An informed bride is a bride with the power to find the videographer of her dreams. Don't let technical terms wow you. Learn what these terms mean so that you can make an informed decision and not let the technical aspects wow you.

AB-Roll Editing - similar to live switching, but it is done in post production. An editor takes two simultaneously running tapes and selects the best scenes from either tape. Today though this is done in computer selecting from multiple clips stored on a hard drive, the days of tape are dying.

Analog Video - The video image is represented by a voltage waveform, and the contained voltage levels and frequencies are an encoded "analog" of the image. The last remaining bastion of Analog Video left is broadcast signals, which according to a bill recently passed by congress will be phased out in 2009 and replaced by digital broadcasts.

Audio Mix - when two or more audio sources are combined.

Broadcast-quality - An often misused term, that has meaning if the video is submitted to a TV station.

Camcorder - Original connotation meant a camera that has been integrated with a video recorder, often by a long cable. Modern day usage is mostly applied to consumer video cameras.

Camera Master (also Camera Original or Raw Footage)- the actually tape cassette used within the camera for recording the event. With tape based recorders it means the first generation tape. Before digital recording technology it was the most pristine copy of the video because there was no generation loss. Today the Camera Master can be recorded on not only tape but DVDs, hard drives and memory sticks

Capture - the transferring of video from it's camera master to a computer's hard drive.

CCD - charge coupled device usually referred to as a 'chip' as in a 1 chip camera or 3 chip camera. Solid state imaging device used to convert images to electrical signals in the camcorder. 3 Chip cameras are preferable for use in event videography, giving for the most part a better picture than a single chip can.

Digital-8 - Sony's digital video recording technology that is descended from 8mm and hi8 which were both a analog format. 

Digital Effect - Computer generated graphics and effects that are added to or manipulate the video image. . 

Digital Video - The standard by which video is recorded to media as 1s and 0s. Presently Digital Video encompass the formats DV, DVCPro, DVCam and HDV.

Diversity - a type of wireless microphone system that is design so that the receiver uses dual antennas.  This reduces the possibility of sound dropouts which occur with greater frequency in single antenna systems.

Dolby - audio noise reduction and surround sound codecs that are licensed by Dolby Labs. Most DVDs are encoded using Dolby codecs.

DTS - a competing audio noise reduction and surround sound codec with Dolby. At this time the cost of using DTS on DVDs prohibits it's use in event videography.

DV (digital video) - the format most often sold to the consumer market for digital recording. The cassettes are small and only hold 1 hour to 90 minutes of footage. Very popular within the event videographers.

DVCPro - A professional grade version of DV developed by Panasonic.

DVCAM - A professional grade version of DV developed Sony.

DVD - digital versatile disk, the dominant format for delivering video on. Was the fastest adopted format in history. Typically the discs are 'pressed' in manufacturing plants. DVD-R and DVD+R competing, consumer, recordable formats of the DVD. These discs are burned inside computer drives instead of being "pressed" on assembly lines. Offers interactivity not possible with tape.  Please note older DVD players are not able to play -+R discs. Presently not all players are able to play both formats either.

Editing - the process of choosing and arranging video clips from a camera master into a concise whole. At one time this was done by choosing the clip on the camera master you wanted and then hitting record on another recording deck to place it on a edit master. Today the majority of editing is done within the digital domain of the computer.

Edit Master - the video tape on which resides the final edited product. When editing was done by recording tape to tape, this would be the second or third generation of the recorded video, from which multiple copies for distribution would be made. Today with the advent of computer based editing and dvd storage, the edit master is more of a way to store the final edited product for long term and from which to make more copies from onto dvd or other formats in the future.

Firewire - a digital transmission protocol and cable type used to input and output audio and video from a computer or camera.

HD- high-definition television.  A higher resolution of video than what is presently standard NTSC analog. Often characterized by a 16:9 aspect ratio and a screen resolution of 1080 pixels horizontally.

HDV a new prosumer or consumer format of HD. Often characterized by a 16:9 aspect ratio, but lower pixel resolution than offered by HD recorders.

Hi8 -  a Sony analog format introduced as the follow up to 8mm. Enjoyed a brief popularity in event video but was quickly replaced by mini-dv when that was introduced.

IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Live-switching - multi-camera coverage of an event where all cameras are fed to a video switcher and video effects generator. The director then chooses which camera feed is either recorded to a master tape or broadcast over the air at a specific time. Not very practical in event video production, but a few companies do offer it.

Lux - metric unit of light measurement usually considered to be the amount of light 1 candle will put out in a dark environment. Cameras are rated by how much lux they need to "see" what they are recording. The higher the lux required the brighter the room needs to be for the image to be seen on video.

Minidisc or MD - a smaller, recordable digital disc than a cd or DVD introduced by Sony  It enjoyed a brief popularity as a off camera audio recorder, in the event video market as it is very compact and the recording easily synchronized with video than other easily available audio recording formats. It is quickly being replaced by solid state recorders like iPods and iRivers.

MPEG - Motion Picture Experts Group 

MPEG-1 - a compression codec used for video and audio, is usually of low quality.

MPEG-2 or M2V - a higher quality compression codec and variant of MPEG. It is the codec used on DVDs and for broadcasting HD signals.

MPEG-3 or MP3 - An audio only variant of MPEG-2 that is popular for distributing audio over the internet and storing on computers. A version is used by devices like iPods, iRivers and such.

Non-Linear Editing (NLE)  - a computer based editing system for video. Allows tremendous flexibility, and has pretty much replaced tape to tape based editing.

NTSC - National Television Standards committee, or the standard developed for color television technology, it was established in 1951. It will be replaced as of this writing by 2009 with the new digital standard.  NTSC video 525 horizontal scanning lines and 30 frames per second. 

PAL - Phase Alternation Line, the standard for color television in the United Kingdom, and much of Europe,  PAL uses 25 frames per second and 625 scanning lines per frame.

SECAM - a French-developed color television standard.  Similar to the PAl standard it has a 25 frame per second with 625 scanning lines.

Slow motion - the effect of slowing down a video clip from real time playback. Used to enhance the mood of the scene.  

SMPTE - Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers

SMPTE Color bars - test bars used to align and test video equipment.  The sequence is gray-yellow-cyan-green-magenta-red-blue. 

Steadicam - a device used to stabilize a camera when being held by a person. Without it a persons breathing can be transferred to the camera and cause unintentional shaking of the image. Acts as sort of a buffer producing a smoother look than handheld can.

Super VHS or SVHS - a higher-resolution version of VHS, SVHS enjoyed it's most popularity in the event video market where it was nearly the de facto format for recording an event.

UHF - ultra high frequency, within the event video industry usually referring to the transmission band used by better quality wireless microphones.  The UHF spectrum band is less crowded than the VHF spectrum band of the radio spectrum so less interference will occur in the UHF band. This is changing though as digital tv works in the UHF spectrum band.

VHF - very high frequency, radio spectrum band used by lower quality wireless microphone systems.  Is more subject to interference more so than UHF microphone systems. 

Widescreen - a screen format with a 16:9 aspect ratio, as opposed to the more common 3:4.  Viewing of 16:9 video on a 3:4 monitor requires letterboxing or cropping.