[Tig] semantics: definition vs. resolution

[Alexis Hurkman]

I completely understand. Personally, I've probably been putting off  
that subscription to the online OED for too long, but the notion of  
yet another monthly fee on top of all my other bills always makes me  
put it off another month... A more industry-specific reference I  
sometimes use is Martin Uren's "illustrated dictionary of moving  
image technology" from The Moving Image Society and published by  
Focal Press. My copy is a bit long in the tooth, but in it, if I may  
quote:

"Resolution - The ability of an optical or video system to reproduce  
fine detail. A measure of the 'sharpness' of a picture. Usually  
measured in pixels in the horizontal direction and lines or pixels  
vertically. Often the horizontal and vertical resolutions are  
different."

"Definition - A description of the sharpness or clarity of a  
television picture. High definition pictures portray a lot of detail,  
while low definition pictures look soft and less clear. See also  
resolution."

Not entirely helpful as Definition is defined solely within the  
context of a television signal, but yet another case of an author  
making a concrete link between "image detail" and "pixel count."  
Guess I better get that OED subscription. ;-)

-Alexis


On May 4, 2007, at 1:34 PM, Rob Lingelbach wrote:

> Hi Alexis.  thank you for the insights.  I do tend to use more
> formal, and more detailed dictionaries, like the OED, and mistrust
> dictionary.com because (correct me if I'm wrong) annotations,
> references, etymology, and other details are lacking.