1. CIT 1100

2. In this chapter, you will learn how to: ◦ Explain visual capture devices ◦ Describe audio devices, both input and output ◦ Explore game controllers ◦ Explain television tuners

3. Scanners  Used to make digital copies of existing photos, documents, drawings, and more.  Better scanners have the option of copying directly from a photographic negative or slide  In this section, you'll look at how scanners work and what you need to know to select the correct scanner

4. All flatbed scanners work the same way, a photo or object placed face down on the glass, close the lid, then software initiates the scan. The scanner runs a bright light along the length of the glass tray once or more to capture the image  A moving scanning arm contains sensors. Glass, mirrors, and electronics, work to convert the light into signals sent to the computer  Nearly every manufacturer has some sort of drivers and other software to create an interface between your computer and the scanner

5. Image-editing software can be used to capture the scanners output allowing modifications to the original object  The most commonly used software for capturing output into an application is TWAIN  TWAIN stands for Technology Without an Interesting Name

6. Most scanners offer a feature called optical character recognition (OCR), a way to scan a document and have the computer turn the picture into text that you can manipulate by using a word processing program The contents of the textbook was scanned using OCR, which was used to create the Power Point presentation used in this class

7. Even inexpensive scanners will scan at high resolution All modern scanners can do 48-bit scans for capturing enormous amounts of color information The number of bits reflects how many variations of color can be captured, 16-bits allows 65536 variations of color from a single spot The 48-bit number represents three16-bit sensors, one for each color: red, green, and blue (RGB)

8. Judging one scanner from another, boils down to three factors:  Quality of the optics, sensors, and electronics  Capability of scanning transparent objects  Auto-feeding capability

9. Digital cameras and camcorders electronically simulate older film technology  Camcorders record moving pictures  Modern digital cameras and camcorders aren’t just still/motion devices they can do both  You can record a movie on a small camera, for example, or still im­ages on a camcorder

10. Consumer grade digital cameras replace film with removable storage – Flash Memory Cards Some camcorders use high-speed tape or tiny hard drives called Micro-drives Nearly all digital cameras have the capability to plug directly into a Hi-Speed USB port The newest method incorporate HDMI

11. Consider the amount of information a particular camera can cap­ture when comparing features, expressed as megapixels  Instead of light-sensitive film, digital cameras have one or more CCD (charge-coupled device) sensors covered with photosensitive pixels (photosites) to capture the image  The more pixels the higher the resolution of the images  A two-megapixel camera produces snapshot-sized 4x6” picture with print photo quality, a five­ megapixel unit can produce photo quality 8x10 inch print

12. Camcorders capture video in one of two formats, High Definition (HD) or Standard Def­inition (SD)  HD captures will be widescreen to match HD TV  SD captures stay within the 4:3 aspect ratio to match older­ style televisions and monitors  HD captures higher-resolution images for the most part, though a high-end SD camera will outperform a lower-end HD camera any day  HD captures higher-resolution images for the most part, though a high-end SD camera will outperform a lower-end HD camera any day

13. PC cameras, Webcams are fairly new type of advanced I/0 device  Features to look for when buying webcams and some problems you can run into using them: ◦ Image quality - measured in pixels. There are webcams with resolutions of as few as 100,000 pixels, all the way to webcams with millions of pixels which would require a huge amount of internet bandwidth ◦ Frame rate - number of times the camera scans per second, higher frame rates make for smoother video using more bandwidth, 30 frames per second is considered the best.  A good camera with a high resolution and fast frame rate will provide excellent video conferencing capa­ bilities

14. Sound controllers enable the computer to play and record sound. All modern computers come with sound controllers built into the motherboard The simplest sound controllers have three 3.5 mm audio ports, called jacks

15. Most sound controllers have color-coded jacks for the specific connec­tions:

16. Video games come with a host of controllers for controlling aspects of the game. You can get a joystick for controlling flight simulation games Force feedback game controllers are output devices as well as input devices, when the stick is shaking on a hard turn and resisting your efforts

17. Most local TV stations broadcast high definition sig­nals, with the proper TV tuner, you can watch HDTV on a PC  By incorporating a cable or satellite feed you can watch television as you would with a regular TV  To install HDTV requires four components: 1.Tuner device 2.Antenna or cable connection 3.Tuning ap­plication 4.Program guide

18.  Tuners come in just about every expansion option available for computers: ◦ PCI ◦ PCie ◦ PC Card or Express Card ◦ Hi-Speed USB for desktop and laptop computers Tuner hardware comes with a standard coaxial connection

19. Once installed you need to load the specific application or appli­cations  If you have Windows Media Center (through either that version of Windows XP, Windows Vista Ultimate, or Windows 7), that will often be the tool of choice  Ubuntu MYTH TV provides a complete open source Home Media application