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Numbers
Glossary "C"
Caller service An optional delivery service provided for a fee at all post offices to customers with large volumes of mail, to customers needing multiple separations, and to customers who need a post office box number address when no post office boxes are available.
Camera Ready Traditionally, copy that is ready to be reproduced or photographed in order to create printing plates.
Caption On-screen text, provided as substitute for audio information. Closed Captions need special hardware decoding; Open are visible on all systems.
Carrier Route File The official listing of all city and noncity delivery post offices, available to mailers in a standardized format. It contains schemes for city routes, rural routes, highway contract routes, post office box sections, and general delivery units. The data are formatted by ZIP Code, street name, and ranged street numbers.
Carrier route presort mail Mail sorted by carrier route to qualify for discount postage rates. The mail requires no primary or secondary distribution. The term is a general descriptor of the available rates for this type of preparation, which includes Enhanced Carrier Route Standard Mail, automation carrier route First-Class Mail, carrier route Periodicals, and carrier route Bound Printed Matter.
Carrier route The addresses to which a carrier delivers mail. In common usage, carrier route includes city routes, rural routes, highway contract routes, post office box sections, and general delivery units.
CAV Component Analog Video A video format in which three separate video signals represent color and luminance information.
CBR Constant bit rate A “one fits all” compression approach to handling data streams over time (opposite of the VBR approach). A choice in which quality varies depending on image / sound complexity.
CCD Charge Coupled Device is a light-sensitive solid state storage device used in video cameras to pickup images.
CD Compact Disc, a digital medium formed of a 12cm polycarbonate substrate, a reflective metalized layer, and a protective lacquer coating. The physical format of CDs is described by the ISO9660 industry standard. CD-Recordable discs also have an organic dye data layer between the substrate and the metal reflective layer.
CD WO Compact Disc Write Once. A CD ROM version of the WORM (Write Once Read Many) technology. For companies wishing to do in house preparation through premastering, this format is useful for creating test discs (One Offs) before sending data from mastering and replication. CD-WO discs conform to ISO 9660 standards and can be played in CD ROM drives.
CD+G A CD which uses the SUBCODES for graphics, lyrics, etc.
CD-Audio Compact Disc Digital Audio. Commonly called a CD, this is an audio disc that contains up to 74 minutes of hi-fi stereo sound. A CD, 4 3/4" in diameter, is like a miniature phonograph record, except that only one side of the disc contains recorded material. A CD is a direct access device, and the individual selections can be played back in any sequence. Unlike phonograph records in which the disc platter contains "carved sound" the CD is recorded in digital form as a series of tiny pits that are covered with a clear, protective plastic layer. Instead of a needle vibrating in the grooves, a laser in the CD player shines light onto the pits and picks up the reflections as binary code. Sound is converted in digital code by sampling the sound waves 44.1KHz per second and converting each sample into a 16 bit number. It requires almost a million and a half bits of storage for each second of stereo hi-fi sound. The reason digital sound is so clear is that the numbers are turned into sound electronically. Other forms of CDs (CD ROM, CD ROM X/A, CD-I and DVI) all stem from the audio CD. The standard specification for CD is known as the Red Book.
CD-Bridge Disc A version of CD ROM X/A which allows it to be played on a CD-I player, as well as a CD ROM X/A player.
CD-I Compact Disc-Interactive (Green Book) A compact disc format that holds data, audio, still video pictures and animated graphics. It will soon include full motion video as well. CD-I provides up to 144 minutes of CD-quality stereo sound, up to 9.5 hours of AM-radioquality stereo or up to 19 hours of single channel (mono) audio. Developed by Philips and Sony, CD-I is designed for home and business use with CD-I players connected to TVs and personal computers starting in the early 1990’s. CD-I discs feature interactive games and education as well as reference works. CD-I includes an operating system standard as well as proprietary hardware methods for compressing the data further in order to display video images. CD-I discs require a CD-I player and will not play on a CD ROM player. The standards for CD-I are known as the Green Book.
CD-I Ready Refers to a standard audio disc with some additional features which can be accessed when the disc is played in a CD-I player. This information is included in the pre-gap of track # 1 and will be ignored by a standard CD player. A CD-I player, however, will read this information and display on a video screen such information as lyrics, graphics, discography, etc.
CD-R Compact Disc-Recordable. This term is used to describe the technology of recordable CD as well as the equipment, software and media used to make recordable discs.Recordable CD’s that differ from replicated CD’s. Lasers burn tiny holes in the dye layer of the CD-R to form the indentations.
CD-ROM Compact Disc Read Only Memory. A compact disc format that is used to hold text, graphics and hi-fi stereo sound. The disc is almost the same as the music CD, but uses different tracks for data. The music CD player cannot play CD ROM discs, but most
CD-ROM Drive The machine (hardware) used to read data from a CD ROM disc. See CD ROM Player.
CD-ROM players Able to play CD discs. A CD-ROM player is cabled to and controlled by a card that is plugged into one of the computer's expansion slots. A CD ROM can hold 650 Mb of data, which is equivalent to about 250,000 pages of text or 20,000 medium-resolution images.
CD-ROM/XA CD ROM Extended Architecture. A version of CD-ROM which uses both Mode 1 and Mode 2 (X/A). It allows for the inclusion of various grades of medium to low-fidelity audio to be played concurrently while viewing data. Announced by Philips, Sony and Microsoft in August 1988, CD ROM X/A allows for data (test and pictures to be viewed and narrated at the same time. It also functions as a bridge between CDROM and CD-I, since CD ROM X/A discs will play on a CD-I player. CD ROM X/A uses a standard CD ROM Player, but requires a CD ROM X/A controller card in the personal computer.
