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Test card

A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off).[1]

"Test pattern" redirects here. For other uses, see Test Pattern (disambiguation).

Used since the earliest TV broadcasts, test cards were originally physical cards at which a television camera was pointed, allowing for simple adjustments of picture quality.[2] Such cards are still often used for calibration, alignment, and matching of cameras and camcorders. From the 1950s, test card images were built into monoscope tubes which freed up the use of TV cameras which would otherwise have to be rotated to continuously broadcast physical test cards during downtime hours.


Electronically generated test patterns, used for calibrating or troubleshooting the downstream signal path, were introduced in the late-1960s, and became commonly used from the 1970s and 80s. These are generated by test signal generators, which do not depend on the correct configuration (and presence) of a camera, and can also test for additional parameters such as correct color decoding, sync, frames per second, and frequency response.[3] These patterns are specially tailored to be used in conjunction with devices such as a vectorscope, allowing precise adjustments of image equipment.


The audio broadcast while test cards are shown is typically a sine wave tone, radio (if associated or affiliated with the television channel) or music (usually instrumental, though some also broadcast with jazz or popular music).


Digitally generated cards came later, associated with digital television, and add a few features specific of digital signals, like checking for error correction, chroma subsampling, aspect ratio signaling, surround sound, etc. More recently, the use of test cards has also expanded beyond television to other digital displays such as large LED walls and video projectors.[3]

Technical details[edit]

Test cards typically contain a set of patterns to enable television cameras and receivers to be adjusted to show the picture correctly (see SMPTE color bars). Most modern test cards include a set of calibrated color bars which will produce a characteristic pattern of "dot landings" on a vectorscope, allowing chroma and tint to be precisely adjusted between generations of videotape or network feeds. SMPTE bars—and several other test cards—include analog black (a flat waveform at 7.5 IRE, or the NTSC setup level), full white (100 IRE), and a "sub-black", or "blacker-than-black" (at 0 IRE), which represents the lowest low-frequency transmission voltage permissible in NTSC broadcasts (though the negative excursions of the colorburst signal may go below 0 IRE). Between the color bars and proper adjustment of brightness and contrast controls to the limits of perception of the first sub-black bar, an analog receiver (or other equipment such as VTRs) can be adjusted to provide impressive fidelity.


Test cards have also been used to determine actual coverage contours for new television broadcasting antennas and/or networks. In preparation for the new commercial ITV service in the 1950s, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) tasked Belling & Lee, an Enfield-based British electronics company best known for inventing the Belling-Lee connector just over three decades earlier, with designing a series of Pilot Test Transmission test cards and slides[4] intended for potential viewers and DX-enthusiasts to test the ITA's new Band III VHF transmitter network that was designed with the assistance of the General Post Office (GPO), then the UK's government-run PTT agency. These test cards, some featuring the G9AED call sign assigned by the GPO for said transmissions, featured a squiggly line in a circle in the middle of the test card with an on-screen line gauge indicated in miles which was used as a guide to reveal the distance between the receiver, the (temporary) transmitter and a replicating landscape feature causing ghosting. Said test cards were mainly transmitted from temporary mobile transmitters attached to caravan trailers based at the predicted locations of the ITA's eventual main transmitters, such as Croydon, Lichfield, Emley Moor and Winter Hill.[5][6] Almost a decade later, the BBC started using a modified SMPTE monochrome test card radiating from the Crystal Palace transmitter to test its new UHF network which it eventually launched as BBC Two in 1964.


Test cards are also used in the broader context of video displays for concerts and live events. There are a variety of different test patterns, each testing a specific technical parameter: gradient monotone bars for testing brightness and color; a crosshatch pattern for aspect ratio, alignment, focus, and convergence; and a single-pixel border for over-scanning and dimensions.[3]

Modern -controlled analogue televisions rarely if ever need adjustment, so test cards are much less important than previously. Likewise, modern cameras and camcorders seldom need adjustment for technical accuracy, though they are often adjusted to compensate for scene light levels, and for various artistic effects.

microcontroller

Use of digital interconnect standards, such as and SMPTE 292M, which operate without the non-linearities and other issues inherent to analog broadcasting, do not introduce color shifts or brightness changes; thus the requirement to detect and compensate for them using this reference signal has been virtually eliminated. (Compare with the obsolescence of stroboscopes as used to adjust the speed of record players.) On the other hand, digital test signal generators do include test signals which are intended to stress the digital interface, and many sophisticated generators allow the insertion of jitter, bit errors, and other pathological conditions that can cause a digital interface to fail.

