However it does require that the type is RIPped before it can be used – requiring significant processing power if it is to be used interactively for sizing and composing into a graphic. See also: TrueType

Versioning

A B C D E F G H I J

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M N O P Q R S T U V

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In recent times demand for producing the required versions of a finished production has ballooned. Historically this used to involve making copies from the edited and graded master to various videotape formats and, via a standards converter, to other video standards (e.g. NTSC to PAL). Now technical variations involve many more formats being supplied, including Web, mobile, HD and SD TV, DVD and film, as well as a variety of display systems including CRT, LED, Plasma and digital cinema. Aside from the technical needs, other requirements such as commercial, language and religious influences are among the many factors that can be causes for more versions. Today versioning is big business, as the number of versions can run to many tens and involve much more than simply making copies of the master. For example, work may involve re-grading to suit different viewing conditions, grain management to suit different compression and display technologies, re-insertion of text or images to suit different regions or countries, pricing (for commercials) adding or removing shots or scenes for censoring, etc. Generally, for this to be done efficiently and effectively requires nonlinear editing in an uncommitted environment; where original footage and all the post processes that produced the master are available for recall and allow further adjustment, to re-make the result in a short time.

VFR Variable Frame Rate shooting has, until recently, only been possible with film cameras as all electronic cameras work at fixed frame rates. Panasonic’s HD Varicam was the first to offer variable speeds, with frame rates from 4 to 60 f/s in one-frame increments. There are also more specialized cameras and recorders able to capture HD frame rates up to 1000 f/s, or more. VFR is seen as a significant step forward for digital cinematography. See also: Varicam, Digital cinematography Website: www.nacinc.eu www.panasonic.com/pbds

Video over IP See DVB over IP

Video projection Video projector technology can now show up to 4K images (4096 x 2160) on large cinema screens. Such technology is a major part of Digital Cinema development. There are two major technologies used for large- scale projection, D-ILA and DLP Cinema. See D-ILA, DLP cinema

Viper See Digital Cinematography

Virtual telecine See Telecine

VITC Vertical Interval Timecode (pronounced ‘vitsy’). Timecode information in digital form, added into the vertical blanking of a TV signal. This can be read by the video heads from tape at any time pictures are displayed, even during jogging and freeze but not during spooling. This effectively complements LTC ensuring timecode can be read at any time. See also: LTC

VSB Vestigial Sideband modulation – an established modulation technique which is used in the RF (radio frequency) transmission subsystem of the ATSC Digital Television Standard. E-VSB, Enhanced-VSB, was approved by ATSC in 2004 as an amendment to the A/53C DTV Standard. This was responding to the wishes broadcasters for more flexibility in DTV. E-VSB allows broadcasters to trade-off data rate for a lower carrier-to- noise threshold for some services, e.g. “fall back” audio, and targeted at receivers with indoor antennas, non-realtime transmissions of file-based information, and more. Website: www.atsc.org and search for VSB on www.broadcast.harris.com

WAV (.WAV) An audio file format developed by Microsoft that carries audio that can be coded in many different formats. Metadata in WAVfiles describes the coding used. To play aWAV file requires the appropriate decoder to be supported by the playing device. Website: www.microsoft.com

Wavelet

A compression technique in which the image signal is broken down into a series of frequency bands. This is a very efficient but the processing is more complex than for DCT-based compression that uses Fourier transforms. Although some wavelet-based compression was used by some manufacturers now all wavelet compression used in the media industry is JPEG 2000. It is prevalent in DCI digital cinema, is used in some new camcorders and is increasingly used in contribution and distribution circuits. See also: JPEG 2000

WIBNI Wouldn’t It Be Nice If... A wish – usually referring to a hoped-for new feature on a piece of equipment.

Widescreen

A TV picture that has an aspect ratio wider than the ‘normal’ 4:3 – usually 16:9 – while still using the normal 525/60 or 625/50 or SD video. 16:9 is also the aspect ratio used for HDTV. There is an intermediate scheme using 14:9 which is found to be more acceptable for those still using 4:3 displays. Widescreen is used on some analog transmissions as well as many digital transmissions. The mixture of 4:3 and 16:9 programming and screens has greatly complicated the issue of safe areas. See also: Safe Area

WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (IEEE 802-16 and ETSI HiperMAN), is a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last- mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL. The current WiMAX revision provides up to 40 Mbit/s with the IEEE 802.16m update expected offer up to 1 Gbit/s fixed speeds. WiMAX supports the technologies that make triple-play service offerings possible (such as Quality of Service and Multicasting). See also: OFDMA Website: www. wimaxforum.org

Windows Media

Audio and video compression schemes, encoders and decoders (players) devised by Microsoft. The latest Windows Media 9 (WM9) uses the VC-1 compression codec with similar efficiency as MPEG-4 H.264/AVC.

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS