AV & CE Basics

The Meaning of AV & A/V

In the context of audio and visuals, AV generally stands for audiovisual or audio/video while A/V generally stands for audio/video [1] [2] [3] [4]. In order to prevent confusion, this website will use AV to stand for audiovisual and A/V to stand for audio/video unless otherwise noted.

Audio Fidelity

When it comes to audio, fidelity is, in the words of Wikipedia, "a term describing the faithfulness of an audio reproduction to the original sounds" [5].

Resolution

The word resolution can refer to audio or visual resolvable detail [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13].

Definition

The word definition can refer to audio or visual clarity [14] [15] [16].

Abbreviating Fidelity, Resolution, & Definition

The following are some abbreviations used for fidelity, resolution, and definition:

low-fidelity = lo-fi [17]
high-fidelity = hi-fi [17] [18]
high-resolution audio = hi-res audio = HRA [7] [8]
high-definition = hi-def = HD [7] [9] [10] [11] [13] [14] [16] [19]

Consumer Electronics (CE) Devices

CE devices have two fundamental criteria: they are electronic devices, which means they use electricity, and they are designed for consumer use, which implies they are relatively affordable, easy-to-use, serve some sort of useful function that people are willing to pay for, and compatible with existing consumer devices and technology. CE AV devices form a key segment of CE, with televisions (TVs) being one such example [20].

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

Although there are a variety of groups involved in CE, one particularly important group is the CTA. The CTA was started in 1924 and has gone through a variety of name changes. Prior to its current name, the CTA was known as the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The name change from CEA to CTA was meant to broaden the scope of the association to include consumer technology companies that didn't produce CE devices [21]. The CTA defines, maintains, and promotes a variety of standards [22] [23 pages 6+11] [24] [25] [26] [7] [8] [13] [18] and also produces the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) [28].