Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

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a.d.e. Usenet newsgroup alt.dbs.echostar
ALTV Association of Local Television Stations
a/o Additional outlet
A/V Audio/Video
AEP America's Everything Pack
AT## America's Top 40(50), 100, 150
ATSC Advanced Television Systems Committee. http://www.atsc.org/
AZ Azimuth
BEV Bell ExpressVu. Canadian DBS provider, uses Echostar equipment. http://www.expressvu.com/
bird Satellite
BUD Big ugly dish
CONUS CONtinental United States
CSR Customer Service Representative
D500 Dish 500 (20" elliptical dish that "sees" two satellites)
D* DirecTV
DBS Direct Broadcast Satellite, also refers to the specific 12GHz broadcast band used
DD Dolby Digital (AC-3)
sometimes Digital Dynamite, renamed Digital Home Plan
DHP Digital Home Plan, DISH's leasing option
DISH Dish Network
D/L Download
DMA Designated Market Area as determined by Nielsen Media. See Ranking of DMA's
DN Dish Network See: E*
dp dishpro line of receivers, switches and LNBs that allow for simpler installations. DishPro Technology
DP## dishpro switch model
DP DISHPlayer
DPC DirecPC
DPL Dolby Pro-Logic
DSS Former marketing name of combined DirecTV & USSB services.
DTH Direct-to-Home
DTV Digital Television. Also often used for DirecTV.
DVB Digital Video Broadcast. http://www.dvb.org
DVR Digital Video Recorder
E* Echostar See: DN
ECM Electronic Counter-measure. Any of a number of methods the service provider may use to disable pirated smart cards.
EKB Echostar Knowledge Base. Home page
EL Elevation
EPG Electronic Program Guide
EUO Echostar User Organization. Web site no longer exists.
EVu Bell ExpressVu
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
FTA Free-to-air
G2H Gilat-to-Home, now StarBand. 2-way satellite internet access.
GUI Graphic User Interface
HD Hard-drive, high-definition
HDR Hard-drive Recorder
HDTV High-Definition TV subset of DTV. 720p or 1080i.
HOA Homeowners association
IR Infra-red
IRD Integrated Receiver Decoder (satellite receiver)
LIL Local-into-local satellite delivery of broadcast stations.
LMB (frequent error) see LNBF
LNB short for LNBF
LNBF Low Noise Block downconverter with integrated Feedhorn
MDU Multi-dwelling unit
MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group. Standards committee for video compession methods including the digital compression method utilized by Dish Network (MPEG2). Official committee: http://www.cselt.it/mpeg/, Resources: http://www.mpeg.org/
NAB National Association of Broadcasters. http://www.nab.org/
NRTC National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative http://www.nrtc.org/
NTSC National Television Systems Committee. Analog broadcast TV.
O&O Owned and Operated network affiliate
OFA One for All remote control
OOM Out-of-market
OTA Over-the-air
OTARD Over-the-air Reception Device. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html
P* Primestar. Defunct Ku-band DTH satellite system.
PCM Pulse Code Modulation. Digital sound like CD's.
PIP Picture In Picture
POP Point of Presence. The place where Dish harvests local broadcast signals for uplink to Cheyenne.
PPV Pay-per-view
PQ Picture quality
PR Press release
PTV Personal Television. Weather and headlines service bundled with games and recording ability. DISHPlayer only.
PVR Personal Video Recorder
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
RF Radio Frequency
RMA Return Merchandise Authorization
RPTV Rear-projection TV
RSN Regional Sports Network
sat Satellite
SB StarBand. Satellite Internet Access Page
SD See SDTV. Often incorrectly used to refer to NTSC
SDTV Standard-Definition TV subset of DTV. 480i or 480p
SHVIA Satellite Home Viewers Improvement Act. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/shva/
SLD Silly little dish
STB Set-top box
SW## Switch. Allows receiver to select from multiple satellites. See What are switches, and why do I need them?
Syndex Syndicated Exclusivity. The right of a local broadcaster to require that programs also broadcast from a distant station be blacked out from that station for local viewers.
Tp Transponder
UHF Ultra-high Frequency
UI User Interface
USSB United States Satellite Broadcasting. Now part of DirecTV.
Y/C S-video. Luminance and chroma are separated
YPrPb Component Video
110 Satellites at 110° West longitude
119 Satellites at 119° West longitude
148 Satellites at 148° West longitude
61.5 Satellite at 61.5° West longitude
8VSB 8 Vestigial sideband. HDTV broadcast standard.

SOURCES OF CONVERSATIONAL AND OTHER ACRONYMS

http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/cdiac/pns/acronyms.html
New shorthand posting methods for alt.dbs.echostar

Reported by BobaBird Contributions welcome!