Glossary of terms

These are some terms that you'll see in the Knowledge Base:

AAC: An advanced audio codec.
AviSynth: A scripting tool for editing video.
Capture: To record with a capture card.
Codec: A way to compress video or audio. If video was uncompressed, it would be far too massive too transmit over the Internet; thus, it is compressed with a codec. To be played back, it must be decoded with the same codec.
DivX: An older video codec.
Encode: To compress with a codec.
Field: Every other row of pixels on a TV.
Finalize: A process done on DVD recorders that allows discs to be used on other equipment. Once you have finalized a disc, you cannot put anything else on it. The exception in DVD-RW, which you must format in order to write to once it has been finalized. Finalization must be done on the DVD recorder that recorded the disc.
Frame: Rather than using true motion, videos use frames, where slightly different images are shown rapidly to create the illusion of motion. Each image is called a frame.
Framerate: The rate at which frames are displayed. This is written as "x fps," where x is the number of frames displayed each second.
H.264: An advanced video codec.
Interlaced: When a video signal comes one field at a time, it is said to be interlaced.
MeGUI: A tool used to encode video and audio.
Mp3: An audio codec.
Nate: The person who handles capturing and encoding runs for SDA, as well as many other very important tasks.
Progressive Scan: When a video signal comes whole frames at once (a frame is two fields), it is said to be progressive scan.
VirtualDub: A tool used to encode video and audio.
VirtualDub Mod: A modification to VirtualDub that is superior in some aspects, but inferior in others.
XviD: A modification of DivX. XviD is open-source and generally produces better quality video than DivX.