ATI 100 437807 User Guide - Page 61

55 NTSC The name for the type of analog television signal used throughout the Americas (except Brazil) and in Japan. It draws a total of 525 vertical interlaced frames of video at a refresh rate of 60 Hz, making it relatively flicker-free. The acronym refers to the National Television Systems Committee, which devised this color video standard in 1953. Offscreen Memory An area of memory used to preload images so that they can be quickly drawn to the screen. Offscreen memory refers to all of the remaining video memory not taken up by the front buffer, which holds the contents of the display screen currently visible. OpenGL® Short for "Open Graphics Library," this is an industry standard for crossplatform 3D graphics development. It consists of a large number of functions that can be called upon in various programs, such as games, CAD, and virtualreality systems, to produce complex 3D objects from simpler, more "primitive" building blocks. Implementations currently exist under Windows®, Mac OS® X, and various forms of Unix, including Linux®. PAL An acronym for "Phase Alternating Line", the name for a video broadcast standard used in much of Europe (except France), most of Asia, the MiddleEast, Africa and Australia. It draws a total of 625 vertical interlaced frames of video at a refresh rate of 25 Hz. PCI Acronym for "Peripheral Component Interconnect", which is the specification for a type of computer bus used for attaching computer peripherals to a computer's motherboard. PCI encompasses both integrated motherboard components (such as built-in graphical processors) and peripherals that fit into an expansion card slot, such as a separate graphics card. PCI replaced the older ISA and VESA bus standards, and was itself superseded by the AGP standard for the main graphics card bus.