MIKE ROBINS COLUMN

Mike Robin, a 20-year veteran of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Engineering Headquarters, is an independent broadcast consultant located in Montreal, Canada. He is the co-author of Digital Television Fundamentals, published by McGraw-Hill and a contributing writer to Broadcast Engineering Magazine. mrobin@miranda.com

SEPTEMBER 1999

Introduction
The color bars signal is widely used and often misinterpreted. There are many variations of the color bars signals in general use. Many of them are application-specific, that is, reflect the operational requirements of the specific organization, like color bars optimized for use with amplitude modulated transmitters. Others are typical of the respective analog composite encoding standard and contain, in addition to the color bars, various signals serving the purpose of color monitor alignment or various performance measurements. They all share a common overall form. In its common form, the color bars signal provides a sequence of vertical bars in the picture displaying the

is a white bar of a standard amplitude. The last is a black bar, that is black level only. In between there are six bars representing the three primary colors and their complements. They are, in order, yellow, cyan, green, magenta, red, and blue. The standard order of presentation was chosen to give a descending sequence of luminance values. Figure 1 shows the position of the eight bars on the television screen. This technical note describes the common type of color bars and serves as a reference for other technical notes.

Generation of a color bars signal

A color bars generator has three outputs corresponding, respectively, to the green, blue, and red primary color signals (EG, EB, ER). The letter E designates a gamma-corrected voltage as generated by a television camera, however, test signal generators do not gamma-correct the test signals. The color bars test signals consist of a sequence of flat-top pulses. By a suitable overlap of the pulses in certain portions of the raster and non-overlap in others, the three saturated complementary colors are produced. These signals may be used in their original form, matrixed into EY, EB-EY and ER-EY or encoded into an analog (NTSC, PAL, SECAM) or digital (component or composite) signal. Two groups of saturated color bars signals are described here. They reflect the peculiarities of the two conventional television scanning standards (525/60 and 625/50) in terms of white and black signal levels. Each

The Color

Bars Signal
Mike Robin
saturated primaries and their complements as well as black and white. The active line is, thus, divided in eight equal parts. The first is occupied by a luminance reference bar, that

MAGENTA

YELLOW

GREEN

BLACK

WHITE

CYAN

group comprises a full-amplitude (100%) and a reduced-amplitude (75%) color bar signal. The various pulse levels are described in percentages of the white level. Each color bar is identified with four numbers with an oblique stroke between them as follows:

BLUE

RED

Figure 1 The position of the eight bars on the television screen

The first number describes the primary color signal level during the transmission of the white bar, that is, the maximum value of EG, EB, and ER.

 The second number describes the primary color signal level during the transmission of the black bar, that is, the minimum value of EG, EB, and ER. The third number describes the maximum level of the primary color signal during the transmission of the colored color bars, that is, the maximum value of EG, EB, and ER. The fourth number describes the minimum level of the primary color signal during the transmission of the colored color bars, that is, the minimum value of EG, EB, and ER. Figure 2-a shows a fully saturated color bars signal with maximum signal levels of 100% and minimum signal levels of 0%. This type of color bar signal is called 100/0/100/0. Figure 2-b shows a fully saturated color bar signal with maximum signal levels of 75% and minimum signal levels of 0%. These types of color bars signals are typical of those used in 625/50 countries. They are representative of the signals used to feed a PAL encoder and would be obtained at the output of a properly adjusted PAL decoder. Figure 2-c shows a fully saturated color bar signal with maximum signal levels of 100% and minimum signal levels of 7.5%. This type of color bar signal is called 100/7.5/100/7.5. Figure 2-d shows a fully saturated color bar signal with maximum signal levels of 75% and minimum signal levels of 7.5%. These types of color bar signals were used in 525/60 countries except Japan. They are representative of the signals used to feed an NTSC encoder using the original philosophy behind the 1953 NTSC standard. In those days the primary signals (EG, EB, and ER) had the black level set at 7.5% of the peak white level (7.5 IRE setup) and their peak level was 714.3 mV (100/ IRE). Current NTSC encoders use EG, EB, and ER signals without setup and, very often, with a GREEN SIGNAL BLUE SIGNAL RED SIGNAL

100

W Y C G M R B BK

W Y C G M R B BK

W Y C G M R B BK

a 100/0/100/0 COLOR BARS

100 75

W Y C G M R B BK

W Y C G M R B BK

W Y C G M R B BK

b 75/0/75/0 COLOR BARS

100

7.5 0

W Y C G M R B BK

W Y C G M R B BK

W Y C G M R B BK

c 100/7.5/100/7.5 COLOR BARS

100 75

7.5 0

W Y C G M R B BK

W Y C G M R B BK

W Y C G M R B BK

d 75/7.5/75/7.5 COLOR BARS

Figure 2 Relative amplitudes of components for four types of colors bars

peak amplitude of 700 mV, leaving it to the encoder to normalize the encoded signal to
NTSC specifications. This allows for standard
WHITE YELLOW CYAN GREEN MAGENTA RED BLUE BLACK WHITE YELLOW CYAN GREEN MAGENTA RED BLUE BLACK

camera circuit designs irrespective of the analog composite encoding standard. The signal at the output of an NTSC decoder will, however, be as shown in Figure 2-c or 2-d.
BLACK WHITE YELLOW CYAN GREEN MAGENTA RED BLUE

100% GREEN 0%

100% 58.7%

0%

In NTSC regions it is customary to use 75% color bars while non-NTSC regions prefer the use of 100% color bars. A subset of the color bars signal is known as 100/0/75/0 or 100/7.5/75/7.5. Here the white bar of a 75% color bars signal is raised to full amplitude (100%) and the luminance and chrominance part of the signal have an amplitude of 75%. This type of signal is used with older analog-type VTRs and analog transmitters. Some test signal generators offer only the subset color bars signals which are referred-to erroneously as 100% color bars . Contemporary analog and digital studio equipment is designed to handle 100% color bars signals without difficulties. It is customary to use such signals to verify the quantizing range of A/D converters and ensure that it meets the relevant standards requirements with respect to signal overhead. It is, therefore, ill-advised to use 75%

100% BLUE 0%

100%
ADDER

G G B B G R R R R B B

11.4% 0% 100%
88.6% 70.1% 58.7% 41.3% 29.9% 11.4% 0%

100% RED 0%

100% Y SIGNAL 29.9% 0%

Figure 3 Graphic representation of the formation of 100/0/100/0 color bars Y signal from the primary Green, Blue and Red signals

WHITE YELLOW CYAN GREEN MAGENTA RED BLUE BLACK

100% GREEN 0%

100% 58.7%

WHITE YELLOW CYAN GREEN MAGENTA RED BLUE BLACK

INVERTER

WHITE YELLOW CYAN GREEN MAGENTA RED BLUE BLACK

0%

color bars in a modern studio. The use of various types of 75% color bars may still need to be used with analog television transmitters due to their reduced headroom.

100% BLUE 0%

100% 88.6%
ADDER

B R R G G

B R R

G G

0%

88.6% 58.7% 100% RED 0% 100%

INVERTER

29.9% B-Y SIGNAL 0% -29.9% -58.7% -88.6% 0%

29.9% 0%

Figure 4 Graphic representation of the formation of 100/0/100/0 color bars blue colordifference signal from the primary Green, Blue and Red signals

The G,B,R component color bars signals

The signal structure and levels described above serve to derive component analog
WHITE YELLOW CYAN GREEN MAGENTA RED BLUE BLACK

specifies the characteristics of component analog EG,EB,ER signals which are embodied by the 100/0/100/0 color bars signals. Specific characteristics of all three signals are: Maximum (white) signal level: 700 mV Minimum (black) signal level: 0 mV Black level setup: 0 mV Each of the three signals carries the sync information. The sync information is similar to that specified by SMPTE standard 170M with the exception that the sync amplitude is -300 mV instead of -285.7 mV (-40 IRE) and there is no subcarrier burst. With some types of equipment only the green signal carries the sync information. Various types of equipment use slightly different signal characteristics making equipment interconnection difficult. Among the variations encountered, either separate or combined, are the following: The sync signal is carried by a separate (fourth) conductor and its amplitude can vary from -300mV to -4 V. The maximum (white) signal amplitude is 714.3 mV (100 IRE) The black setup level is 53.55 mV (7.5 IRE)
RED 0% 100% 100% BLUE 0% 100% GREEN 0%

