SITE INDEX
Dictionary of Projector Terminology
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| aspect ratio | The ratio of the width of an image to its height. Common aspect ratios are 4:3 and 16:9 (also commonly called wide-angle). |
| b-stock | Factory-refurbished demos and returns. Carry 12-month warranty minimum
and full manufacturer's specs on lamp life. |
| ceiling mount | Mounting a projector upside down to compensate for the distortion created by pointing up from a table to the screen. Popular in home theater and conference room installations. Requires that you invert the image.
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| closeout | New units discontinued by manufacturer. Carry full warranty
and full manufacturer's specs on lamp life (generally about 2000 hours). |
| composite video | A video signal containing color, brightness, blanking and sync pulses, and color burst data combined according to one of the standard coding schemes (NTS, PAL, SECAM). |
| condition b-stock closeout demo stock refurbished used stock |
Most of our product line consists of new units. We also carry: Factory-refurbished demos and returns. New units discontinued by manufacturer. Used about 10-100 hours in-house by dealer sales force. Full warranty. Cleaned, adjusted, certified by manufacturer. 12-mo minimum warranty. Customer trade-ins. Warranty and lamp life vary. |
| contrast ratio | The ratio between the lightest color (white) and the darkest (black), expressed as 400:1, for example. The larger the contrast ratio, the better the projector deals with subtle colors and ambient light. When comparing projector specifications, compare the same type of contrast: full on/off or ANSI. For any given projector, full on/off contrast ratio will be larger than ANSI. |
| DLP technology | Digital Light Processing. This technology from Texas Instruments doesn't use smoke but it does use mirrors! The mirrors modulate light from a lamp and send the light signal out through a lens onto a screen. (See also LCD technology.) |
| demo stock | Used about 10-100 hours in-house by dealer sales force.
Full manufacturer's warranty. |
| digital photo carousel | A product of the SunriseSunset division of dynamx. We take your old snapshots, add captions, speech balloons, background music, video clips, you name it, and produce "Your Life in Pictures" as a self-running slide show. Perfect for birthdays, bar mitzvahs, anniversaries, weddings, reunions, graduations, quinceaneras. |
| digital scrapbook | Another name for the "digital photo carousel" product from our SunriseSunset division. |
| DVD | A type of optical disc storage technology. Bigger and faster than a CD, has uses like high-quality video, better-than-CD audio, still photos, and computer data. |
| EDTV | Enhanced definition television, extended definition television. Standard-definition 704×480 signal that is broadcast at 60 progressive (complete) frames per second. |
| ESP | The Executive Sales Presenter radio-frequency wireless remote for PowerPoint®. The ESP has a range of over 75 feet and can advance to the next slide, retreat to the previous slide, and blank your screen; it also has an integrated laser pointer. The sending unit and the receiving unit are "trained" to speak only to each other, so, for instance, two adjacent rooms at a college can have them in use and neither will interfere with the other. |
| Executive Sales Presenter | See "ESP" above. Control your presentation from anywhere in the room. No line-of-sight required; the ESP uses radio-frequency technology! A must for professional speakers. Completely plug-and-play - no software required. |
| front projection | Projector is positioned in front of the screen or wall on which the image is projected. A good rule of thumb is that the projector be placed about twice as far from the screen as the image is wide; i.e., for an 8-foot image, the projector will be about 16 feet from the screen. |
| HDTV | High-definition television. Broadcast of television signals with a higher resolution than traditional formats allow. HDTV is broadcast digitally. |
| home theater | We define home theater as a projector set up in your home, receiving its input from cable, VCR, DVD, or camcorder, and sending its audio signal out to your speakers. We can specify a complete home theater system for any size home and any size room. |
| IR | Infra-Red, the traditional remote control technology, like a TV remote. Requires line of sight (user must "aim" the remote at the device being controlled), or at best a "bounce" off a hard surface, and has about a 25-foot range. |
| keystone correction | Keystone correction means making a projected image rectangular by mechanical (change position), electronic (adjust optics), or digital means. Projectors may have manual or automatic keystone correction, as well as vertical and/or horizontal correction. |
| lamp life | The operational life span of the lamp system in a projector. Typical is 2000 hours of use; some newer models have up to 5000-hour lamp life, and some projectors have extended lamp life in "Eco-Mode" (lower brightness option). |
| laser pointer | Designed to assist speakers giving presentations. Produces a small dot of light on the object at which it is aimed, such as a PowerPoint® slide. |
| LCD technology | Liquid Crystal Display. It is used to present a digital image for viewing, for instance on a laptop computer or in a projector. (See also DLP technology.) |
| LED | Light-emitting diode. A semiconductor device that emits light when electrically biased in the forward direction. The color of the emitted light depends on the chemical composition of the semiconducting material used. |
| lens shift | Allows the optical lens to be physically shifted up and down or left and right to optically correct for keystone distorted images. |
