Glossary of Terms

Composite video is the format of an analog television (picture only) signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier.

Component video is a video signal that has been split into two or more components.

In information technology, Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to connect devices to a host computer.

Category 5 cable, commonly known as Cat 5, is a twisted pair cable type designed for high signal integrity.

Cat 5 e cable is an enhanced version of Cat 5 that adds specifications for far end crosstalk.

Category 6 cable, commonly referred to as Cat-6, is a cable standard for Gigabit Ethernet and other network protocols that is backward compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 cable standards.

Category 6a (or Augmented Category 6) operates at frequencies up to 550 MHz—twice that of Cat 6. It can support 10 Gbit/s applications (especially 10GBaseT) up to a maximum distance of 100 meters.

Cat5e cable is an enhanced version of Cat 5 that adds specifications for far end crosstalk.

DVI-A (DVI-Analog) is an analog technology that is most commonly used in the PC world to connect Analog video cards to Analog monitors.

DVI, or Digital Video Interface Technology came about in 1999 as a result of the formation of the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG) a year prior.

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data.

RG-6/U is a common type of coaxial cable used in a wide variety of residential and commercial applications.

A patch panel or patch bay, not to be confused with the jackfield, is a panel, typically rackmounted, that houses cable connections.

A Keystone module is an industry standard type of wall jack used in residential and business environments.

The 8 Position 8 Contact (8P8C) (often called RJ45) plugs and sockets are most regularly used as an ethernet connector. 8P8C connectors are typically used to terminate twisted pair cable.

RJ11 is a physical interface often used for terminating telephone wires. It is probably the most familiar of the registered jacks, being used for single line POTS telephone jacks in most homes across the world.

The term coaxial comes from the inner conductor and the outer shield sharing the same geometric axis.

Category 3 cable, commonly known as Cat 3, is an unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable designed to reliably carry data up to 10 Mbit/s, with a possible bandwidth of 16 MHz.

A gender changer is a hardware device placed between two cable connectors of the same type and gender.

Super Video Graphics Array or Ultra Video Graphics Array, almost always abbreviated to Super VGA, Ultra VGA or just SVGA or UVGA is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards.

The term Video Graphics Array (VGA) refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987.

A patch cable or patch cord (sometimes patchcable or patchcord) is an electrical or optical cable, used to connect ("patch-in") one electronic or optical device to another for signal routing.

Optic Fiber Cable is a transmission medium that uses lasers to transmit data over glass.

CAT7 features even more strict specifications for crosstalk and system noise than CAT6. To achieve this, shielding has been added for individual wire pairs and the cable as a whole.