The original SMPTE color bars

The HD SMPTE color bars

SMPTE color bars look somewhat like this on an NTSC vectorscope.

The SMPTE color bars are a type of television test pattern, and is most commonly used in countries where the NTSC video standard is dominant, such as those in North America. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) refers to this test pattern as Engineering Guideline EG 1-1990. The components of this pattern are a known standard, so comparing this pattern as received to that known standard gives video engineers an indication how an NTSC video signal has been altered by recording or transmission, and thus what compensation needs to be applied to that signal to bring it back to original condition. The pattern is also used for setting a television monitor or receiver to reproduce NTSC chrominance and luminance information correctly. Originally conceived in the 1970s by Al Goldberg of CBS Laboratories, and previously categorized by SMPTE as ECR 1-1978, the development of this test pattern was awarded an Engineering Emmy in 2001-2002.^[1] Racial segregation characterised by separation of different races in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home. ... Image File history File links SMPTE_Color_Bars. ... Image File history File links SMPTE_Color_Bars. ... Image File history File links SMPTE_Color_Bars_16x9. ... Image File history File links SMPTE_Color_Bars_16x9. ... Image File history File links What SMPTE color bars should look like on an NTSC vectorscope if the signal is properly adjusted. ... Image File history File links What SMPTE color bars should look like on an NTSC vectorscope if the signal is properly adjusted. ... A video vectorscope displaying color bars. ... Test pattern A test card, also known as a test pattern in North America, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no programme is being broadcast (often at startup and closedown). ... NTSC is the analog television system in use in Canada, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and some other countries, mostly in the Americas (see map). ... North America North America is a continent [1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers or SMPTE (pronounced simptee or sometimes sumptee) is an international professional association, based in the United States of America, of engineers working in the motion imaging industries. ... “Standard” redirects here. ... In telecommunication, signalling (or signaling) has the following meanings: The use of signals for controlling communications. ... Chrominance (chroma for short) comprises the two components of a television signal that encode color information. ... As applied to analog television signals, two different words are used, luminance and luma, meaning two different things. ... CBS Labs in Stamford, CT CBS Laboratories or CBS Labs (later known as the CBS Technology Center) was the technology research and development organization of CBS. Innovations developed at the labs included many groundbreaking broadcast, industrial, and consumer technologies. ... An Emmy Award. ...

An updated version of SMPTE color bars, developed by the Japanese Association of Radio Industry and Businesses as ARIB STD-B28 and standardized as SMPTE RP 219-2002, is used to test both 4×3 standard definition and 16×9 high-definition video signals. Standard-definition television or SDTV refers to television systems that have a lower resolution than HDTV systems. ... High-definition television (HDTV) is a digital television broadcasting system with greater resolution than traditional television systems (NTSC, SECAM, PAL). ...

Usage

In an SMPTE color bar image, the top two-thirds of the television picture contain seven vertical bars of 75% intensity. In order from left to right, the colors are white, yellow, cyan, green, magenta, red, and blue. This sequence runs through all seven possible combinations that use at least one of the three basic color components of green, red, and blue, with blue cycling on and off between every bar, red cycling on and off every two bars, and green on for the leftmost four bars and off for the rightmost three. Because green contributes the largest share of luminance, followed by red, then blue, this sequence of bars thus appears on a waveform monitor in luminance mode as a downward staircase from left to right. The graticule of a vectorscope is etched with boxes showing the permissible regions where the traces from these seven bars are supposed to fall if the signal is properly adjusted. Color is an important part of the visual arts. ... Look up image in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the color. ... A yellow Tulip. ... Cyan (from Greek κυανοs, meaning blue) may be used as the name of any of a number of a range of colors in the blue/green part of the spectrum. ... For other uses, see Green (disambiguation). ... Magenta is a color made up of equal parts of red and blue light. ... For other uses, see Red (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Blue (disambiguation). ... Waveform monitor in 2-line mode, showing color bars. ... A video vectorscope displaying color bars. ...

Below the main set of seven bars is a strip of blue, magenta, cyan, and white castellations. When a television receiver is set to filter out all colors except for blue, these castellations, combined with the main set of color bars, are used to properly adjust the color controls; they appear as four solid blue bars, with no visible distinction between the bars and the castellations, if the color controls are properly adjusted. For other uses, see Blue (disambiguation). ... Magenta is a color made up of equal parts of red and blue light. ... Cyan (from Greek κυανοs, meaning blue) may be used as the name of any of a number of a range of colors in the blue/green part of the spectrum. ... This article is about the color. ...

