Operation Manual

328 Pinnacle Studio 9
Closed GOP:  GOP
Codec: Contraction of compressor/decompressor – an
algorithm that compresses (packs) and decompresses
(unpacks) image data. Codecs can be implemented in
either software or hardware.
Color depth: Number of bits delivering the color
information for each pixel. A 1-bit color depth allows
2
1
=2 colors, an 8-bit depth allows 2
8
=256 colors, and a
24-bit depth allows 2
24
=16,777,216 colors.
Color model: A way to mathematically describe and
define colors and the way they relate to each other.
Each color model has its own strengths. The two most
common color models are  RGB and  YUV.
Color saturation: Intensity of a color.
Complementary color: Complementary colors are
opposite in value to primary colors. If you were to
combine a color with its complement, the result would
be white. For example, the complementary colors of
red, green and blue are cyan, magenta and yellow
respectively.
COM Port: A serial port located on the back of your
computer for attaching a modem, plotter, printer or
mouse to the system.
Composite video: Composite video encodes luminance
and chrominance information into one signal.  VHS
and 8mm are formats that record and play back
composite video.
Compression: A method for making files smaller in
size. There are two types of compression: lossless and
lossy. Files compressed with a lossless scheme can be
restored unchanged from their original state. Lossy
schemes discard data during compression, so some