I thought I create a thread with industry terms that you could throw around to impress your friends and people less than fortunate who are not members of this forum 
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1. Coding noise. In signal processing circles, we use the term “noise” to describe distortion. For example when we compress audio in a lossy manner such as MP3 the artifacts are called “noise” with the more formal term being coding noise.
2. Quantization noise. Building on above we now know that we are talking about quantization distortion. Quantization is the process of taking a continuous (analog) signal and describing it in discreet steps such as 16 bits for CD audio or 8 bits per component for video data.
3. Motion Comp. This is short for Motion Compensation and describes how all video codecs in use today work. They divide the screen into squares or rectangles and track their movements. This is called Motion Estimation. The receiver then uses the opposite – motion compensation – to move the blocks to where they need to go. MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1 (video codecs in Blu-ray) are all motion compensated codecs. Motion-JPEG (MJPEG) is not.
4. Perf. This is a computer science shorthand for performance. “What kind of perf do you get with that computer” means how fast does it run.
5. Repro. Next time you talk to a computer support guy use this term as shorthand for “reproduce.” For example, if you can’t repeat the problem say, “I can’t repro it!” We use this term in software development circles and if you use, people think you are a programmer and not treat you like you don’t know how to turn on a light bulb.
6. Perceptual model. This is the psychoacoustics model used in whatever system it is that we are talking about. For example, an MP3 codec uses a perceptual model of the human hearing system to determine what it can throw out that you might not miss. Perceptual models are also used for things like simulated multi-channel out of stereo, etc.
7. Gain. In engineering circles we talk about amplifier gain as a measure of how much the device is increasing (or shrinking) the input value. Think of it as “volume control” but used in a more precise way.
8. Buffer. In audio/video world, this is an amplifier that has unity gain. Remember per above, gain is amplification so unity gane means no amplification. Buffer’s job is usually to change other characteristics of the signal (e.g. its impedance).
In computer science, buffer is just a piece of memory that holds a value temporarily. When a program reads a file from disc, it “buffers” it to memory.
9. Transfer function. This is a term that is used to describe the relationship of the output of a device related to its input. The transfer function of an ideal power amplifier looks like a line. A buffer has a line that is at 45 degrees.
10. Cache. A cache is able to hold small amount of the data that is most referenced and provide it in a much faster time. Every computer you use has a cache in its CPU for example (sometimes up to 3 layers of it). The faster and bigger the cache, the better the system performance.
As another example, the computer memory is used as a “cache” for the hard disk. When you run a program for the first time, you see your computer disk light blink a lot. Quit out of the program and start it again and you see much less disc access. That is because a computer memory acts as a cache and contains that portion of hard disk content in memory, giving access to it at a much faster rate (computer memory is orders of magnitude faster than hard disk). This is one of the reasons why having more memory makes your computer run faster even though the only thing that does any work in your computer is the CPU, not memory.
11. SSD, SLC and MLC. SSD stands for Solid State Disc. It uses flash memory to replace a (smaller) hard disk. Because it has no moving parts, it can have much faster performance than had disks. There are two types of flash memory: SLC which stands for single-level core. And MLC which as you might have guessed, standards for multi-level core.
An SLC type of flash stores one bit per flash memory cell. MLC can hold 1 to 3 bits. The latter means 8 different values stored in one location! As a result, MLC flash is denser and cheaper than SLC. Unfortunately it is also slower and much less reliable.
One of the best ways to speed your system is to switch from hard disk to a high-performance SSD.
12. “IP control.” IP is the lowest level communication language used on the Internet and in your home network. When we use the term though, as in “does your lighting system have IP control” we mean whether the device can be controlled using your home network as opposed to needing a physical connection. Today, most devices are controlled using the latter. Hope is that in the future all devices are “IP controlled.”
I think I will stop here to see if you find this hodgepodge useful.
.1. Coding noise. In signal processing circles, we use the term “noise” to describe distortion. For example when we compress audio in a lossy manner such as MP3 the artifacts are called “noise” with the more formal term being coding noise.
2. Quantization noise. Building on above we now know that we are talking about quantization distortion. Quantization is the process of taking a continuous (analog) signal and describing it in discreet steps such as 16 bits for CD audio or 8 bits per component for video data.
3. Motion Comp. This is short for Motion Compensation and describes how all video codecs in use today work. They divide the screen into squares or rectangles and track their movements. This is called Motion Estimation. The receiver then uses the opposite – motion compensation – to move the blocks to where they need to go. MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1 (video codecs in Blu-ray) are all motion compensated codecs. Motion-JPEG (MJPEG) is not.
4. Perf. This is a computer science shorthand for performance. “What kind of perf do you get with that computer” means how fast does it run.
5. Repro. Next time you talk to a computer support guy use this term as shorthand for “reproduce.” For example, if you can’t repeat the problem say, “I can’t repro it!” We use this term in software development circles and if you use, people think you are a programmer and not treat you like you don’t know how to turn on a light bulb
.6. Perceptual model. This is the psychoacoustics model used in whatever system it is that we are talking about. For example, an MP3 codec uses a perceptual model of the human hearing system to determine what it can throw out that you might not miss. Perceptual models are also used for things like simulated multi-channel out of stereo, etc.
7. Gain. In engineering circles we talk about amplifier gain as a measure of how much the device is increasing (or shrinking) the input value. Think of it as “volume control” but used in a more precise way.
8. Buffer. In audio/video world, this is an amplifier that has unity gain. Remember per above, gain is amplification so unity gane means no amplification. Buffer’s job is usually to change other characteristics of the signal (e.g. its impedance).
In computer science, buffer is just a piece of memory that holds a value temporarily. When a program reads a file from disc, it “buffers” it to memory.
9. Transfer function. This is a term that is used to describe the relationship of the output of a device related to its input. The transfer function of an ideal power amplifier looks like a line. A buffer has a line that is at 45 degrees.
10. Cache. A cache is able to hold small amount of the data that is most referenced and provide it in a much faster time. Every computer you use has a cache in its CPU for example (sometimes up to 3 layers of it). The faster and bigger the cache, the better the system performance.
As another example, the computer memory is used as a “cache” for the hard disk. When you run a program for the first time, you see your computer disk light blink a lot. Quit out of the program and start it again and you see much less disc access. That is because a computer memory acts as a cache and contains that portion of hard disk content in memory, giving access to it at a much faster rate (computer memory is orders of magnitude faster than hard disk). This is one of the reasons why having more memory makes your computer run faster even though the only thing that does any work in your computer is the CPU, not memory.
11. SSD, SLC and MLC. SSD stands for Solid State Disc. It uses flash memory to replace a (smaller) hard disk. Because it has no moving parts, it can have much faster performance than had disks. There are two types of flash memory: SLC which stands for single-level core. And MLC which as you might have guessed, standards for multi-level core.
An SLC type of flash stores one bit per flash memory cell. MLC can hold 1 to 3 bits. The latter means 8 different values stored in one location! As a result, MLC flash is denser and cheaper than SLC. Unfortunately it is also slower and much less reliable.
One of the best ways to speed your system is to switch from hard disk to a high-performance SSD.
12. “IP control.” IP is the lowest level communication language used on the Internet and in your home network. When we use the term though, as in “does your lighting system have IP control” we mean whether the device can be controlled using your home network as opposed to needing a physical connection. Today, most devices are controlled using the latter. Hope is that in the future all devices are “IP controlled.”
I think I will stop here to see if you find this hodgepodge useful
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