SAP or Secondary Audio Program: A feature on almost every stereo TV set that has been purchased since about 1990. It is commonly used in the U.S. to provide Spanish language audio for English language television programs. SAP is an additional audio channel that can be received by all viewers with stereo television sets in markets where SAP is available. It can be used for any audio signal, but is most often used as a vehicle for a secondary language for English language programming. If your TV set is a stereo TV set, you can select SAP by pressing the menu button on your TV or on your remote control, selecting the audio function from the menu, and switching to SAP from mono or stereo.

Many modern stereo television sets have a feature in their audio equipment that allows the reception of sound other than the main audio for the program. This feature is called Multi-channel Television Sound (MTS). A TV set with MTS can receive mono sound, stereo sound, or Secondary Audio Programs (SAP). The SAP feature allows a TV station to broadcast other information to the viewer through the audio receive system. That other information could be the same program audio in another language, or something completely different, such as weather information or Descriptive Video Services (DVS) for the visually impaired. As an example, ABC regularly provides Spanish audio commentary during "World News Tonight" and "Monday Night Football" as well as other selected sporting events and specials.  They do this using the Secondary Audio Program (SAP). Viewers who had the SAP feature turned on could hear the game in Spanish. Activating or deactivating the SAP is done on most television sets through a menu using the remote control. The SAP feature is only on television sets that are stereo. Even if you have a newer model TV, SAP will not be available if your set has mono sound. Before trying to change the SAP, be sure you're controlling your TV set with the remote and not the VCR. Some remote controllers have a button on them labeled "MTS", "SAP", or "Audio Select".  Try pressing this button in succession to cycle through the various audio modes. If there is no button on the remote control, press the "MENU" button to bring up your television's on-screen menu and look for options like "Setup", "Audio Setup", or "Audio" to find the selections available for MTS, or SAP.

V-chip: The V-chip is a form of censorship and a way to allow parents to control the amount of sexual, violent or other inappropriate material their children may see on television. The Violence Chip is a chip installed in all television sets as mandated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This is a programmable chip, meaning when parents buy their television sets they can program in certain criteria (such as amounts of violence, sex or explicit language) of the programs they do not want to see, or their children to see. Programs that have been predetermined of having any of these attributes will be blocked out of the TV set. In 2001 the FCC adopted rules requiring all television sets with picture screens 33 centimeters (13 inches) or larger to be equipped with features to block the display of television programming based upon its rating. This technology is known as the "V-Chip." The V-Chip reads information encoded in the rated program and blocks programs from the set based upon the rating selected by the parent.

The industry established a system for rating programming that contains sexual, violent or other material parents may deem inappropriate and committed to voluntarily broadcast signals containing these ratings.  The rating system, also known as "TV Parental Guidelines," was established by the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Cable Television Association and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Picture In Picture:
Picture-in-picture (PIP) allows you to watch more than one channel at the same time. With PIP, one channel will be displayed on the entire TV screen, and another channel or channels will be displayed in smaller squares on the screen.

Comb Filter:
There are several types of comb filters. In all cases, the comb filter helps to separate the color signals from the black and white, providing a higher resolution, or sharper, picture. Of the three types, the 3DYC provides the sharpest picture, then the digital comb filter, then the analog.

Color Temperature Control: Most  televisions provide three user-selectable Color Temperature settings which affect the sets overall white balance. The "Warm" setting reduces the color temperature to an NTSC standard 6500 degrees Kelvin and delivers a redder image that is ideal for display in a dimly lit room. "Medium" and "Cool" provide a progressively bluer image for the best picture as room light levels are increased.

• The viewer can adjust white balance to achieve the best television picture possible in any viewing environment, or they can simply adjust the picture to suit their personal tastes.

Channel Lock: Selected channels can be locked out to prevent viewing. Channels can be unlocked by entering a secret code.

• Keeps children from viewing channels you feel are inappropriate.

Closed Captioning on Mute: This feature automatically displays captioned information (if available) on-screen when the MUTE button is pressed. Captions disappear when the volume is restored.

• Without ever accessing the Caption menu, the viewer can mute the volume and take a phone call while following the captions on-screen.

Remote Control

Automatic brightness control

Contrast adj.

S-Video connection

Sleep Timer

Auto Program

Closed Captions: A dynamic on-screen text presentation of the audio portion of a television program. Captions are text versions of the spoken word. The text content should appear on-screen at approximately the same time that audio would be available. Captions allow audio to be "perceivable" to those who do not have access to audio, and understandable to a wider audience. Though captioning is primarily intended for those who cannot hear the audio, it has also been found to help those that can hear audio content and those who may not be fluent in the language in which the audio is presented.

 "Closed" because the text does not show on the screen unless turned on (decoded) by the viewer. It is hidden in the video signal. The place they are hidden is called line 21 of the vertical blanking interval (VBI). Captions can be used to "view" the speech of actors or speakers on television shows and is of particular interest to deaf or hard of hearing viewers.

A law in the United States called the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 mandates that since July 1993, all televisions manufactured for sale in the U.S. must contain a built-in caption decoder if the picture tube is 13" or larger. 

All decoders in North America are Line 21 decoders, named for the place where the captions are encoded. 

Captions in more than one language:
Usually the text is displayed in English but the decoder can also show other languages if available. This is the CC1, CC2, CC3, CC4 options on the on-screen menus. Line 21 is split into two fields each carrying two caption channels.

Auto Clock
Automatically sets current time from PBS station's XDS Program Information signal.

If you use a composite video connector to watch DVD, you will see this artefact all of the time. Fortunately, it is readily eliminated by using an S-Video, component video or RGB video connection, unless it is inherent in the DVD's source material, which is rare. The most common place to see this artefact on DVD is on logos which have been sourced from composite analog master tapes.