List of abbreviations and terms in this white paper

B-frame

Bi-directional frame – contains information about changes to the frame compared to the previous and next frame in a GOP

Codec

Short for ‘coder-decoder’ – a codec contains information about how to encode and decode audio/video according to the codec’s standard – for instance; MPEG-4, H.264 and H.265

CPU

Central Processing Unit - the component in a computer that carries out the instructions of a computer program

Device

Common denomination of cameras, microphones, speakers, and metadata sources in an XProtect VMS

FPS

Frames Per Second – number of images per second in the video stream

GOP

Group Of Pictures – collection of successive pictures within a MPEG encoded video stream

GPU

Graphics Processing Unit - the component in a computer that handles graphics operations, like decoding video and rendering graphics

H.264

MPEG video compression standard – successor to MPEG-4 and predecessor to H.265

H.265

MPEG video compression standard – successor to H.264

HDD

Hard Disk Drive – a disk drive with spinning plates, storing the data as magnetic information on the plates

I-frame

Also known as keyframe – the first image in a GOP. An I-frame is comparable to a JPEG image

IOPS

Input/Output operations Per Second – a performance measurement used to characterize storage devices

JBOD

Just a Bunch Of Disks - multiple independent hard disk drives

JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group – a compression standard for still images

Keyframe

Also known as I-frame – the first image in a GOP. A keyframe is comparable to a JPEG image

Media Data

Video, Audio, and metadata retrieved from connected devices

MJPEG

Motion JPEG – a series of JPEG images forming a video stream

MPEG

Moving Picture Experts Group – used as a common term covering

MPEG-4, H.264 & H.265 codecs in this white paper

MPEG-4

MPEG video compression standard – predecessor to H.264

NAS

Network-Attached Storage - a storage technology providing access to file level storage

OS

Operating System

PCB

Printed Circuit Board – a board that holds and connects components in electronic devices

P-frame

Predictive frame – contains information about changes to the frame compared to the previous frame in the GOP

RAID

Redundant Array of Independent Disks – a technology that combines multiple physical disks into one or more logical disks, with support for fault tolerance

RPM

Revolutions Per Minute

SAN

Storage Area Network – a storage technology providing access to consolidated, block level data storage

SAS

Serial Attached SCSI – communication standard for storage devices

SATA

Serial ATA – communication standard for storage devices

SSD

Solid-State Drive – a disk drive without any moving parts, storing the data in memory chips

VMD

Video Motion Detection – the process of detecting movement in video images

VMS

Video Management Software