C-Mount
An industry standard for lens mounting. C-Mount is 1-inch diameter with 32 threads per inch. A C-Mount lens needs C-ring when it is mounted at a CS-Mount camera.
C-MOS
Complementary - Metal Oxide Semiconductor. A video image sensor chip that produces much lower quality picture than CCD chip.
Camera Format
Video camera's CCD chips format; 2/3", 1/3", 1/4", etc.
Camera Sensor
Video image sensor. CCD or C-MOS chip. More info.
CATV
Cable Access Television.
CCD
Charge Coupled Device. A video image sensor chip.
CCIR
Stands for French "International Radio Consultative Committee"; This recommended the standards for B/W television accepted by most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, most of Africa and Asia. The same "type" of standard, but later extended to colour signals, was called PAL.
CCTMA
Closed Circuit Television Manufacturers Association.
CCTV
Closed Circuit Television. It does not broadcast TV signals but transmits them over a closed circuit through electrically conducting cable or wireless transmitter and receiver.
CCTV Camera
A part of the CCTV system that captures the video pictures.
CCTV Monitor
A part of the CCTV system that receives the video pictures from a CCTV camera and displays them.
Coaxial Cable
A cable that can carry a wide range of frequencies with very low signal loss. It consists of a metallic shield with a single wire placed along the center of a shield and isolated from the shield by an insulator.
Color Saturation
The degree of mixture of a color and white. High saturation means little or no white.
Component Video
A type of video information that is transmitted or stored as two or more separate signals. Opposed to composite video.
Composite Video
A combined signal in a television transmission. Standard format such as NTSC, PAL or SECAM. The picture signal, blanking signal, and vertical/horizontal synchronizing signals are all combined.
CRT
Cathode Ray Tube. The vacuum tube part of a monitor or television.
CS-Mount
An industry standard for lens mounting. CS-Mount is 1 inch diameter with 32 threads per inch. A C-Mount lens needs C-ring when it is mounted at a CS-Mount camera.
Card
An identification device assigned to an individual that identifies that individual. Typically, it is the size of a credit card. See Access Card, Key Tag.
Card Access
A type of access control system using encoded cards and card readers to identify cardholders and determine if access may be granted. See Cardholder.
Card Encoder
A device used to encode data onto an access card.
Card Reader
A device that retrieves information stored on an access card and transmits that information to a controller.
Cardholder
An individual who has been assigned an access control card or tag.
Chip-In-Card
See Smart Card.
COM Port
A hardware device that allows a computer to communicate with external devices.
Control Center
A central location in a secure area where access and alarm sub-systems are supervised and security personnel are located.
Control Point
An exit or entry point such as a door, turnstile, or gate, where access is controlled.
Controller
A Printed circuit board that controls the access to a secure area. The controller can be configured to determine which doors and at what times cardholders are granted access to secure areas. Based on that, the controller will manage lock/unlock doors, sound alarms, and communicate status to a host computer.