100% 58.7%

WHITE YELLOW CYAN GREEN MAGENTA RED BLUE BLACK

EG,EB,ER signals. SMPTE standard 253 M

INVERTER

100%
INVERTER ADDER

11.4% 0%

100% 70.1%

11.4% 0% R-Y SIGNAL

0% -58.7% -70.1%

Figure 5 Graphic representation of the formation of 100/0/100/0 color bars red-difference signal from the primary Green, Blue and Red signals

WHITE YELLOW CYAN GREEN MAGENTA RED BLUE BLACK R R

B B

0%

R R
B B

G G G G

70.1% 58.7%

0%

Figure 6 NTSC 100/7.5/100/7.5 color bars signal waveform

100
(714.3) 89.5 (639.29)

72.3
(516.43) 61.8 (441.43)

LUMINANCE COMPONENT LEVELS IN IRE mV IN BRACKETS

(326.43) 35.2 (251.43)

The matrixed color bars signals

G,B,R component color bars signals have rel-

atively limited practical uses. They are

45.7 18.00 140 IRE (1 Vp-p) 7.5
(53.57)

mainly used to verify and adjust the gain of component analog G,B,R distribution systems and serve as a signal source for matrixed and encoded color bars signals. The matrixed color bars signals are derived from component analog EG,EB,ER signals

0 W Y C G M R

(128.57)

BLK

-40 (-285.72) 82.8 40 b

117

109.2 109.2

117 82.8 CHROMINANCE COMPONENT p-p SUBCARRIER LEVEL IN IRE

by a specific process. The process consists of matrixing the three component signals into a new set of component signals, a luminance signal (EY) and two color-difference signals ( EB-EY and ER-EY).

130.8 130.8 116.4 100 100.3 COMPOSITE COLOR SIGNAL SUBCARRIER ADDED TO LUMINANCE LEVELS IN IRE 93.6

The EY signal is given by the following expression: EY = 0.587 EG + 0.114 EB + 0.299 ER

59.4 48.9 20 c 0 13.9 7.5 7.2 -8.9 -20 -40 -23.3 -23.3 170 IRE (1.22 Vp-p)

Figure 3 shows a graphical representation of the formation of the 100/0/100/0 color bars EY signal from the primary EG,EB,ER signals. The amplitudes are expressed in percentages of the full-amplitude signal (700 mV) The color-difference signals are bipolar and have equal positive and negative excursions. Their amplitude is reduced by scaling

100

Figure 7 NTSC 75/7.5/75/7.5 color bars signal waveform

(714.3)

76.9
(549.29)

69
(492.86) 56.1 (400.72)

LUMINANCE COMPONENT LEVELS IN IRE mV IN BRACKETS 48

(344.29)

factors to meet specific signal amplitude range requirements. When the allowed amplitude range of these signals is 700 mV (350 mV), as specified by the EBU N10 standard and the CCIR 601 recommendation, the color-difference signals are given by the following expressions:

36
(258.57) 28.2 (201.43) 15.4 (110)

140 IRE (1 Vp-p) 7.5

(53.57)

0 W Y C G

BLK

-40 (-285.72) 87.7 40 b 62.1 81.9 81.9 87.7 62.1 CHROMINANCE COMPONENT p-p SUBCARRIER LEVEL IN IRE

ECB = 0.564 (EB-EY) (also known as PB in North America) and ECR = 0.713 (ER-EY) (also known as PR in North America)

100 7.69

100

100 89.2 77.1 COMPOSITE COLOR SIGNAL SUBCARRIER ADDED TO LUMINANCE 72.1 LEVELS IN IRE 46.4

20 c 0

37.9 12.3 7.5 7.3 -4.8 -15.6 -15.6

140 IRE (1 Vp-p)

-20 -40

Figure 4 shows the graphical representation of the formation of the 100/0/100/0 color bars EB-EY color-difference signal. Figure 5 shows the graphical representation of the formation of the 100/0/100/0 color bars EREY color-difference signal. Their amplitudes are expressed in percentages of the fullamplitude signal (700 mV).
a 0 W Y C 885 -300 627 300 b G 827 M 827 R 885 627 CHROMINANCE COMPONENT p-p SUBCARRIER LEVEL IN mV 700 620 491 411 289 209 80 B 0 BLK 1 Vp-p LUMINANCE COMPONENT LEVELS IN mV

Different scaling factors are used by North American versions of the BETACAM and MII component analog Videotape recording formats. The dominant European version of the
BETACAM format and the MII format use EBU N10 scaling factors.

