GLOSSARY

Ambient light: The surrounding light of a particular scene picked up by a television camera.

Aperture: The adjustable lens diaphragm that rises, with a wider or smaller opening, to regulate the amount of light that reaches a television camera or other image sensor device.

Bandwith: A range within a band of wavelengths, frequencies, or energies; the data transfer rate of an electronic communications device.

Camera sensor: The device for capturing light and transmitting a resulting impulse; a detector of light that affects or controls camera operation.

Coaxial cable: A transmission line that consists of a tube of electrically conducting material held in place by insulators that is used to transmit television signals of high frequency.

Electron tube: An electronic device in which conduction by electrons takes place through a vacuum or gaseous medium within a sealed glass or metal container and which has various uses based on the controlled flow of electrons.

Gain: The increase (as of voltage or signal intensity) caused by an amplifier.

Integrated circuit: A miniature interconnected circuit made up of many electronic and semiconductor components, all contained in a single , discrete electronic element.

Neutral density filter: A group of gray filters with graded intensities, used to minimize contrast and cut down exposure of a camera sensor to light.

Photoconductivity: Electrical conductivity that is affected by exposure to electromagnetic radiation, as in light.

Resolution: Ability of a lens to render fine line detail in a photographic image. In TV, the maximum number of discernible lines of a television image.

Satellite: Communication device in orbit above the earth that is used to distribute television and radio signals from one geographic location to another.

Scanning: Horizontal electron beam sweep moving over a camera pickup tube.

Scanning rate: Inches per second covered by the scanning beam for television.

Semiconductor: Any of a class of solids whose electrical conductivity is between that of a conductor and that of an insulator in being nearly as great as that of a metal at high temperatures and nearly absent at low temperatures.

Solid-state: Utilizing the electric, magnetic or optical properties of solid materials; using semiconductor devices rather than electron tubes.

Solid-state circuit: A circuit that is complete unto itself, and is manufactured from one discrete unit of calibrated semi-conductor material.

Synchronizer: A voltage pulsation that determines scanning synchronization; a device for making signals recur or operate at the same time.

Television camera: Device that changes light from a scene into an electric signal, called a video signal, which varies depending on the strength or brightness, of light received from each part of the scene.

Vidicon: Small television camera tube that uses the principle of photoconductivity to form an image over a surface. Used widely in the early days of television.