UNIT II

COLOR STANDARDS
AND DIGITAL VIDEO
 Contents
• Standards: NTSC, PAL, SECAM colour system
• generalized colour TV receiver block diagram
• study of functionality of each block
• alignment issues
• sampling of video signal
• Colour sub sampling
• composite vs component video
• interlace vs progressive scan.
 NTSC (National Television System Committee)
Features of NTSC:
• Developed in the US.
• Compatible with the 525 line, 60 field per second, 2:1
interlaced monochrome system.
• To transmit color information, we use I & Q signals derived as
follows:
I=Vcos33°-Usin33° &
Q=Vsin33°+Ucos33°where,
U=0.492(B-Y) & V=0.877(R-Y)
• Note-(B-Y) & (R-Y) are the color signals that contain the real
color information. Furthur, U & V are weighted color signals
and I & Q are then obtained from U & V.
• I & Q are used to modulate a color sub-carrier of frequency
3.58 Mhz using two balanced modulators.
• Variants of NTSC are NTSC 4.43 (VCRs), NTSC J (Japan) & NTSC
M (same as J but includes blanking pulses)
Advantages of NTSC:
• Higher frame rate – reduces visible flicker
• Less inherent picture noise – better S/N ratio
• Simpler circuits than PAL & SECAM
• Easy studio mixing
• Less costly than PAL
Disadvantages of NTSC:
• Small luminance signal bandwidth (3.85 MHz) –
increased likelihood of interference
• Susceptible to hue fluctuations
• Lower gamma ratio (2.2 as opposed to 2.8 in PAL
systems)
• More costly than SECAM
• Lower number of scan lines – means reduced
quality on large TV screens
PAL (Phase Alternating Line)
Features of PAL:
• Adopted by Europe.
• Co pati le with Europe’s li e, fields per se o d, :
interlaced monochrome standard.
• Modification of NTSC to overcome high order of phase and
amplitude integrity requirements to avoid color distortion.
It implements this by line-by-line reversal of the phase of
one of the color components. U & V signals (defined above)
are used in transmission and the modulation is phase
quadrature balanced modulation. The phase of the V is
reversed on every other line so any color sub-carrier phase
errors are cancelled. Hence, hue errors are corrected by
phase alternation. The color sub-carrier frequencies are
different for different versions of PAL as defined below.
• PAL B, D, G, H, I, N (color sub-carrier frequency = 4.43 MHz),
PAL M (3.57 MHz) & PAL Nc (3.58 MHz)
Advantages of PAL:
• Greater number of scan lines – more picture
detail.
• Wider luminance signal bandwidth (4.43 MHz
in most PAL variants)
• Stable hues – due to error correction by phase
alternation
• Higher gamma ratio (2:8) – hence, higher level
of contrast than NTSC
• Easy studio mixing compared to SECAM
Disadvantages of PAL:
• Costliest receivers due to complex circuits for
electronic switching
• Lower frame rate – hence, more flicker
• Lower S/N ratio than NTSC
• Variable color saturation – cancelling out
phase differences by alternation holds hue
stable but at the same time, it can change
(reduce) color saturation.
SECAM (Sequential Color with Memory)
Features of SECAM:
• Developed in France
• 625-line system, 50 fields per second, 2:1 interlaced system.
• Instead of transmitting R & B information together, they are
sent one by one (hence, sequential) and information about
the color from the preceding line is used (hency, memory).
Transmits Db signal (blue color information) on one line and
Dr signal (red color information) on the next line while Y is
transmitted on each line.Here,
D = . (B’-Y) & Dr=- .9 (R’-Y)
• The color sub-carrier frequencies for Blue & Red signals are
4.25 MHz and 4.4 MHz respectively and FM is used as color
modulation.
• Variants of SECAM are SECAM B, G, D, K, K1, & L. (B & G use a
video bandwidth of 5 MHz while others use a video
bandwidth of 6MHz.
Advantages of SECAM:
• Use of FM makes system free of phase errors.
• No crosstalk between color signals since they do
not exist on the same line.
• Hue control not needed. (needed in NTSC but not
needed in PAL & SECAM)
• Saturation control not needed (needed in both
NTSC & PAL)
• Lower cost than both NTSC & PAL
• Higher number of scan lines than NTSC
Disadvantages of SECAM:
• Half color information is lost on each line since
only one color signal is transmitted on each
line.
• Not suitable for studio use – studios use PAL
and then transcode to SECAM for SECAM
markets.
• Incompatibility between different versions of
SECAM (due to political influence)
 (NTSC vs PAL vs SECAM : Comparison Table)
Parameter NTSC PAL SECAM
Developed/adopte US Europe(UK) France
d in
Number of lines 525 625 625