| lumens | An industry term loosely used as a measure of brightness. The larger the audience size, the greater the lumens a projector should have in order for the projected image to be optimally visible. Very roughly, with the lights full on, a projector of 800 lumens can handle an audience up to 50 people, while a 5000-lumen unit is bright enough for up to 1000 people. |
| MAP | Minimum Advertised Price. Retailers enter into agreements with manufacturers not to advertise specific items for less than a certain price, although the retailer is free to sell those items for a lower price. Many times, but not always, our prices can be lower than the MAP on our web site! |
| PowerPoint® | A Microsoft product for producing slide shows that can incorporate text, graphics, video, animations, etc. LCD / DLP projectors are known to many people as "PowerPoint projectors." |
| projector | A device containing a light source, an optics system, and electronics that takes a signal from a computer, VCR, DVD, camcorder, or other video device and projects a large image onto a wall or screen for viewing by groups. Projectors generally use either LCD or DLP technology - see "DLP technology" and "LCD technology." |
| promote RF 64 | A wireless presentation remote that plugs into the USB port of any PC or Mac. Simple to use, it has a 75-foot range, allowing you to advance your presentation slides from anywhere in the room. With its 64 Mb of memory, you get four products - a portable drive, a presentation remote, a wireless mouse and a laser pointer - in the palm of your hand. |
| RCA connector / RCA jack | Carries standard composite video and audio signals to devices such as home use VCRs and camcorders. |
| rear projection | An application where the projector is placed behind an opaque screen; it projects onto the screen and the audience sees it on the other side. Rear projection devices must be able to reverse the image. |
| refurbished | Projectors that have been cleaned, adjusted, and factory certified by the manufacturer. Also called "b-stock," they generally are excellent values and come with a 12-mo minimum warranty. |
| remote control | Small wireless hand-held device used for remote operation of a machine such as a projector or a laptop computer. Projector remote controls are most often used to activate the "menu" of features of the projector. Remote controls that allow a speaker to advance slides or activate hyperlinks in a PowerPoint® presentation typically will send signals to a receiver that is connected to a laptop through the USB port. dynamx offers two types of remotes: the ESP advances or backs up a presentation one slide at a time and has "blank screen" and laser pointer capability, and the RF64 is a full-featured four products in one: a portable drive, a presentation remote, a wireless mouse and a laser pointer in the palm of your hand. |
| resolution |
Resolution is defined by the number of individual dots that a display uses to create an image. The resolution is expressed as the number of horizontal picture elements ("pixels") times the number of vertical picture elements, for example, 800 x 600. VGA resolution: 640 x 480 pixels SVGA resolution: 800 x 600 pixels XGA resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels SXGA resolution: 1280 x 1024 pixels WXGA resolution: 1366 x 768 pixels UXGA resolution: 1600 x 1200 pixels WUXGA resolution: 1920 x 1200 pixels |
| RF | Radio Frequency. Sometimes also called FM. This type of remote mousing system has no line of sight requirement and much longer range than infra-red remotes. Our ESP (Executive Sales Presenter) and Promote RF 64 both use RF technology to allow you to control your presentation from anywhere in the room up to 75+ feet away from your computer!
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| S-Video | Separated Video. The system for interconnecting camcorders, TVs, VCRs, etc. which keeps the color and brightness data separate, improving picture quality. |
| SDTV | Standard-definition television. Refers to television systems that have a lower resolution than HDTV systems. The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same (or similar) resolution as analog systems. |
| SVGA | Super VGA. 800 x 600 resolution. |
| SXGA | Super XGA. 1280 x 1024 resolution. |
| throw distance | The distance from the projector to the screen on which the image is projected. "Short throw" projectors are ideal for small rooms because they produce the largest image from the shortest distance. Projectors that have to project a relatively small image from a long distance, for example, when installed in a booth in the back of an auditorium, will most likely require a special "long-throw" or "zoom" lens. Not all projectors are built to allow an optional long-throw lens, so if your application requires this capability, consult with us before you buy!
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| used stock | Traded in by customers. Carry the balance of the manufacturer's warranty. Lamp life varies depending on how long the unit was used. |
| UXGA | Ultra XGA. 1600 x 1200 resolution. |
| VGA | 640 x 480 resolution. |
| VHS | Video Home System. The most common home VCR format. |
| wireless remote | A remote control unit that uses either IR (infra-red) or RF (radio frequency) signals to control another device (think of your TV or cable remote). For presenters or speakers who only need to control the advancing of their PowerPoint® slides, the Executive Sales Presenter (ESP) has 75-foot range and a built-in laser pointer. For "power" users, the Promote RF 64 has full mouse functionality in addition to the long range of RF technology. |
| WUXGA | Wide Ultra XGA. 1920 x 1200 resolution. |
| WXGA | Wide XGA. 1366 x 768 resolution. |
| XGA | 1024 x 768 resolution. |
Note: Some definitions originate with Wikipedia under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. |
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This page last modified on November 28, 2007.
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dynamx presentation solutions, 34 Thayer St, Northboro MA 01532 - phone 508-393-9818 - fax 508-393-8785 - email davis@dynamx.com