AMD ATI FireMV 2400, User Manual, Page: 58 / 64

ATI Catalyst Control Center
ATI Catalyst Control Center (CCC) is a graphical user application providing access
to the display features contained within the installed ATI hardware and software.
CCC can be used to fine-tune various graphics settings, enable or disable
connected display devices, change the orientation of a desktop, and much more.
Back Buffer
A type of offscreen memory used to provide smooth video and 2D graphics
acceleration. This technique uses two frame buffers, so the process is often
referred to as “double-buffering.” While the contents of one buffer are displayed,
a second buffer, called the “back” buffer, holds the frame being worked on. In this
way, users will only see complete, smooth frames displayed onscreen.
Bilinear Filtering
This filtering method reduces the blockiness caused when zooming into a 3D
surface that is at a right angle to the viewer. A newspaper photo examined closely
enough will show that the picture is made up of tiny dots. If the photo was
enlarged it would start to look “blocky” and less distinct. This is also a problem
for computer-generated images, especially for surface details.
Bit Depth
Refers to the number of data bits required to store color information about a pixel.
Larger bit depth means a greater range of color information is capable of being
encoded into each pixel. For example, 1 binary bit of memory can only encode to
either “0” or “1.” So a graphical bit depth of 1 means that the display can only show
two colors, the black and white of a monochrome display. Four-bit color depth is
capable of displaying 16 colors because there are only 16 different combinations
of 4 bits (0000, 0001, 0010... to 1111). Sixteen-bit color is capable of reproducing 65,536
colors, 24-bit color can display up to 16,777,216 individual colors, and 30-bit color
can display up to one billion individual colors.
Bitmap
A bitmap is a graphic or character representation composed of individual pixels,
arranged horizontally in rows. A monochrome bitmap uses one bit per pixel
(bpp). Color bitmaps may use up to 32bpp, depending on the color depth selected.
Brightness
The amount of white or black that is applied to all colors onscreen. By making the
screen “brighter” you are adding more white to it. This should not be confused
with luminosity, which measures the actual light level emitted from the computer
display.
Buffer
A name referring to portions of on-board video memory. One large buffer is
always used to display images to the screen; this is the “display buffer.” The rest
of offscreen memory is typically used by applications as back buffers, z-buffers,
and texture buffers.
Color Component
Three color components (Red, Green, and Blue) combine in various intensities to
determine the color of each pixel on the screen. The values of each color
component are graphically represented by a corresponding color curve.
Color Correction
Correct discrepancies between the real color value and the way a screen displays
it. Color discrepancies can be caused by a variety of sources, including the lighting
50 Glossary - Workstation Products
ATI FireMV 2400/ATI FirePro 2450
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2008 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.