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Entertainment Media Dictionary

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PAL: Phase Alternating Line. PAL is a system of encoding colors used in TV broadcasting that is generally composed of 625 horizontal lines transmitted at the rate of 50 fields per second.

PDA: Personal Digital Assistant. A PDA is a wireless, handheld device that can send and receive phone calls, organize a user’s schedules, send alerts and send faxes.

plasma display: A type of screen that uses inert gasses to present high-resolution, sharp, clear images. TVs, cell phone screens and computer screens can all have plasma displays.

public domain: Refers to uncopyrighted (or uncopyrightable) information and/or material that anyone can use without having to have authorization from a particular source.

Quicktime: Created by Apple, Quicktime is a file format used to store and replay videos.

resolution: A description of the clarity and sharpness of a certain image based on the number of pixels it contains. Images with more pixels have a higher resolution and are, therefore, of better quality.

RGB: A color system for images based on the colors Red, Green and Blue. Computers, digital cameras, cell phone screens and TVs may all be based on the RGB color system. An alternative color system is CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black).

router: A device that transmits information from any network, generally a LAN, to a phone line.

shareware: A type of software created for public use without associated costs or copyright infringement issues.