The bottom section of the test pattern contains a square of saturated (100% intensity) white and a rectangle of saturated (7.5% intensity) black, for use in setting the luminance range. More modern versions of the pattern feature a "pluge pulse." The pluge (short for "Picture Line-Up Generation Equipment") pulse is positioned within the black rectangle, below the red bar (it is present in the illustration but may be hard to see). It comprises three small vertical bars, a rightmost one with intensity just above the saturated black level, a middle one with intensity exactly equal to saturated black, and a leftmost one with intensity just below saturated black (or "blacker than black"). The pluge pulse aids in adjusting the bottom of the luminance range to avoid either washing out the black tones into grays or collapsing picture information into the signal clipping that occurs a small distance below the saturated black level (known as "crushing the blacks"). When a monitor is properly adjusted, the rightmost pluge bar should be just barely visible, while the left two should appear completely black. Also in the bottom section are two sections that contain -Inphase and +Quadrature signals (see YIQ), centered on black level and having the same gain as the color burst signal; these show up on the pattern as two squares of very dark blue and on a vectorscope as two short lines ninety degrees apart. These are used to ensure that the television receiver properly decodes the 3.58 MHz color subcarrier portion of the signal. The vectors for the -I and +Q blocks should fall exactly on the I and Q axes on the vectorscope if the chrominance signal is demodulated properly. A Pluge signal as viewed on a monitor SMPTE colour bars showing a pluge signal in the bottom half second square from the right In television, picture line-up generation equipment (PLUGE or pluge, pronounced plooj) is equipment used to generate greyscale test patterns in order to adjust the black... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... NTSC is the analog television system in use in Canada, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and some other countries, mostly in the Americas (see map). ...

Audio sample:

1000 Hz audio tone Image File history File links 1000Hz. ...

listen to a 1000 Hz sine wave

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

These bars give rise to the former portion of the casual term, "bars and tone". Typically, a television network, TV station, or other originator of video programming transmits SMPTE color bars together with a continuous 1000 Hz audio tone before sending program material, in order to assert ownership of the transmission line or medium, and so that receiving stations and intermediary telecommunications providers may adjust their equipment. Likewise, producers of television programs typically record "bars and tone" at the beginning of a videotape or other recording medium so that the playback equipment can be calibrated. Often, the name or callsign of the TV station, other information such as a real-time clock, or another signal source is graphically superimposed over the bars. A television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. ... A television station is a type of radio station that broadcasts both audio and video to television receivers in a particular area. ... This article is about the SI unit of frequency. ... An audio frequency (abbreviation: AF) is any frequency from about 20 hertz to about 20 kilohertz, which is the approximate range of sound frequencies that is audible to humans. ... Pitch is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. ... calibration refers to the process of determining the relation between the output (or response) of a measuring instrument and the value of the input quantity or attribute, a measurement standard. ... In broadcasting and radio communication, a callsign or call sign (also call letters) is a unique designation for a transmitting station. ...

Although color bars were designed to calibrate analogue NTSC equipment, they remain widely used within modern digital television facilities. Currently, all display monitors use some form of voltage to illuminate or activate a level of opacity in a pixel. Using color bars will allow video, RGB, LCD and Plasma displays, as well as duplication, television and webcast facilities, to maintain the intended chroma and luminance levels.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, the color bars were often broadcast by local television stations during special "color check" segments. For example, CFQC-TV in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan preceded each nightly newscast with "Color Check", which began with the SMPTE color bars as an announcer identified the colors of the vertical bars encouraging viewers to adjust their TV color settings to make sure the colors were "well separated" and matched the description, after which a photograph (later video footage) of a woman's face was broadcast for a few moments, allowing viewers to adjust their TV color settings further.^{[citation needed]} CFQC-TV (also commonly known as CTV Saskatoon) is a Canadian television station, serving Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. ... Saskatoon is a city located in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. ...

See also

• Indian Head test card

The Indian Head test pattern The Indian Head test card was a black and white television test pattern used by RCA that was introduced in 1939. ...

References