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I.C.E. SYSTEMS INC. INNOVATIVE CUSTOM ELECTRONICS I.C.E. SYSTEMS INC. INNOVATIVE CUSTOM ELECTRONICS I.C.E. SYSTEMS INC. INNOVATIVE CUSTOM ELECTRONICS

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HOME THEATER'S AV GLOSSARY

T

  • Tactile Transducer: A device that turns electrical energy into mechanical energy, usually used to shake the seating in a theater. Effective in providing visceral impact without increasing the system's actual SPL level.
  • THD: Total Harmonic Distortion
  • 3:2 Pulldown Recognition or 3:2 Inverse Telecine: Film is usually recorded at 24 frames per second. NTSC video (North America) is 30 frames (60 fields) per second. In order to get smooth motion, the film frames are broken into video fields in a 3-2-3 sequence. 3 fields for the first film frame, 2 fields for the second film frame, and so on. If a line doubler doesn't compensate for the extra field during playback on a progressive-scan display, the image will have noticeable motion artifacts. A line doubler with 3:2 pulldown recognition or 3:2 inverse telecine can see this sequence in the signal and correct for it by making sure the last field in the first frame isn't mixed with the first field of the second frame.
  • THX: Certification program for home theater equipment. Uses some proprietary features, but mostly assures a base quality level for a given room size. (See THX Select or Ultra.) Is compatible with any and all soundtrack formats. Stands for either Tom Holman's eXperiment, after the engineer who drafted the original standard, or is named after the company's founder George Lucas' first movie, THX 1138. Nobody agrees on which.
  • THX Select: Certification program for speakers and receivers that assures a base level of quality and performance when played in a room that's between 2,000 and 3,000 cubic feet.
  • THX Ultra: Certification program for speakers, receivers, and amplifiers that assures a base level of quality and performance when played in a room that's greater than 3,000 cubic feet.
  • THX Ultra 2: The newest certification from THX, THX Ultra 2 requires amplification for seven channels, boundary compensation for subwoofers, and stricter requirements for amplifiers and speakers than THX Ultra. Dipole speakers are used for the side surround channels. Monopole speakers are used for the surround back channel and are placed next to each other. The Ultra 2 processor accommodates both 5.1 EX/ES soundtracks, as well as multichannel audio recordings by directing ambient sounds to the dipole speakers and discrete effects/sounds to the back channels.
  • Transducer: Any device that converts one form of energy into another form of energy, specifically when one of the quantities is electrical. Thus, a loudspeaker converts electrical impulses into sound (mechanical impulses), a microphone converts sound into electrical impulses, a solar cell converts light into electricity, etc.
  • Transmission Line: A (sub)woofer cabinet design where the driver is mounted at one end of a tube with the same diameter as the radiating area of the driver and a length of 1/4 wavelength of the 3dB down frequency. This "tube" may or may not be round and may be folded to decrease the size of the cabinet.
  • Tuner: See Receiver.
  • Tweeter: A speaker driver designed to reproduce high frequencies; usually those over approximately 5,000 to 10,000 Hz.