Dictionary of Technical Terms - J

J

jack

A socket or receptacle into which a mating plug is inserted in order to make an electrical connection.

jitter

1. An undesirable random signal variation with respect to time. 2. In Kaleidoscope, a function that causes a rapid alternation between field one and field two until a command is received to advance to the next frame. Used for certain digital recording devices that play one complete frame and then record one complete frame.

jog, jogging

Process of moving the videotape forward or backward one field or frame at a time.

JOGGER™

A GVG trademarked name for the jog control on GVG editors.

JOG-PAD™

A GVG trademarked name for a touch-pad jog control on GVG editors.

joystick

An electromechanical stick, similar to the control stick on an aircraft, used for hand positioning of graphic images on a video or computer monitor. For example, in video switchers a joystick is used for positioning wipe patterns.

JPEG

A still image compression standard developed by the ISO Joint Photographic Experts Group.

jump cut

In videotape editing, a jarring cut from one scene to another; discontinuity.

jumper

A short piece of wire used to complete a circuit temporarily or to bypass a circuit. Also, a shorting jack.