CD-RW CD-RW’s allow the user to re-write over pre-recorded discs. The CD-RW can be returned to the equivalent of a non-recorded state by laser beam intensity. After that is completed, the disc can be burned again and again up to 1000 times.
CDTV Commodore Dynamic Total Vision. A special kind of CD-ROM designed by and for Commodore computers.
CDV Compact Disc Video. A version of CD which contains up to 5 minutes of full motion video plus up to 20 minutes of CD Audio. CDV requires a special CDV player to access video.
Centralized Postage Payment System (CPP) A postage payment system that allows publishers of authorized Periodicals publications entered at three or more post offices to pay postage at a single postal facility rather than through individual accounts maintained at each entry post office.
Certified mail A service that provides the sender with a mailing receipt. A delivery record is maintained by the USPS. This type of mail must be sent at First-Class Mail or Priority Mail rates. Certified mail may be combined with return receipt service and restricted delivery service.
CGMS Copy guard management system. CGMS/A is added to analog signal; CGMS/D to digital signal. Both prevent or limit usable copies from DVD source (see CSS, Macrovision)
Chapter Stops Sequential or random stops programmed into video segments on a DVD. Sequential stops are every identical time lapses such as every 5 minutes. Random chapter stops are often programmed at scene changes.
Chrominance The color component of the video signal relating to the hue and saturation, but not the brightness or luminance.
Classification The grouping of mailable matter into mail classes and subclasses by rate categories, according to content, weight, size, and preparation standards.
Classroom rate A Periodicals rate that is available to an authorized mailer of educational, scientific, or religious publications for scholastic or religious instruction.
CLV Constant Linear Velocity. Refers to the speed of the information track with
CMYK Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black the four colors used for four-color process printing
Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) A service offered to mailers, service bureaus, and software vendors that improves the accuracy of matching to delivery point codes, ZIP+4 codes, 5-digit ZIP Codes, and carrier route codes on mailpieces. CASS provides a common platform to measure the quality of address matching software and to diagnose and correct software problems.
Collect on delivery (COD) A service for mailers who need to mail an article for which they have not received payment. The amount due the sender is collected from the addressee and the USPS returns the amount due to the sender.
Color Bars A reference signal consisting of bands of color and black areas used in setting up a master tape before duplication. Setting up a master to the specific parameters contained in this signal will assure consistency of color each time the program is duplicated.
Color Key 2 or 3 colors or spot color proof made from film, usually does not provide exact color match.
Color Separations Process of separating artwork into the colors that it was designed in for approval by the client. Combined mailing A mailing in which individually addressed mailpieces are merged and sorted together, usually using two or more postage payment methods.
Commercial mail receiving agency (CMRA) A private business that acts as the mail receiving agent for specific clients by providing a delivery address and other services.
Commingle To integrate dissimilar mail (such as subscriber and nonsubscriber copies or machinable and irregular parcels) into the same mailing.
Component Video Video whose original elements have been retained separately rather than combined into a single composite video signal such as NTSC or PAL. High-resolution monitors, used in control rooms, editing suites or graphics systems, often utilize component video separated into three primary colors, Red, Green, and Blue.
Composite Video A video signal that has the color and luminance components combined (encoded) into a single signal such as NTSC and PAL. Composite video was originally developed in order to compress the color information into the same limited bandwidth used for early black and white television broadcasting.
Compression Could be one of several processes used to digitize video information to a practical size for use in computer applications. The compression tequnique chosen will determine how well the movie will run on the computer. The results will be determined by the limitations and capabilities of the end user’s equipment. MPEG1, MPEG2, AVI, and Quicktime are examples of compression schemes.
Compression Reducing the representation of the information, but not the information itself. Reducing the bandwidth or bits necessary to encode information. Compression saves transmission time or capacity. It also saves storage space on storage devices such as hard disks, tape drives and floppy disks. Data Decompression is used to restore the data to their normal form.
Computerized Forwarding System (CFS) A centralized, computerized address label-generating operation that performs address correction and forwards or returns undeliverable-as-addressed mail to customers.
Content identifier number (CIN) A code number on a tray or sack label that represents and identifies the class of mail and presort level.
Cooperative mailing A mailing made jointly by one or more organizations authorized to mail at Nonprofit Standard Mail rates at the same post office.
Copalletize To combine and present together on pallets mail from two or more different or separately produced mailstreams.
Copyright Exclusive legal right to the publication, performance, sale, etc. of a literary, musical or artistic work.
Courtesy reply mail (CRM) Envelopes or postcards that a mailer provides to its customers to expedite delivery of their responses. The customer affixes the reply postage before mailing. Cross Platform Formatting to ensure playback under either Windows/ PC or Macintosh/ Mac systems.
Cross-talk This is a measure of the amount of interference coming from neighboring pit tracks on a CD. As track pitch is tightened (when tracks are packed closer together to put more data on a disc), cross-talk increases. A maximum value of 50% is allowed by Red Book specifications.
CSS Content Scrambling System, a digital file protection system used in DVD replication
CSS Encryption Content scrambling System. This is the encryption method used in DVD replication to prevent making DVD copies from any of the replicated discs.