In computing

Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...

, a zoomed video port (often simply ZV port) is a unidirectional video

Video

Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

 bus

Computer bus

In computer architecture, a bus is a subsystem that transfers data between components inside a computer, or between computers.Early computer buses were literally parallel electrical wires with multiple connections, but the term is now used for any physical arrangement that provides the same...

 allowing a device in a PC card

PC card

In computing, PC Card is the form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. The PC Card standard was defined and developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association which itself was created by a number of computer industry companies in the United States...

 slot to transfer video data directly into a VGA

Video Graphics Array

Video Graphics Array refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, but through its widespread adoption has also come to mean either an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector or the 640×480 resolution...

 frame buffer, so as to allow laptop

Laptop

A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...

s to display real-time video. The standard was created by the PCMCIA to allow devices such as TV

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 tuners, video inputs and MPEG coprocessor

Coprocessor

A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor . Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, or encryption. By offloading processor-intensive tasks from the main processor,...

s to fit into a PC card form factor and provide a cheap solution for both the laptop manufacturer and consumer.

The ZV port is a direct connection between the PC card slot and VGA controller. Video data is transferred in real time without any buffer

Buffer (computer science)

In computer science, a buffer is a region of a physical memory storage used to temporarily hold data while it is being moved from one place to another. Typically, the data is stored in a buffer as it is retrieved from an input device or just before it is sent to an output device...

ing, removing the need for bus mastering

Bus mastering

In computing, bus mastering is a feature supported by many bus architectures that enables a device connected to the bus to initiate transactions...

 or arbitration.

The ZV port was invented as an alternative to such methods as the VAFC (VESA

VESA

VESA is an international standards body for computer graphics founded in 1989 by NEC Home Electronics and eight other video display adapter manufacturers.VESA's initial goal was to produce a standard for 800×600 SVGA resolution video displays...

Advanced Feature Connector).