Composite vs. Component Video Signals

[@indigogolf3051]

Wow mate. I learned this at college 40 years ago and didn't really get it or wasn't paying attention. Later on when I was fixing telly's I didn't really understand everything about what I was doing. This twelve minutes would have saved me so much grief, I never understood the colour burst or how the Y signal worked until much later. You are a superb teacher and that's a rare trait. Thanks so much.

[@ardaduck735]

Such a high quality video for such a small channel. I've always been interested in analog video. thanks for making it 👍

[@j.n.-fr5uh]

i love signal processing its always surprising how ingenius it is

[@HuygensOptics]

Thanks for discussing this Joshua. I just picked up a Rohde&Schwarz CCVS Component Generator SAF, basically for next to nothing (and for fun, no purpose intended). It has a ton of different outputs (composite and all possible individual signals) and this video gave me a good bit of background, even though it discusses NTSC instead of PAL.

[@RedBrumbler]

Great video explaining component / composite! I hope I can use this information in a project I'm working on

[@TandaMadison]

Great explanation! Every time I think about composite video signals, or even the channel with luminance and sync in component, I'm still impressed by the cleverness of those engineers who came up with systems that were reverse compatible with black and white signals. I wrote a lot of the firmware for an audio/video company called Burst Electronics back in the day so I had to do some deep dives into video signals.

[@superchromat]

Have you ever come across Technology Connections? He’s got a great channel that covers the history and competing standards.

[@TandaMadison]

@@superchromat I have not but I just subbed. When I subbed I recognized a few videos that have been recommended to me.

[@TheKnacklersWorkshop]

Hi Joshua, Another interesting video... Keep them coming... Cheers Paul,,

[@mokkascience]

Great explanation keep sharing your knowledge

[@superchromat]

Thanks!

[@SwapPartLLC]

You know when the video starts and you see an oscilloscope in the background, it's going to be the explanation you were looking for.

[@gcolombelli]

Cool, I didn't know it was possible to get 1080p with component video, I thought it was limited to 1080i, but maybe it was just the limitation of the equipment I had back when I first heard about it. Nowadays it's getting nearly impossible to find a new TV with YPbPr input. A few still have a single composite input, but component is nearly impossible to find.

[@konturgestalter]

reaaaallly good

[@pukalo]

What is that red mark on the top of your head?

[@kandredfpv]

Awesome explanation. There doesn't seem to be as much documentation online for component signals as for NTSC or PAL. Does the spec even have an official name? Also, would feeding the component luma into the composite input of a CRT work at any resolution? Sure the number of scan lines would have to be compatible with NTSC.

[@superchromat]

Yup - component luma is signal compatible with composite video. Analog CRT’s have no concept of a pixel, so there isn’t the same concept as a horizontal pixel. There is, however a phosphor mask for RGB CRTs. Additionally the circuit may not have the bandwidth. But you’ll probably be fine.

[@superchromat]

Here’s a good overview of the specs: www.maximintegrated.com/en/design/technical-documents/tutorials/1/1184.html

[@kandredfpv]

@@superchromat cheers! Looks like HD component video is covered by SMPTE 274M 👍

[@Ricoxemani]

Great video! what is the intro music you used?

[@superchromat]

Thanks. I can’t recall the title of the song but it’s by Sense / Adam Raisbeck.

[@olusegunode1642]

Hey. Please can you make a video on what exactly the front porch, horizontal sync, and back porch periods of the analog video signal do? What instructions do they give the monitor, and how does the monitor react?

[@superchromat]

Sounds like a good video idea. I’ll add it to my list. For a quick answer it has to do with steering the electron gun beam in a CRT. The h sync pulse tells the gun to move back to the start of the next line down. The porches give time for the gun to move. The color burst is more complex, but allows the circuit to synchronize with the carrier frequency to enable it to decode the modulated color information.

[@olusegunode1642]

@@superchromat Hey. Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the consideration. Regarding your answer, is the front porch a time allowance for monitors to settle at a blank level before retrace? Also, is the combination of the hsync and back porch basically saying, "Start retracing your gun, I expect that you be ready at some point in time , an agreement between the monitor and the signal(the end of the back porch).I will start sending you video data at that agreed time."? Please correct me if i'm wrong.

[@superchromat]

The other thing is that the front porch blanking period is a good reference for the black level. With AC coupling of signals, ground may not be at the same potential between the input and output. So, a device receiving a signal can identify the front porch and sample the voltage to establish the correct voltage that represents black / 0 IRE.

[@devinigh89]

Do you know how to go about making the circuit you showed at the end voltage controllable? It would be amazing if you could sequence the color correction with modular gear.

[@superchromat]

I’m working on a full analog color correction module right now. With CV inputs. Follow my Instagram for more frequent updates: @superchromat :)

[@WaynesWorldStudioVancouver]

I’m researching to transfer my analog video tapes to digital and came across your project, very interesting. What devices may you suggest to capture analog to digital signals? It will be cool to transfer the SD to HD, look forward more of your project! Thanks.

[@superchromat]

I recommend the Blackmagic devices for analog to digital conversion. Most of the issues you’ll run into are either with the device you’re using to play the analog tapes, or the process of deinterlacing the video once it is digital.

[@iotnoob3152]

9:24 seen that thing before in horror game when ghost shows up tv screen goes like this

[@caivsivlivs]

is ypbpr inherently chroma subsampled?

[@traceyli3107]

Can you do a video on how-to test video and audio lipsyn stream using the scope?

[@MusicalArmageddon]

What's the intro music?

[@nesyboi9421]

So uhh, you said you could just have a TV display a black and white image if you plugged the green canle into a composite input? Turns out it doesn't, at least in my case. Maybe has something to do with modern TVs? Idk.

[@nesyboi9421]

Nevermind I figured out the issue. The device I was trying to hook hi p, a nintendo Wii U had to be set to an interlaced video output instead of a progressive one.

[@superchromat]

Yup. It has to be a component video signal with the same timing as PAL or NTSC, which is 576 or 480 lines, interlaced.