Video Terms: VideOccasions, Bellevue WA

Talkin' the Talk! Basic Video Terms

Tape Terms Camera Terms Editing Terms

From time to time we experience difficulty in communicating with folks who call us. Video is a bewildering playground, made confusing by the many acronyms and abbreviations used by manufacturers, and by the lack of precision in usage by people who own a video camera. What the heck is a DSR-PD150, or "Digital 8"? And what about the "little spools of video Dad made in 1935", which are actually reels of 8mm film? When editing, should I make a transition or a dissolve? A "dissolve" is a transition, but not all transitions are dissolves. Confusion rains down upon confusion!
What follows is not intended as a complete glossary of video terms, which would take an entire book to do well, but rather a list of some of the terminology that will help you communicate your needs to us, and help us explain the duplication, editing and video taping process to you.
Have fun with these -- expand your knowledge -- learn to talk "good video!"

Tape Terms

Tape types:
Lets begin by correcting a common mistake. There is no such thing as "VCR tape" and nothing called "camcorder tape."

Consumer tape types include:

VHS, the kind of tape you bring home from a rental store when you bring home the movie of The Sound of Music.
VHS-C, tape the same width as VHS, but in a smaller cassette. The VHS-C cassette must be placed in a special holder before it can be played in your VCR (video cassette recorder).
S-VHS, looks just like VHS, but records a special, high-resolution signal. Cannot be viewed in your VCR, even though it will fit. Very few consumer cameras record in S-VHS, so you'll probably know for certain whether or not your camera records in this format.
8mm and Hi-8. The cassette is very thin, and looks a lot like the cassette used in an audio tape recorder. Can't be played in a VHS VCR. Hi-8, like S-VHS, records a special high-resolution signal.
DVCam. Looks like VHS tape cassette, but records digital signals. You only use this tape in a digital camera!
MiniDV. Also used in a digital camera. Looks like an 8mm tape -- that is, like an audio tape cassette, only smaller -- 2"x2.5" case.
Digital 8. Looks like an 8mm tape. Can be used to record 8mm, Hi-8 and digital signals. As of January 2001 there are no VCR's that will play Digital 8 tapes.
Beta. A tape format that hardly anyone uses anymore. Was to have been the competitor to VHS, but fizzled out of contention almost as soon as it came on the market.

Additionally, there are a couple of types that you're not too apt to run into, but might need to know about.

3/4 inch. Rarely seen these days, but occasionally someone has one of these huge tapes lying around. As the name suggests, the tape is 3/4 inch wide. You can't mistake it for anything else.
Beta cam. A large format tape, used by broadcast videographers.

Video tape types must not be confused with motion picture film types. Motion picture film comes in three consumer sizes: 8mm, Super-8mm and 16mm, with or without sound.

* * * * * * * *
Please don't call film "tape" when you mean "motion picture film." It really confuses us!
* * * * * * * * Motion picture film -- movie film -- has little holes along one edge of the film. No holes? It's video tape. A section of this web site is devoted to a discussion of different film types.

Duplication: Literally making a copy from a tape. The original is said to be the "source" tape, or "camera original".

Editing: Making a copy from one or more source tapes, omitting unwanted portions of the source tapes and perhaps rearranging the sequence of events on the tapes, adding titles, music and/or voice over. This new tape is called the "edited master."

Conversion: Making a copy of your tape through a special recorder. The electronic signals from the original are changed to signals on the copy that can be interpreted by a VCR in North, South and Central America and Japan (NTSC format); in most of Europe and in Australia (PAL format); or in France and many African and Near Eastern countries (SECAM format).

Recording Modes. Never record in LP (Long Play) or ELP (Extended Long Play) modes. Not ever! (Well, maybe if you're recording As the World Turns, or the Clippers vs St. Louis.) Video which has been recorded in these modes is very unstable when being copied. We cannot guarantee good copies from originals in the extended formats. Live it up: record in Standard Play, on new tapes! You'll be glad you did.

