Switch (network) Connecting network users via a switch means that each can be sending or receiving data at the same time with the full wire-speed of the network available. This is made possible by the aggregate capacity of the switch. So, for example, an eight-port Gigabit Ethernet switch will have an aggregate capacity of 8 Gb/s. This means many simultaneous high-speed transactions taking place without interruption from other users. The Internet is connected by thousands of very high speed network switches. See also: CSMA/CD, Hub

SXRD

Silicon X-tal (crystal) Reflective Display, a reflective liquid crystal micro- display from Sony used in the first commercially available 4K-sized projectors. The display chip has 4096 x 2160 pixels on one-and-a-half inches of silicon. See also: Projectors (digital)

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Synchronous (data transfer) This carries separate timing information (clock data) for keeping send and receive operations in step. The data bits are sent at a fixed rate so transfer times are guaranteed but transfers use more resources (than asynchronous) as they cannot be shared. Applications include native television connections, live video streaming and SDI. Operation depends on initial negotiation at send and receive ends but transfer is relatively fast. See: Asynchronous, Isochronous, SDI T

Table 3 (ATSC) Table 3 of the ATSC DTV Standard, Annex A, summarizes the picture formats allowable for DTV transmission in the USA. Any one of these may be compressed using MPEG-2 and transmitted. An ATSC receiver must be able to display pictures from any of these formats. Table 3 is concerned with video formats to be handled in the ATSC system rather than defining standards for video production.

Targa (.TGA) An image file format widely used in computer systems. It was developed by Truevision Inc. and there are many variations of the format.

TBC Timebase Corrector. This is often included as a part of a VTR to correct the timing inaccuracies of the pictures read from the tape.The introduction of digital techniques made larger stores economic so widening the correction window and reducing the need for especially accurate, expensive mechanical engineering.

TCP/IP Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. A set of standards that enables the transfer of data between computers. Besides its application directly to the Internet it is also widely used throughout the computer industry. It was designed for transferring data files rather than large files of television or film pictures. Thus, although TCP/IP has the advantage of being widely compatible it is a relatively inefficient way of moving picture files. See also: FTP, IP

T-DMB See DMB

Timeline

A graphical representation of editing, compositing, grading or other processes – usually as a horizontal line. This works well with disk-based

operations providing instant access to any part of the process and, hopefully, to all the footage, decisions, associated tools and their settings.

TIFF (.TIF) Tagged Image File Format. A bit-mapped file format for scanned images – widely used in the computer industry. There are many variations of this format.

Technical grade A technical grade is a lower contrast scan to include all highlights and lowlights. Technical grades are widely used with virtual telecines and DI as they preserve all the useful dynamic range of film into the post production process.

Telecine

Device for converting film images into SD or HD video in realtime. The main operational activity here is color grading which is executed on a shot-by-shot basis and absorbs considerable telecine time. This includes the time needed for making grading decisions and involves significant handling of the film – spooling and cueing which risks film wear and damage – besides the actual transfer time. The output of a telecine is digital video (rather than data files). Digital technology has moved the transfer process on. Now, adding a disk store or server can create a virtual telecine enabling the film-to-digital-media transfer to run as one continuous operation. Whole film spools can be scanned in one pass, with useful footage selected by an EDL. In this case the telecine may be termed a Film Scanner – creating image files (rather than digital video) that contain sufficient latitude for downstream grading. See: Grading, Film Scanner

Threading

A technique that allows a (computing) process to be shared among several processors with the objective of completing the process more quickly than would be possible when using a single processor. Modern multi-core (processor) PC chips offer the potential for doing this but most, if not all, commonly used PC application programs are not designed for this. So, to provide faster processing for multiple tasks, multiprocessing is used where the programs (threads) are divided to run simultaneously on different cores to provide faster processing for multiple tasks.

Timing and Timer Timing refers to the amount of the separate R, G and B lights that are used to expose film in a laboratory as a part of the grading process. The term is sometimes also applied to color grading during telecine transfers. The timer is one who decides and controls the lights’ timing. See also: Color Timing, Grading, Lights

Tracking (image)

Following a defined point, or points, in the pictures of a clip. Initially this was performed by hand, using a DVE but was laborious, difficult and limited to only down to pixel accuracy. Now image tracking is widely used, thanks to the availability of automatic point tracking operating to sub-pixel accuracy. The tracking data can be applied to control DVE picture moving for such applications as removal of film weave, replacing 3D objects in moving video, wire removal, etc. Advanced multiple point tracking is sometimes used to analyze images in 3D, so allowing a whole raft of computer-generated material to be move-matched for compositing into live scenes – blurring the boundaries of live and synthetic imagery. See also: Corner pinning, Sub-pixel

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS