Common internet lingo that's used a lot here:
FWIW: For what it's worth
IMO / IMHO: In my opinion / In my humble opinion
YMMV: Your mileage may vary (in other words, it might not work the same for you)
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Common Consumer Electronics terms:
MPEG-2: High definition data encoded with the MPEG-2 standard, used for broadcasting and also used for some satellite channels
MPEG-4: High definition data encoded with the MPEG-4 standard, used by DirecTV for some satellite signals
HDMI: High Definition Multimedia Interface, a single cable that carries digital audio and video data from one place to another, like from your satellite receiver to your TV
PCM: Pulse Code Modulation, audio encoded using the standard originally developed for CDs.
DD: Dolby Digital, up to 5.1 channels of digital audio
ATSC: Advanced Television Standards Committee, the folks who cooked up the standard for high definition broadcasting in the US.
NTSC: National Television Standards Committee, the folks who developed the original standard definition TV standard
RF: Radio Frequency. Can refer to an old-school antenna cable, or any radio wave, or can be specifically used to mean the signal from an RF remote which can go through walls.
IR: Infrared. In our context, the sort of remote that you have to point at the thing.
DRM: Digital Rights Management, copy protection that is built right into digital files.
DMA: Dominant Market Area. In the vernacular, it means the city whose channels you should be able to receive with an antenna. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) sets these.
DirecTV specific lingo:
D*: DirecTV
LIL: Local-in-local; your specific local channels that only your local market can get
IRD: Integrated Receiver/Decoder, you'd just call it your satellite receiver
