Re: [ARSCLIST] Where to find NTSC Color Bar and sound tones

[Mike Richter <mrichter@xxxxxxx>]

At 12:17 PM 10/23/2003 -0400, Aaron Z Snyder wrote:

> Talk to any European, other than the French (they're, as usual, a special
> case), and they will tell you that their PAL (Phase Alternating Line) system
> means "Perfection At Last". Then ask him/her about how he/she can stand the
> 50 Hz flicker in the picture (the US rate is approx. 60 Hz) and the response
> will be "What flicker?"

I discovered the problem in England. I found ways to tolerate the flicker,
but never understood the locals' insensitivity to it.

> The simplest way to set up a monitor is to use SMPTE (Society of Motion
> Picture and Television Engineers) color bars, which is a long-established
> variant of simple color bars. The extra information allows the user to set
> brightness and color-balance to a (more-or-less) repeatable setting so that
> the color of a production can be properly evaluated.

Still, one needs a standard blue filter to do a decent job. Regardless of
the color bars used, there must be a source, which was the original
question, I believe. As I suggested, a suitable LaserDisc or DVD is
probably the most practical 'signal generator'.

Finally, in response to a paragraph I snipped (sorry), note that digital
reproduction does not mean NTSC/PAL/SECAM compatibility. True, a computer
does not care so the signal from DVD-ROM to monitor should be unaffected,
but most U.S. receivers are NTSC-only and will not reproduce a PAL or SECAM
signal - even if there is a SECAM DVD format (AFAIK, there is not).


Mike
mrichter@xxxxxxx
http://www.mrichter.com/