Glossary

The technical terms used by the television industry, manufacturers and stockists when talking about the switch to digital can be very confusing. This glossary is designed to help demystify the jargon.

If there are terms that you’d like explained, but they aren’t listed below, let us know!

Standard Definition

Picture - SD is broadcast at nearly the same resolution as analogue TV, 576 horizontal interlaced lines per screen. Interlacing is where every alternate line is newly displayed (1, 3, 5, … then 2, 4, 6, …). The picture appears smooth because the screen is fully refreshed at least 25 times a second, which is too fast for you to see the interlacing.

However, it can mean the edges of some text on the screen appear a bit jagged and some people may notice a bit of flicker on CRT TVs. Some 100 Hz CRT TVs can reduce this problem because they have double the picture refresh rate.

Sound - SD usually comes with MPEG stereo sound at close to CD quality.