"The F-connector is the final piece of hardware?familiar to subscribers?on a drop cable. It is cylindrical with a center pin sticking out, that plugs into the set-top box, cable ready television, or VCR."
Directory: F
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This is the living glossary of terms related to interactive television development. Most of these terms were graciously donated to OEDN by Vidiom Systems and Time Warner Cable. Browse the list below, search for specific terms, and provide comments to terms to clarify their meanings.
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"Fading refers to the reduction in signal intensity of one or several of the components of a radio signal, typically caused by the reflective or refractive effects of multiple path."
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See forward applications transport (FAT) channel.
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A favorite channel is a channel that the viewer has added to a logical list that can be scanned.
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See Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
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See forward data channel (FDC).
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See frequency division duplex (FDD).
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See frequency division multiplexed (FDM).
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See frequency division multiple access (FDMA).
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"Feathering the edge of a graphic image gradually dissipates the edge, making the edge of the image look blurry. "
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See forward error correction (FEC).
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"The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an agency that regulates communications services, including cable television, at the federal level. The FCC was established in 1934 by the Communication Act of 1934. "
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A feeder cable is a coaxial cable that runs along streets within the served area and connects between the individual taps which serve the customer drops. See also coaxial cable.
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The feeder line refers to cable distribution lines that connect the main trunk line or cable to the smaller drop cable.
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A fiber node is a point of interface between a fiber trunk and the coaxial distribution.
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"Fiber optics are the transmission medium that uses glass or plastic fibers versus other, copper-based wires to transmit data or voice signals. Fiber-optic cable offers much greater capacity and transmission speeds than traditional mediums."
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"A field is one half of a complete picture (or frame) interval, containing all of the odd or even scanning lines of the picture."
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"The field frequency is the rate at which a complete field is scanned, nominally 60 times a second."
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The file transfer protocol is a method used to exchange files between computers on a network or the Internet using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol. It can also be the verb used to describe that transfer. See also Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
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"1) A filter is a circuit that selects the frequency of desired channels. A filter is used in trunk and feeder lines for special cable services, such as a two-way operation. 2) In general, a filter is used to remove unwanted material from a signal. If you have some high frequencies, such as noise, in with the signal that you really want, then a low-pass filter is used. A low-pass filter passes frequencies below a certain point and stops frequencies above that same point. A high-pass filter does just the opposite?it stops low frequencies and passes the high frequencies."
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"A firewall is a system that secures a network and prevents access by unauthorized users. Firewalls can be software, hardware, or a combination of both. Firewalls can prevent unrestricted access into a network, as well as restrict data from flowing out of a network."
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Flash is Macromedia?s vector graphics-based resizable animation format with navigation and simple interactivity features.
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"Flat loss refers to the equal loss at all frequencies, such as caused by attenuators. See also attenuation."
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Flat outputs refer to the operation of a cable television system with equal levels of all television signals at the output of each amplifier. See also amplifier.
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"Flicker occurs when the refresh rate of the video is too low. It is the same effect produced by an old fluorescent light fixture. For flicker to disappear, the update rate, or the video frame rate, must be at least 24 frames per second."
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"The flow is the ordered presentation of various programs, including commercials, news breaks, and so on. It has been argued that certain interactive television services can potentially interrupt and potentially affect the flow of a program or series of programs. "
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See frequency modulation (FM).
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The FM cable system refers to the FM radio signals offered by the cable system?the cable must be connected to the subscriber?s FM stereo receiver.
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"A forward applications transport (FAT) channel is a data channel carried from the head-end to the set-top box in a QAM modulated channel. MPEG-2 transport is used to multiplex video, audio, and data into the forward applications transport channel. See also headend, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), multiplex, and Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)."
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The forward channel is the direction of radio frequency (RF) signal flow away from the head-end toward the end user. The forward channel is the equivalent to downstream. See also radio frequency (RF) and headend.
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The forward data channel is a data channel carried from the head-end to the set-top box in a modulated channel at a typical rate of 1.5 to 8 Mbps. See also headend.
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Forward error correction is a technique for regenerating lost data transmissions or error messages. Forward error correction enables the receiver to detect and fix errors to packets without the need for the transmitter to retransmit packets.
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"When signals are transmitted to a subscriber from the headend, the signals are referred to as the forward traffic. Forward traffic is also known as downstream or forward channel. See also headend and forward channel."
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1) Fragmentation is when broad television audiences break into smaller segments due to multiple viewing choices and niche programming that targets particular demographics. 2) Fragmentation also refers to breaking a packet into smaller units when transmitting over a network that cannot support the original size of the packet. See also demographics and packet.
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A frame is one complete picture consisting of two fields of interlaced scanning lines. See also field.
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A frame buffer is the memory used to store a complete frame of video.
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"The frame frequency is the rate at which a complete frame is scanned, which is nominally 30 frames per second."
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Frame loss is the percentage of frames that did not reach the destination.
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"The frame refresh rate is the number of complete frames displayed per second. Generally, the number is 50 Hz or 60 Hz per second with analog television, but it can be a lot higher for digital television. "
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"A frame set consists of one downstream, one upstream, and one background frame size."
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A frame synchronizer is the digital buffer that can continuously adjust the signal to counter timing errors.
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A framework is a micro-architecture that provides an incomplete template for applications within a specific domain.
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A franchise is a contract between a cable television company and a municipal government authorizing the company to install cable and offer cable television service within the community.
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"A franchising authority is a governmental body responsible for awarding a franchise, specifying the terms of a franchise, and regulating its operation. While the franchise authority is usually a local city or county body, some areas are regulated exclusively on the state level. "
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"1) Frequency refers to the number of times a complete electromagnetic wave cycle occurs in a fixed unit of time, usually one second. The rate at which a current alternates, measured in Hertz, on a telecommunications medium. 2) Frequency also refers to the number of times that a selected person sees or hears an advertisement. Also, the number of times that that person or household is exposed to an advertisement. It can also refer to the number of times an advertisement is run."
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Frequency division duplex (FDD) is the simultaneous exchange of uplink and downlink information on different frequencies.
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Frequency division multiple access technology that separates users by putting each traffic channel on a discrete frequency band.
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Frequency division multiplexed is a method of transmitting two or more signals by dividing the available transmission frequency into narrow bands and using each as a separate channel.
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Frequency modulation is a common method of transmitting information over a carrier wave by changing its frequency. See also frequency.
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The frequency response refers to the change of signal gain and phase with frequency. See also frequency and gain.
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