PAL - Phase Alternating Line. This video-transmission standard was introduced in the early 1960s and is used in most European countries except France and the former Soviet Union. PAL standards specify 625 lines of resolution at 50fps.

pan-and-scan - Process of transferring a movie or other source material to videocassette, DVD, or broadcast so that it fits the 4:3 aspect ratio of most current TVs. This results in a significant amount of lost picture information, particularly in the width of the image, and sometimes involves panning unnaturally across the frame. At the beginning of a movie, there is often a disclaimer about the movie having been "...formatted to fit your TV." That means it's been converted to pan-and-scan. See also anamorphic.

pixel - Dots of color, sometimes composed of separate red, green, and blue subpixels, that combine to create an image; from the words picture element.

PLUGE - Picture Line-Up Generation Equipment. Test pattern for video equipment to set black level.

plasma - Display technology used in large-screen, flat-panel TVs. Each plasma panel contains thousands of tiny tubes that are like miniature fluorescent lights, filled by ionized gas in a plasma state. When excited by electricity, the tubes--which are backed by red, green, or blue phosphors--glow in different colors and intensities to create an image. More info

progressive scanning - Also called sequential scanning, this is the antithesis of interlaced scanning used in broadcast television, the process by which all odd and even scanning lines are "painted" by an electron beam every 1/60 of a second. This method reduces flicker and increases stability.

PVP - Personal video player. Portable device designed to play back video files from a hard drive; may or may not include a small LCD screen.

PVR - Personal video recorder. See DVR.