About all thse television presentation terminology

As you lot seem to be very well genned up an all terms televisual, could you please explain some terms for me, as some of the conversation goes a bit above my head. I know my sub-opts from my opts and stings but pretty much nothing else. I would like enlightenment. Thanks very much.

If you could start with these 16:9 or whatevers related to picture size, I'd be grateful.

16:9 relates to the ratio of the tv screen. 16:9 is widescreen, a normal tv picture is 4:3

Hope that helps!

Widescreen DAMN! Beaten to it!

(Edited by SpiringUnhacked at 3:23 pm on Sep. 12, 2001)

Katherine, for more detailed definitions, have a look the the TV Forum Denfinitions page, by clicking on the link on the main menu above. Most of these definitions were kindly provided by Techy Peep.

I produced a bit of a guide to screen sizes this afternoon, its here. Please leave your comments here, i'm pretty sure atleast some of it is wrong.

Yes,none of the pictures load!

Thanks itsrobert for the link to the definitions page. I have a 'few' queries:

About this 'Aspect Ratio', like 16:9, What do the number 16 and 9 represent? 16___ for every 9____ ? Are there differing varieties of widescreen available? Like on old films, sometimes the black bars are wider than for example the bars at the top and bottom of Look North. On Look North they're thinner. Does this have some relation or relevance to the Aspect Ratio?

What is High Definition Television? Is this something to do with picture quality?

Is an OOV the same as a Voice Over?

QUOTE:
'TRUCK - Vehicle pictures are recorded or transmitted from' - is this basically like what I saw outside the Skegness Embassy Centre when Look North were there in July, a white van with a huge aerial on top and some pretty nifty kit (NOT Paul Hudson!)inside? Like a mobile edit suite?

TALKBACK - is this the in-ear device people like Peter Levy wear to hear the director?

QUOTE:
'PHONO COMP - Composite graphic showing contributor and location' - How does this vary from an aston? Surely they're one and the same?

More queries soon, if I find my brain getting twisted!

(Edited by Katherine at 10:26 pm on Sep. 12, 2001)

Oh, and:

Is an INSET like the thing behind Harry on this shot?

http://www.tvhome.f2s.com/ikonboard/upload/Harry%20Gration.jpg

If not, what is it?

On the subject of widescreen, everything is there and pointing in the right direction, however freeserve seams to be dead, anyway keep trying.

Aspect Ratio

The numbers relate the horizontal picture size versus the vertical in equal units. A 16:9 picture is therefore WIDER (greater horizontally) than a 4:3 one (to make life easier think 4:3=12:9)

Remember - your TV is either 4:3 or 16:9. The image displayed on your TV can be in a different aspect ratio, commonly achieved by adding black bars to the top and bottom (letterbox) or to the left and right sides (pillarbox)

High Definition TV is a system which offers much greater picture quality than conventional TV. HDTV offers a picture of approx 1920x1080 active resolution, compared with 720x576 active in the UK, and 720x488 active in the US.

It was launched in Japan quite a while ago, but not to great success. It has more recently launched in the US - as part of their Digital TV system - though not a huge number of programmes are yet made in the high definition format. Our Digital TV system does not directly support it.

HDTV is also usually a 16:9 format.

OOV = Out Of Vision. (Hence a VT OOV is a sequence where a presenter reads live over VT pictures with just natural sound FX coming from the VT, not a reporters voice)

TRUCK. This could be a links TRUCK - used to LINK the pictures back - either via satellite (big dish on the roof) or microwave (little dish or funny aerial at the top of a big mast) It could also be a SCANNER - this is a truck containing control systems for more than one camera (so their colours match), possibly a vision mixer to switch between cameras, and also possibly VT machines to record or replay material. It may also contain a sound desk to allow more than a couple of microphones to be used. It could also be an Edit Truck, where VT is edited. Other common phrases used in news - especially in the regions is FRV (Fast Response Vehicle) or LULU (Live UpLink Unit) or LLU (Live Links Unit). These are normally microwave. Satellite trucks are often known as SNGs (Satellite News Gathering) or SatVans.

TALKBACK
This can mean a lot of different things. PRODUCTION TALKBACK is the sound feed that most people in a studio will listen to. It will be a permanent feed of the directors voice, sometimes with the PA added as well. This is also sometimes known as OPEN TALKBACK.

Presenters commonly have a feed of this Talkback fed to their earpieces. In some cases they can chose to go onto SWITCHED TALKBACK. This will mean they DON'T hear the director unless the director presses a button - meaning that the presenter can concentrate on their interview (especially if the sound is poor - as the sound on the studio floor can not be made loud as it would affect the on-air sound adversely)

PHONO COMP = a graphic which fills the screen. It normally contains a picture of the reporter, and an image or map to illustrate the story.

ASTON = name caption which is added to the picture (and does not fill the screen)

(Well this is the traditional way of thinking - in fact ASTON is actually the manufacturer of TV graphics kit - and it is possible to create a PHONO COMP on an ASTON box. But that confuses everyone....)