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AnalogVideo101NationalInstruments

AnalogVideo101
PublishDate:Apr15,2011

Overview

ThispaperispartoftheNationalInstrumentsSignalGeneratorTutorial
(http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4089)andHighSpeedDigitizersTutorial
(http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3408)series.Eachtutorialinthisseriesteachesyou
aspecifictopicofcommonmeasurementapplicationsbyexplainingthetheoryandgiving
practicalexamples.Thistutorialcoversthefundamentalsofvideosignalmeasurementand
generation.
Foradditionalsignalgeneratorconcepts,refertotheSignalGeneratorFundamentalsmain
page.(http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4089)
Foradditionalhighspeeddigitizerconcepts,refertothe
(http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4089)HighSpeedDigitizersFundamentalsmain
page.(http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3408)

TableofContents

1.UnderstandingCompositeVideoSignals
2.PartsoftheVideoSignal
3.DifferentVideoFormats
4.ColorCoding
5.VideoLevels
6.InterlacedScanningConcept
7.ActiveImage
8.GrayScaleImageandExtractedLineProfile
9.CompleteNTSCFrameScan
10.RelevantNIProducts
1.UnderstandingCompositeVideoSignals

Acompositevideosignalisasignalinwhichallthecomponentsrequiredtogeneratea
videosignalareembeddedinasinglesignal.Thethreemaincomponentsthattogetherform
acompositesignalareasfollows:
Thelumasignal(orluminance)containstheintensity(brightnessordarkness)
informationofthevideoimage
Thechromasignalcontainsthecolorinformationofthevideoimage
Thesynchronizationsignalcontrolsthescanningofthesignalonadisplaysuchasthe
TVscreen
Themonochromecompositesignalisbuiltoftwocomponents:luma(orluminance)and
synchronization.Thissignal,whichisusuallycalledtheYsignal,isshowninFigure1.

Figure1.MonochromeCompositeVideoSignal(LumaStepsfromWhitetoBlack)
Thechromasignalbyitself,whichisusuallycalledtheCsignal,isshowninFigure2.

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Figure2.ColorInformationSignalforaColorBarLine(IncludingtheColorBurst)
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Thecompositecolorvideosignal,oftencalledtheColorVideo,Blank,andSync(CVBS)
signal,isthesumofYandC,isshowninFigure3.
CVBS=Y+C

Figure3.ColorCompositeVideoSignalforaColorBarLine
ThetwocomponentsYandCcanalsobedistributedseparatelyastwoindependentsignals.
ThesetwosignalstogetherarecalledeitherY/CorSvideo.
2.PartsoftheVideoSignal

Thesignalforasinglehorizontalvideolineconsistsofahorizontalsyncsignal,backporch,
activepixelregion,andfrontporch,asshowninFigure4.

Figure4.PartsoftheVideoSignal
Thehorizontalsync(HSYNC)signalsthebeginningofeachnewvideoline.Itisfollowed
byabackporch,whichisusedasareferenceleveltoremoveanyDCcomponentsfrom
thefloating(ACcoupled)videosignal.Thisisaccomplishedduringtheclampinginterval
formonochromesignals,andtakesplaceonthebackporch.Forcompositecolorsignals,
theclampingoccursduringthehorizontalsyncpulsebecausemostofthebackporchis
usedforthecolorburst,whichprovidesinformationfordecodingthecolorcontentofthe
signal.TheNIMeasurement&AutomationExplorerHelpincludesadescriptionofallthe
advancedsetupparametersforthevideosignal.
Youcanincorporatecolorinformationalongwiththemonochromevideosignal.A
compositecolorsignalconsistsofthestandardmonochromesignal(RS170orCCIR)with
thefollowingcomponentsadded:
Colorburst:Locatedonthebackporch,thisisahighfrequencyregion,whichprovides
aphaseandamplitudereferenceforthesubsequentcolorinformation.
Chromasignal:Thisistheactualcolorinformation.Itconsistsoftwoquadrature
componentsmodulatedontoacarrieratthecolorburstfrequency.Thephaseand
amplitudeofthesecomponentsdeterminethecolorcontentateachpixel.
Anotheraspectofthevideosignalistheverticalsync(VSYNC)pulse.Thisisactuallya
seriesofpulsesthatoccursbetweenfieldstosignalthemonitortoperformaverticalretrace
andpreparetoscanthenextfield.Thereareseverallinesbetweeneachfieldthatcontainno
activevideoinformation.SomecontainonlyHSYNCpulses,whileseveralotherscontaina
seriesofequalizingandVSYNCpulses.Thesepulsesweredefinedintheearlydaysof
broadcasttelevisionandhavebeenpartofthestandardeversince,althoughnewer
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hardwaretechnologyhaseliminatedtheneedforsomeoftheextrapulses.AcompositeRS
170interlacedsignalisshowninFigure5,includingtheverticalsyncpulses.Forsimplicity,a
sixlineframeisshown:

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Figure5.VSYNCPulse

Itisimportanttorealizethatthehorizontalsize(inpixels)ofanimageobtainedfroman
analogcameraisdeterminedbytherateatwhichtheframegrabbersampleseach
horizontalvideoline.Thatrate,inturn,isdeterminedbytheverticallinerateandthe
architectureofthecamera.Thestructureofthecamera'sCCDarraydeterminesthesizeof
eachpixel.Toavoiddistortingtheimage,youmustsampleinthehorizontaldirectionata
ratethatchopsthehorizontalactivevideoregionintothecorrectnumberofpixels.The
followingisanexamplewithnumbersfromtheRS170standard:
Parametersofinterest:
#oflines/frame:525(thisincludes485linesfordisplaytherestareVSYNClinesfor
eachofthetwofields)
linefrequency:15.734kHz
lineduration:63.556s
activehorizontalduration:52.66s
#activepixels/line:640
Youcanmakethesecalculations:
Pixelclock(PCLK)frequency(thefrequencyatwhicheachpixelarrivesattheframe
grabber):
640pixels/line/52.66e6sec/line=12.15e6pixels/sec(12.15MHz)
Totallinelengthinpixelsofactivevideo+timinginformation(referredtoasHCOUNT):
63.556e6sec*12.15e6pixels/sec=772pixels/line
Framerate:
15.734e3lines/sec/525lines/frame=30frames/sec
3.DifferentVideoFormats

Table1describessomecharacteristicsofthestandardanalogvideoformatsincommonuse.
NTSC:NationalTelevisionStandardsCommittee
PAL:PhaseAlterationLine
SECAM:SystemeElectronicPourColeurAvecMemoire
Format

WhereIt
IsUsed

NTSC

PAL

Mode

Signal
Name

Frame
Vertical
LineRate
Rate,
Line
(lines/sec)
Scanning Resolution
Speed
(frame/sec)

North
Mono
and
Central
America, Color
Japan

RS
170

30

525

15,750

NTSC
Color

29.97

525

15,734

Europe
Mono
(except
France),
Australia,
Color
partsof
Africa
and
South
America

CCIR

25

405

10,125

PAL
Color

25

625

15,625

Image
Size
(WxH)
pixels
640x480

768x576

SECAM France,
Mono
25
819
20,475
N/A
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Eastern
Europe,
Russia,
partsof

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the
Color
Middle
Eastand
Africa

25

625

15,625

Table1.CharacteristicsofStandardAnalogVideoFormats
4.ColorCoding

ForallPALandNTSCformats,thecodingisbasedonthequadratureamplitudemodulation
(QAM)concept,wheretwocolorcomponentsareamplitudemodulatedinquadratureand
thencombined.Themodulationmustbedecoded,sotokeeptrackoftheabsolutephase
neededtodecodethecolorinformation,youinsertareferencesignal,calledthecolorburst,
atthebeginningofeachline,rightafterthehorizontalsynchronizationpulse(seefigures3
and4).
FortheSECAMformat,thetwocolorcomponentsarefrequencymodulatedusingtwo
differentsubcarrierfrequenciesandaresequentiallydistributedonalternatedvideolines.
TheSECAMformatdoesnotneedacolorburstsignal.
5.VideoLevels

Thevideolevelsdefinethelevelsandrangesforthedifferentpartsofthevideosignal.The
unitusedtodefinevideolevelsistheIRE(InstituteofRadioEngineers).Theblankinglevel
refersto0IREandthewhitelevelrefersto+100IRE.Theblankinglevel,whichisthe
referencelevelforthevideosignal(usually0V),isdifferentfromtheblacklevelifasetupis
appliedtothesignalasshowninFigure6.

Figure6.VideoLevels
ForNTSC,asetupof7.5IREisusuallyapplied,movingtheblacklevelto+7.5IRE.ForPAL
andSECAM,theblacklevelisalignedwiththeblankinglevelat0IRE.
Table3showsthedifferentvideolevelsdependingonthevideoformat.
Video
Format

Sync
Level

Blanking
Level

Black
Level

White
Level

Peak
Level

Burst
Amplitude

NTSC

40IRE

0IRE

+7.5IRE

+100IRE

+120IRE

20.0IRE

PAL

43IRE

0IRE

0IRE

+100IRE

+133IRE

21.5IRE

SECAM

43IRE

0IRE

0IRE

+100IRE

+130IRE

N/A

Table2.VideoLevelsbyFormat
Theanalogcompositevideosignalisdefinedasavoltagesourcewithanoutputimpedance
of75.Thesynctowhitelevelisnormally1Vpkpkwhenloadedwitha75resistance.
Therefore,theunloadedsignalisnominally2Vpkpk.
6.InterlacedScanningConcept

AllcompositevideosystemsdisplaythevideoimageonaTVscreenusinganinterlaced
scanningtechnique.Figure7showstheinterlacedscanningconcept.

