{"id":4005,"date":"2016-06-23T16:58:27","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T20:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/?p=4005"},"modified":"2016-06-23T16:58:27","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T20:58:27","slug":"color-bars-test-patterns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/06\/23\/color-bars-test-patterns\/","title":{"rendered":"Color Bars & Test Patterns"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Digital Production Center<\/a>, many of the videotapes we digitize have \u201cbars and tone\u201d at the beginning of the tape. These are officially called \u201cSMPTE color bars.<\/a>\u201d SMPTE stands for The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers<\/a>, the organization that established the color bars as the North American video standard, beginning in the 1970s. In addition to the color bars presented visually, there is an audio tone that is emitted from the videotape at the same time, thus the phrase \u201cbars and tone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"color_bars\"<\/a>
SMPTE color bars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The purpose of bars and tone is to serve as a reference or target for the calibration of color and audio levels coming from\u00a0the videotape during transmission. The color bars are presented at 75% intensity. The audio tone is a 1kHz sine wave.\u00a0In the DPC, we can make adjustments to the incoming signal, in order to bring the target values into specification. This is done by monitoring the vectorscope<\/a> output, and the audio levels. Below, you can see the color bars are in proper alignment\u00a0on the DPC’s vectorscope readout, after initial adjustment.<\/p>\n

\"vectorscope\"<\/a>
Color bars in proper alignment with the Digital Production Center’s vectorscope readout. Each letter stands for a color: red, magenta, blue, cyan, green and yellow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We use Blackmagic Design’s\u00a0SmartView<\/a> monitors to check\u00a0the vectorscope, as well as waveform and audio levels. The SmartView is an updated, more compact and lightweight\u00a0version of the older, analog equipment traditionally used in television studios. The Smartview monitors are\u00a0integrated into our video rack system, along with other video digitization equipment, and numerous videotape decks.<\/p>\n

\"dpc_video_rack\"<\/a>
The Digital Production Center’s videotape digitization system.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you are old enough to have grown up in the black and white television era, you may recognize this old TV test pattern, commonly referred to as\u00a0the “Indian-head test pattern<\/a>.” This often appeared\u00a0just before\u00a0a TV station began broadcasting\u00a0in the morning, and again right after the station signed off at night. The design was introduced in 1939 by RCA. The “Indian-head” image was\u00a0integrated\u00a0into a\u00a0pattern of lines and shapes that television engineers used to calibrate broadcast equipment. Because the illustration\u00a0of the Native American chief contained identifiable shades of gray, and\u00a0had fine detail in the feathers of the headdress, it\u00a0was ideal for adjusting brightness and contrast.<\/p>\n

\"indian_head\"<\/a>
The Indian-head test pattern was introduced by RCA in 1939.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When color television debuted in the 1960’s, the “Indian-head test pattern” was replaced with a test card showing color bars, a precursor\u00a0to the SMPTE color bars. Today, the “Indian-head test pattern” is remembered nostalgically, as a symbol of\u00a0the advent of television, and as a unique piece of Americana. The master art for\u00a0the test pattern was discovered in an RCA dumpster in 1970, and has since been sold to\u00a0a\u00a0private collector. \u00a0In 2009, when all U.S. television stations were required to end their analog signal transmission, many of the stations used the Indian-head test pattern as their final analog broadcast image.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Digital Production Center, many of the videotapes we digitize have \u201cbars and tone\u201d at the beginning of the tape. These are officially called \u201cSMPTE color bars.\u201d SMPTE stands for The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the organization that established the color bars as the North American video standard, beginning in the … Continue reading Color Bars & Test Patterns<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":4037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,14,12,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-expertise","category-equipment","category-tech","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nColor Bars & Test Patterns - Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/06\/23\/color-bars-test-patterns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Color Bars & Test Patterns - Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the Digital Production Center, many of the videotapes we digitize have \u201cbars and tone\u201d at the beginning of the tape. These are officially called \u201cSMPTE color bars.\u201d SMPTE stands for The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the organization that established the color bars as the North American video standard, beginning in the … Continue reading Color Bars & Test Patterns →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/06\/23\/color-bars-test-patterns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dukedigitalcoll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-23T20:58:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/06\/indian_head_cover.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"508\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alex Marsh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@dukedigitalcoll\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@dukedigitalcoll\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alex Marsh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/06\/23\/color-bars-test-patterns\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/06\/23\/color-bars-test-patterns\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alex Marsh\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#\/schema\/person\/83a38ada8aeb4e2e378f391e1248d513\"},\"headline\":\"Color Bars & Test Patterns\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-23T20:58:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/06\/23\/color-bars-test-patterns\/\"},\"wordCount\":532,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/06\/23\/color-bars-test-patterns\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/06\/indian_head_cover.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Digitization Expertise\",\"Equipment\",\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/06\/23\/color-bars-test-patterns\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/06\/23\/color-bars-test-patterns\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/06\/23\/color-bars-test-patterns\/\",\"name\":\"Color Bars & Test Patterns - 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