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NTSCBARS.DOC
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1990-12-17
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NTSCBARS.DOC Version 1.1 12/12/90 (C) 1990 Anthony Watts
The NTSCBARS program was designed in response to my work at a television
station in getting a VGA card with NTSC video output "on-the-air"
for use in a television weather presentation. The program will generate
a SMPTE compatible color bar test pattern on any VGA/EGA/CGA video
adapter card.
So many manufacturers of computer related video products don't
completely understand the intricacies of video signal setup, and the
strict technical requirements set forth by the FCC defining legal
NTSC video for broadcast use. Further, it was obvious from our
experience at my TV station that few if any manufacturers were doing
anything beyond a simple "looks good on the monitor" quality control
for NTSC video setup as all three cards we tested for our use were
out of alignment and needed to be "tweaked" for proper NTSC values.
This may sound like a lot of picky technical whining to you, but you'd
be surprised at the difference in picture quality you can get from
these new VGA NTSC video cards once they are aligned properly. Even if
you plan to do nothing more than record the video output on a consumer
VHS recorder, you owe it to yourself to at least check out to see
if you are making the correct color hues in NTSC.
At the very least, you can use this program to adjust your HUE
control of your NTSC monitor or TV set so the colors look right.
Compare the colors as they appear on the RGB VGA/EGA/CGA monitor
and then adjust the controls of your NTSC monitor or TV set for
a "best match".
Use the pattern to set up color phasing (hue), color saturation, or
overall video gain if you have adjustments via software or by
"trimpots" on your video card. I don't recommend poking around with
these adjustments unless you have some test gear like an oscilloscope
or waveform monitor. Press the F1 key to see how the NTSC video levels
should look on a waveform monitor or oscilloscope.
Pressing the F2 key will display a table of NTSC parameters for all
aspects of the video signal. You may use the arrow keys to move the
highlight bar to the measurement you want, then press ENTER to see
details. Not all of the detail pages are in place in the shareware
version of the program.
Most importantly- BE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR VIDEO OUTPUT TERMINATED AT YOUR
MONITOR or TAPE DECK. Many people don't know what a 75 ohm video
termination is for, and they often ignore the 75 ohms ON/OFF switch
found on better monitors and video equipment. The rule of thumb is
that THE LAST UNIT IN A VIDEO CHAIN IS TERMINATED, ALL OTHER ARE "LOOP
THROUGH". Failure to terminate a video signal will result in
washed out video, ringing or ghosts in the video, and smeared colors.
The purpose of the 75 ohm video termination and the end of a signal
run is to dampen and "cancel out" echoes, ghosts, and other reflections
that occur in a coaxial cable, as well as to provide a reference load
for the driver amplifier of the video equipment. All NTSC video
measurements are assumed to be made with a 75 ohm termination in
place at the end of the video cable.
I had such good response from colleagues at other TV stations, the
video department of the local university, and my own technical staff
that I decided to offer NTSCBARS.EXE as a shareware program and mini
video tutorial.
For those of you that want to go beyond this basic alignment program
and video tutorial, I have created significantly enhanced version
of the program called NTSCTEST.EXE which includes additional SMPTE
test patterns like dot pattern, linerarity, aspect ratio, raster,
white set, black set, and gun tests. I have also greatly expanded
the tutorial section to provide you with additional technical
standards and measurements, vectorscope usage, NTSC video theory,
alignment procedures for monitors, video encoder alignment,
and video troubleshooting techniques.
Most of what's in the program has been requested by other broadcast
and video professionals that were using the original version of
NTSCBARS.EXE that I provided, but they wanted more of the tutorial
section I created to use a a "trainer" to teach video measurements
to new employees or operators that needed a basic understanding
of how to evalutate video quality or adjust a monitor properly.
NTSCTEST.EXE is essentially a complete reference work for NTSC video
with a heavy bent on broadcast standards and training.
NTSCTEST.EXE will be provided to any user who sends in the registration
form and fee of $20 U.S. Currency. Your diskette will arrive postage
paid in about 2-3 weeks.
For those of you reading this that may be overseas where the PAL and
SECAM video standards are used, please advise me of your interest
in a similar program for those video standards. If I get enough
response, I'll start work on those versions as well.
Enjoy!
Anthony Watts Registration address: ITWORKS
KHSL-TV NTSC TEST PROGRAM
P.O. Box 7403
Chico, CA 95927
(make checks payable to ITWORKS for $20 please)
REGISTARTION FORM FOLLOWS BELOW.....
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| REGISTRATION FORM |
| FOR NTSCBARS.EXE |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| YOUR NAME:__________________________________________________________ |
| |
| ADDRESS: __________________________________________________________ |
| |
| __________________________________________________________ |
| |
| CITY: __________________________________________________________ |
| |
| STATE: ______________________________ ZIP: ______________________ |
| |
| COUNTRY: ______________________________ |
| |
| |
| HOW YOU FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS PROGRAM: BBS: __________________ |
| |
| (PLEASE ELABORATE) SHAREWARE CATALOG: __________________ |
| |
| INCLUDED WITH VIDEO CARD: _________________________ |
| |
| FREEBIE AT A TRADE SHOW: __________________________ |
| |
| SHARED SOFTWARE FROM FRIEND: ______________________ |
| |
| |
| |
| MAIL THIS FORM AND $20 CHECK TO: ITWORKS |
| NTSC TEST PROGRAM |
| (make check payable to ITWORKS please) P.O. BOX 7403 |
| CHICO, CA 95927 |
| |
| ALL REGISTRANTS WILL RECEIVE A 5 1/4" 360k FLOPPY DISK WITH THE LATEST |
| VERSION OF NTSCBARS.EXE AND NTSCTEST.EXE PROGRAMS ON IT. |
| |
| IF YOU NEED A 3 1/2" DISKETTE, CHECK HERE [ ] 3 1/2" DISK PLEASE |
| AND INCLUDE $2.00 EXTRA FOR A 720 K DISK |
| |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT ! |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|