Alternation Line (PAL) is the analog television display standard that is used in Europe and certain other parts of the world. The US uses the American National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) standard.

PS/2

A port type developed by IBM for the purpose of connecting a keyboard or mouse to a PC. The PS/2 port has a mini DIN plug containing 6 pins. PS/2 ports are used so that the serial port can be used by another device. The PS/2 port is often called the mouse port.

RS-232

Recommended Standard 232. This is the de facto standard for communication through PC serial ports. It can refer to cables and ports that support the RS232 standard.

SDI

(Serial Digital Interface) - A set of standards for digital transmission of video over 75 ohm coaxial cable preferably using BNC connectors.. For video it usually uses a 270 megabyte per second data transmission rate and it supports the standard NTSC based video formats and ATSC video formats. It is suitable for transmission over 100 feet contrasted with DVI and HDMI which are limited to about 30 feet.

SMPTE

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers - A global organization, based in the United States, that sets standards for baseband visual communications. This includes film as well as video standards. SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol, SNMP is called “Simple” in a relative way in the sense that they tried not to add unnecessary complexity when it was developed. SNMP management data is available from SNMP agents and is queried from SNMP capable consoles or test tools.

SPDIF

Sony/Philips Digital Interface. SPDIF is a digital interface designed to enable digital equipment to transfer digital information with minimal loss.

TOSlink

Commonly used to refer to optical digital audio cables, TOSlink stands for "Toshiba Link", and is Toshiba's brand name for optical digital audio cables.

USB

Universal Serial Bus. An external peripheral interface standard for communication between a computer and external peripherals over a cable using bi-serial transmission.

VESA

Video Electronic Standards Association, a consortium of manufacturers formed to establish and maintain industry wide standards for video cards and monitors. VESA was instrumental in the introduction of the Super VGA and Extended VGA video graphics standards with a refresh rate of 70 Hz, minimizing flicker and helping to reduce user eyestrain and fatigue.

VGA

Video Graphics Array - A standard for graphics displays, implying a resolution of 640x480 pixels, defined by IBM.