Frames/second 60 50 50
Color info U & V or I & Q are U & V are used Db & Dr are used
transmission used
Sub-carrier 3.58 MHz 4.43 Mhz 4.25 or 4.4 MHz
Frequency

9 cycles of sub- 10 cycles of sub- burst cycles of red

Color Burst carrier frequency carrier frequency and blue sub-
carrier frequency

Variants 4.43, J, M B, D, G, H, I, N, M & B, G, D, K, K , L

Nc 1

Cost Medium Cost Most Expensive Least Expensive

Studio Mixing Easiest Medium Ease Difficult

 SUMMARY
• Chrominance is represented by the U-V color
plane in PAL and SECAM video signals, and by
the I-Q color plane in NTSC.
 QUESTIONS
• In the term NTSC TV , C stands for-
1. Color
2. Committee
3. camera
4. Code
• Automatic correction of color error is possible
in-
1. NTSC
2. PAL
3. SECAM
4. NONE OF THESE
• Number of scan lines for NTSC are-
1. 525
2. 625
3. 725
4. None of these
• Chroma signals in PAL are-
1. I and Q signals
2. R-y and B-Y signals
3. R-y and G-Y signals
4. V and U signals
 Answers
• Committee
• PAL
• 525
• V and U signals
• Why different TV standards are used in
different countries?
Color TV receiver
• The color tv receiver consist of five section
namely-
1. Radio Frequency (RF) Tuner
2. Video Section
3. PAL decoder / Color Processing section
4. Synch Section
5. Sound Section
RF TUNER
• It consists of VHF (Very High Frequency) and
UHF (Ultra High Frequency). It selects the
desired T.V Channel and provides constant
values of PIF = 38.9 MHZ and SIF = 33.4 MHZ.
Video Section
• It consist of video detector which provides
composite colour video signal (CCVS).This
CCVS consist of pure video, synch pulses,
colour signals, colour bus, AGC bias is also
obtained from this section.
• PAL Decoder / Color Processing section
• It consist of colour demodulator which
provides demodulated U and V signals. PAL
decoder provides R.G.B signals.
• Which are applied to picture tube and PAL
decoder also consist of ACC (Automatic Colour
Control ) and colour killer circuit.
Synchronization Section
• This section provides horizontal and vertical
synchronize pulses. It also provides colour bus
which is used as trigger signal to generate CSC (
Colour Sub carrier ) signal. The horizontal and
vertical pulses are applied to deflection coils of PT
(Picture tube).The horizontal signal is also used to
generate EHT (Extra high tension) supply of about
25 Kv.
Sound section
• The output of FM (Frequency Modulator)
detector is processed and the audio signal is
reproduced by the speaker.
composite vs component video
• Component video can be contrasted
with composite video (NTSC, PAL or SECAM)
in which all the video information is combined
into a single line level signal that is used in
analog television.
Like composite, component-video cables do
not carry audio and are often paired with
audio cables.
Interlace Vs Progressive scan
• Interlaced scan:
• Used in Traditional TV systems (such as NTSC, the
standard TV system in the United States)
• Half the picture appears on the screen at a time.
The other half of the picture follows an instant
later (1/60th of a second, to be precise).
• Eyes a ’t dete t this pro edure i a tio
• NTSC analog television signals are broadcast in
480i.
• The numbers listed before the p or
the i represent the number of scan lines the
video source uses to reproduce the video.
• Progressive scan:
• The entire picture is painted at once, which
greatly reduces the flickering that people
notice when watching TV.
• Progressive scan is available throughout a
range of TV types.
 Pre-emphasis and De-emphasis
• Pre-emphasis is the first part of a noise
reduction technique in which a signal's
weaker, higher frequencies are boosted before
they are transmitted or recorded onto a
storage medium.
• Pre-emphasis is used to improve signal quality
at the output of a data transmission.
• Upon playback, a de-emphasis filter is applied
to reverse the process
• De-emphasis means attenuating those
frequencies by the amount by which they are
boosted.
• However pre-emphasis is done at the
transmitter and the de-emphasis is done in
the receiver.
• The purpose is to improve the signal-to-noise
ratio for FM reception.