Camera Terms

Today's cameras are very complex. Everything you need to know about your camera can probably be found in the little book that came with it. We suggest you make a photo copy of this book so when you lose the original you'll have a backup copy. Read the book carefully! Read it again!!
Cameras, like other video equipment, fall into one of three broad categories.

Consumer. "Consumer" refers to the type of equipment you can buy at stores like CompUSA, Video Only, Circuit City and Sears.
Professional. "Professional" refers to equipment designed specifically for the video industry. "Professional" equipment typically has far greater control of video and audio than what is found in "consumer" gear, and is typically a great deal more expensive.
Professional video equipment may be purchased at a reputable mail-order house. Be sure to ask about return policies and shipping costs.
Prosumer. "Prosumer" refers to equipment that might be thought of as either "high-end" consumer or as "low-end" professional. "Prosumer" usually provides fewer features than professional, but more than consumer cameras and other equipment. Many video professionals make use of "prosumer" equipment, trading off special features for price.
If you're interested in seeing how this works, look at the Sony VX-2100, the second generation of a work-horse camera used widely by professionals but sold by Sony as a prosumer camera, which sells for about $2500, and the Sony DSR-PD170, a professional cameras that sells for about $3500. Except for a few very significant features, they're virtually the same camera -- similar lens, similar electronics, similar video image.
Prosumer equipment can be found at many of the sources listed above.

Camera Parts

Lens. The glass in the tube at the front of the camera, covered by a "lens cap," a protective lid which fits over the lens and which must be removed prior to video taping.
View Finder. At the back of the camera. Look through it (with the lens cap removed) to see what you're video taping. The image in the view finder is usually in black and white on most professional cameras, in color on consumer cameras. Many view finders can be focused by moving a small dial or wheel. See the manual that came with the camera.
Flip-out view finder. A view finder that pulls out from the side of the camera, with a color video display of the picture coming through the lens. Very handy for viewing, but usually does not provide enough resolution for careful focusing, which should still be done with the view finder.
Manual/Auto. Many of the operations on you camera, such as the iris, focus and white balance, can be set to Auto. When in this mode, you do nothing: just turn on the camera, point it, and shoot. However, many cameras provide the Manual option, which allows you to take control of the camera's functions. This takes more work on your part, but often gives you better results than can be achieved in the Auto mode. Read your instruction book carefully to learn about the Manual/Auto modes.
In/Out of Focus. Adjustment made to the camera lens to compensate for the distance between you and the subject you are videotaping. "Out of focus" makes everything look fuzzy, while "in focus" makes it look very clear, bright and sharp.
Zoom. Camera feature that allows the user to increase or decrease the apparent distance from the object being videotaped.
Iris. A device which changes the amount of light admitted through the lens. The iris is typically controlled by a wheel on the side of the camera. If you're in a dark area, make the iris opening bigger. If too much light, make it smaller.
The size of the iris opening is usually expressed in numbers in your view finder -- the "f" stop. They can be confusing, because the smaller the number the more light is let in, the higher the number the less light is let in -- e.g., f2.8 lets in lots of light, f16 lets in very little.

On-camera mic. The microphone build into your camera. On most consumer cameras, the microphone cannot be detached.

In/Out. Many cameras have input and output ports, into which video and audio cables can be attached. Usually there will be three ports: yellow for video, red and white for audio. Prosumer cameras often have In/Out ports for S-VHS video as well. Additionally, digital cameras have what's called a "firewire" or IEEE 1394 port, which passes digital signals in and out of the camera and some cameras will have a USB port as well.
If you want to record from your camera to your VCR, you would plug from the "Video Out" port on your camera to the "Video In" port on your VCR, and from the "Audio Out" ports on the camera to the "Audio In" ports on the VCR. To record from your digital camera to your computer you would connect from either the firewire or USB port.

