Technical Glossary
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Displaying 8 glossary terms found.

 


K
Kilo. An abbreviation for 1,000. A kilobyte is 1,000 bytes. Because numbers in computer RAM sizes are in binary the closest number to 1k is 1,024, therefore, when talking about memory size, etc., the numbers are rounded to 1k byte = 1,024 byt

Kelvin
This is a system or scale used for measuring color temperature on monitors and projectors. Absolute zero is 0 degrees Kelvin or -273 degrees Celsius. The "color" of white light is expressed in terms of degrees Kelvin, the color of light emitted when an ideal object is heated to a particular temperature. it is used to express the color of light in a video signal, analogous to the color produced by a flame at a given temperature.

Keystone Effect
A distorted picture where one edge is not the same dimension as the opposite edge. Typically this results when the image is projected to the screen at an angle. In stone buildings, the tapered stone at the top of an arch is the "key" that prevents the arch from falling.

Keystoning
The geometric distortion of a projected image, resulting when the projected image strikes a plane surface at an angle other than perpendicular to the axis of the throw.

kHz
Kilohertz. 1000 Hertz (cycles) per second.

Kilohertz
kHz. Thousands of Hertz, or a thousand cycles per second. For example, CGA's horizontal scan rate is 15.75 kHz or 15,750 hertz (Hz). The often stated frequency range in audio is 20Hz-20kHz.

Kinescope
Picture tube. Also a method of filming a live TV program off a picture tube before the invention of videotape (the method used to preserve I Love Lucy and other programs of the '50s).

Kinetophone
Introduced by Thomas Edison in 1895 as one of the earliest attempts to link sound to motion pictures. Refinement of the technology in 1913 led to the first talking motion picture. The Kinetophone was short-lived however because of technical problems.