Encoded composite color bars signals

The NTSC,and the PAL encoding process uses identical matrixing coefficients to obtain the encoded luminance (EY) and color-difference (EB-Y or EU and ER-Y or EV) signals. The EY signal is given by: EY = 0.587 EG + 0.114 EB + 0.299 ER
c 150 0 48.5 306.5 700 933.5 933.5 824.5 702.5 COMPOSITE COLOR SIGNAL SUBCARRIER ADDED TO LUMINANCE LEVELS IN mV 651.5

393.5 1.2335 Vp-p

The color-difference signals are bipolar and have equal positive and negative excursions. Their amplitudes are reduces by specific scaling factors aimed at avoiding the overmodulation of land-based AM video transmitters using negative modulation. The scaled color-difference signals are given by the following expressions: EB-Y = 0.493 (EB-EY) (Called EU in PAL) and ER-Y = 0.877 (ER-EY) (Called EV in PAL)
-300 -150

-2.5 -124.5 -233.5 -233.5

Figure 8 PAL 100/0/100/0 color bars signal waveform

The encoding process of both television systems is similar. It consists of a process of

700 525 LUMINANCE COMPONENT LEVELS IN mV 465 368 308 217 0 W Y C G M R B BLK 157 60 a 1 Vp-p

suppressed carrier amplitude-modulation of two dedicated equal-frequency subcarriers (3.579... MHz in NTSC and 4.433... MHz in PAL), in quadrature-phase, with the two scaled color-difference signals. The NTSC encoding process results in a half-line-offset interleaved chrominance/luminance spectrum. In PAL, the V subcarrier phase alternates line-by-line resulting in a more complex
470 CHROMINANCE COMPONENT p-p SUBCARRIER LEVEL IN mV

-300 470 300 b

664

620

620

664

quarter-line-offset

interleaved

chromi-

nance/luminance spectrum. Figure 6 shows the waveform of a 100/7.5/100/7.5 (100%) NTSC color bars signal resulting from the addition of luminance and chrominance components. Note that the peak positive signal excursion is 130.8
700 525 700 700 610 527 COMPOSITE COLOR SIGNAL SUBCARRIER ADDED TO LUMINANCE 491 LEVELS IN mV 295

IRE which is beyond the overload level of an

analog television transmitter. This signal can, however, be accommodated by modern studio equipment. Figure 7 shows the waveform of a 75/7.5/75/7.5 (75%) NTSC color bars signal resulting from the addition of

150 c 0

230 36

1 Vp-p

-2 -93 -175 -175

-150 -300

luminance and chrominance components. The dotted outline of the luminance bar represents a 100/7.5/75/7.5 color bars signal. The signal in Figure 7 can be accommodated

Figure 9 PAL 75/0/75/0 color bars signal waveform

by television transmitters. Figure 8 shows the waveform of a 100/0/100/0 (100%) PAL color bars signal resulting from the addition of luminance and chrominance components. The peak positive signal excursion of this signal is beyond the transmitter overload level of most 625/50 scanning standard television transmitters with the exception of the CCIR-I transmission system as used in England. This signal can, however be accommodated by modern studio equipment. Figure 9 shows the waveform of a 75/0/75/0 color bars signal resulting from the addition of luminance and chrominance signals. The dotted outline of the luminance bar represents a 100/0/75/0 color bars signal. The signal in Figure 9 can be accommodated by television transmitters.

TECHNICAL NOTES
Figure 10 shows the relationship between the NTSC encoded composite signal amplitude and the percentage of modulation of the video carrier. The FCC transmission standards have established the minimum video carrier level, corresponding to peak white (100 IRE), at 12.5%. It is evident that 100% color bars signals will overmodulate the transmitter and this is the reason for the use of 75% color bars signals for transmission tests. It is important to note that excessive positive signal amplitudes, corresponding to saturated yellow and cyan hues, are unlikely to occur with camera generated signals and this explains the FCC tolerances. Problems can occur with synthetically generated signals such as 100% color bars, character generators or digital video effects (DVE) generators which can produce signals causing video transmitter overload.

TECHNICAL

VIDEO LEVEL SYNC TIP -40 IRE

BLANKING 0 IRE BLACK 7.5 IRE

WHITE

100 IRE 120 IRE 0% 12.5% 70.3% 75% 100%

Figure 10 Significant video signal levels show as a percentage of carrier amplitude in negative amplitude modulated sys

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