White Balance. A setting which enables the electronics of the camera to know what "white" looks like. White balance on many consumer cameras is adjusted by a wheel or button on the side of the camera. In the view finder, you may see a little lightbulb (balanced for indoor lighting), a sun (balanced for outdoor lighting), etc. Again, check this out in your instruction manual.

Editing Terms

Here are a few terms that will make talking about editing go more smoothly.

To edit. To transfer selections of video from one or more source tapes to a new "edited master," which might be a tape, a DVD or your computer's hard drive.
An edit. A unit of action, transferred from a source tape to the edited master. You start the edit when Aunt Francine gets onto the horse, and stop it just before she falls off. This is an edit, the first of many in the story of Francine and her horse.
Deck/Tape Deck/Audio Deck. Video-speak for a VCR or audio player.
Frame accurate. Each second of video is divided into 30 frames. "Frame accurate" equipment allows each of the 30 frames to be addressed specifically. A frame accurate address, in hours, minutes, seconds and frames would look like this: 1:24:46:12. The counters on consumer VCRs are rarely frame accurate, while those on professional equipment are almost always frame accurate. Frame accuracy is essential to editing.
A/B Roll. Two source decks, controlled by an edit controller, allowing the editor to transition smoothly and with great accuracy between source "A" and source "B". A/B rolls depend upon frame accurate equipment for their success. This is technology associated with linear (analog) editing, editing using VHS, S-VHS or Hi8 source tapes. Multi-camera editing in the digital world is handled quite differently.
Cuts Only. The corollary to the "A/B Roll." In a cuts only system a source deck is connected to a record deck, and edits are made by stopping and starting the record deck, creating a series of cuts from scene to scene.
In point/out point. The in point is where an edit begins. The out point is where it ends. Before you come to VideOccasions to edit, you should make a list, the Edit Decision List, which indicates in hours, minutes and seconds the in point and out point for each edit.
Transition. The interface between one shot and another. There are numerous ways to accomplish a transition.
- Cut. A term from film, where the film was cut in two, a section eliminated, and the cut ends were spliced together. In video, a cut is an abrupt transition from one moment to the next. For example, a long shot of Francine and the horse, followed by a close up of Francine's face.
- Dissolve. A cross-fade, in which -- for a moment -- both Francine and her horse and the close up of Francine's face are seen, the close up superimposed over the long shot. Dissolves can be very fast, or very slow and languid, depending on the effect you wish to create. Traditionally, dissolves have been used as a convention to indicate a change in place or time.
- Digital Transitions. With the introduction of digital signal processing, it became possible to create highly imaginative "effects," transitions which break up or distort the video image in numerous ways. While there is a place for the carefully selected digital transition, over use of these can become very distracting and annoying.
- "Organic" Transitions. These are transitions which rely on elements of the video itself to carry us from one place or moment in time to another.
  For example: you shoot the facade of a cathedral in Europe in one long shot, starting at the ground level and tilting up until you reach the tip of the spire. You continue tilting up, until only blue sky can be seen. At lunch, on an island in the Danube, you begin a shot with nothing in the picture but blue sky, then slowly tilt down through the trees to reveal the restaurant and the river. When edited together, the organic transition is the shots of the sky, which create the transition from one local to another.
Audio mixer/Video mixer. Mixers are electronic devices which allow multiple audio or video sources to be manipulated in numerous ways.
Audio mixers, for example, enable the use of several audio sources, blending the input from these sources into a single audio signal. Audio mixers also enable manipulation of the sound signal, making the signal sound less hollow, or less scratchy.
Video mixers enable switching between several video sources and, like their audio counterparts, enable a certain amount of manipulation of the video signal.
Titler or Title Generator. A titler creates lines of text electronically, which can then be recorded to video tape. The titler has a keyboard similar to that of a computer, and permits the selection of font and font size, font color, and the method which will be used to place and remove the text from the screen.

Last updated 10/10/07