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Figure7.InterlacedScanningonaTVScreen
Theanalogvideosignalincludessynchronizationpulsesthatcontrolthescanninglineby
linefromlefttorightandfieldbyfieldfromtoptobottom.Thepulsesthatcontrolthelineby
linescanningarecalledthehorizontalsynchronizationpulses(HSync).Thepulsesthat
controltheverticalscanningarecalledtheverticalsynchronizationpulses(VSync).
Twointerlacedfieldscomposeacompleteframe.Thefirstfield,calledtheoddfield,scans
theoddlinesofthevideoimage.Thesecondfield,calledtheevenfield,scanstheevenlines
ofthevideoimage.Theprocessrepeatsforeveryframe.
SeeAlso:
WhenAcquiringanInterlacedImage,WhatFieldIsTakenFirstOddorEven?
(http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/418EA835FB78511186256B53005ABCD2?
OpenDocument)
HowAreOddandEvenFieldsDifferentiatedinanInterlacedVideoSignal?
(http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/17A032D78871F03086256B610057C984?
OpenDocument)
7.ActiveImage

Theactivevideoimageresultingfromthescanningalwayshasanaspectratio
(horizontal/vertical)of4/3nomatterthevideoformat.Thecolorcompositevideosignal
showsthatthescanningprocessrequiressomeadditionalroomontheleftandrightsidesof
eachlineaswellasonthetopandbottomoftheactivevideoimageregion.Thisadditional
roomincludesthesynchronizationsignals,colorbursts,andotherformatspecific
information,liketheITS,whicharenotpartoftheactivevideoimage.Approximately90
percentofallthelinesand80percentofeachlinecantransmittheactiveimageinformation.
Theexactvaluesdependonthevideoformat,asshowninTable3.
Video
Format

Lines/Frame

Active
Lines

FrameRate

Line
Duration

ActiveLine
Duration

NTSC

525

480/486

29.97
frames/sec

63.55s

52.2s

PAL/SECAM

625

576

25.00
frames/sec

64.00s

52.0s

Table3.ActiveVideoImageValues
"ActiveLines"representsthenumberoflinesthatareactuallyusedtotransmittheimage
information.Forexample,only480linesoutof525linesperframetransmittheimage
informationinNTSC.Likewise,oneachline,theimageinformationistransmittedonlyduring
theactivelinessequence,whichisshorterthantheentirelineduration.Forexample,of
63.55s,only52.2saretheactivelinedurationinNTSC.Framerateisthescanning
speed.
8.GrayScaleImageandExtractedLineProfile

TheCompleteNTSCFrameScanimageinthenextsectionsimulatesthevideodisplaythat
appearsonatelevisionscreenifthefollowingconditionsaretrue:
Thetelevisionshowstheentirelineinsteadofjusttheactiveimagepart.
Thetelevisionisnotinterlacingthetwofieldstoformacompleteimageframe.Instead,it
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isdisplayingaprogressivescan,linebyline,oftheentireframe.
Thescanningstarts(linebylinefromtoptobottom)withanumberoflinesthatrepresentthe
verticalsynchronizationpatternfortheoddfield.Immediatelyafterthevertical
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synchronizationpatternfortheoddfield,optionalinsertiontestsignals(ITS)areinserted.
Finally,theactualoddfieldactiveimagedisplays.
Theprocessrepeatsfortheevenfield,formingthecompleteframe.

Note:Mostlinesstartwithahorizontalsynchronizationpulsefollowedbythecolorburst
pattern.Thentheactiveimage(ortheITS)displaysasanintensitychange,wherea
highersignallevelcorrespondstobrighterintensity.
Theextractedlineprofileexampleatthebottomoffigures8and9showsanactualvideo
signallineextractedfromtheevenfield.Referto"PartsoftheVideoSignal"aboveformore
informationaboutvideolevels.
Horizontalsynchronizationpulsesarebasicallysimplenegativepulses,whicharepulses
thatdipbelowtheleveloftheluminancesignal.However,theverticalsynchronization
signalsarecomposedofpulsetrainsdistributedonseverallines,andthepulsetrainsare
differentforoddandevenfields.Figures8and9showtheverticalsynchronizationpatterns
forbothfieldsandforthethreemainvideoformats.

Figure8.VerticalBlankingandSynchronizationSignalforNTSC

Figure9.VerticalBlankingandSynchronizationSignalforPALandSECAM
9.CompleteNTSCFrameScan

Figure10showstheresultofscanningall525linesthatcomposeacompleteNTSCframe.

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Figure10.CompleteNTSCFrameScan
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Figure10isagrayscaleimagebecauseitrepresentstheintensitygraphoftherawNTSC
videowaveform.Thecolorinformationisembeddedinthatwaveformandisnotyet
decoded.
Youcanseethecolorburstofthesignalsontheleftside.Thedottedpatternrepresentsthe
intensitygraphofthesinetonethatisthecolorburstwaveform.Afterdecoding,thecolor
burst,ifitwerevisibleontheTVmonitor,wouldappearasasolidcolorsurface.
10.RelevantNIProducts

NIAnalogVideoAnalyzerdatasheetandpricing
(http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/205448)
NIAnalogVideoGeneratordatasheetandpricing
(http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/205449)
NIDigitalVideoAnalyzerdatasheetandpricing
(http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/205782)

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