CCIR 601

Likewise, use of digital broadcasting standards, such as and ATSC, eliminates the issues introduced by modulation and demodulation of analog signals.

DVB

Test cards including large circles were used to confirm the linearity of the set's deflection systems. As solid-state components replaced in receiver deflection circuits, linearity adjustments were less frequently required (few newer sets have user-adjustable "VERT SIZE" and "VERT LIN" controls, for example). In LCD and other deflectionless displays, the linearity is a function of the display panel's manufacturing quality; for the display to work, the tolerances will already be far tighter than human perception.

vacuum tubes

Test cards are as old as TV broadcasts, with documented use by the BBC in the United Kingdom in its early 30-line mechanical Baird transmissions from 1934 and later on as simplified "tuning signals" shown before startup[10] as well as in Occupied France during World War II.[11] They evolved to include gratings for resolution testing, grids to assist with picture geometry adjustments, and grayscale for brightness and contrast adjustments. For example, all these elements can be seen in a Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française 819-line test card introduced in 1953.[11]


In North America, most test cards such as the famous Indian-head test pattern of the 1950s and 1960s have long since been relegated to history. The SMPTE color bars occasionally turn up, but with most North American broadcasters now following a 24-hour schedule, these too have become a rare sight.


With the introduction of color TV, electronically generated test cards were introduced. They are named after their generating equipment (ex: Grundig VG1000,[12][13] Philips PM5544,[14] Telefunken FuBK,[15] etc.), TV station (ex: BBC test card) or organization (ex: SMPTE color bars, EBU colour bars).


In developed countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the financial imperatives of commercial television broadcasting mean that air-time is now typically filled with programmes and commercials (such as infomercials) 24 hours a day, and non-commercial broadcasters have to match this.


A late test card design, introduced in 2005 and fully adapted for HD, SD, 16:9 and 4:3 broadcasts, is defined on ITU-R Rec. BT.1729.[16] It offers markings specificity design to test format conversions, chroma sampling, etc.


Formerly a common sight, test cards are now only rarely seen outside of television studios, post-production, and distribution facilities. In particular, they are no longer intended to assist viewers in calibration of television sets. Several factors have led to their demise for this purpose:


For custom-designed video installations, such as LED displays in buildings or at live events, some test images are custom-made to fit the specific size and shape of the setup in question. These custom test images can also be an opportunity for the technicians to hide inside jokes for the crew to see while installing equipment for a show.[3]

Close-up of the test-card image from a monoscope

Close-up of the test-card image from a monoscope

Rather than physical test cards, which had to be televised using a camera, television stations often used a special purpose camera tube which had the test pattern painted on the inside screen of the tube. Each tube was only capable of generating the one test image, hence it was called a monoscope.


Monoscopes were similar in construction to an ordinary cathode ray tube (CRT), only instead of displaying an image on its screen it scanned a built-in image. The monoscope contained a formed metal target in place of the phosphor coating at its "screen" end and as the electron beam scanned the target, rather than displaying an image, a varying electrical signal was produced generating a video signal from the etched pattern. Monoscope tubes had the advantage over test cards that a full TV camera was not needed, and the image was always properly framed and in focus. They fell out of use in the 1960s as they were not able to produce color images.

In numismatics[edit]

Television has had such an impact in today's life that it has been the main motif for numerous collectors' coins and medals. One of the most recent examples is The 50 Years of Television commemorative coin minted on 9 March 2005, in Austria. The obverse of the coin shows the centre portion of the Telefunken T05 test card, while the reverse shows several milestones in the history of television.[36]

In popular culture[edit]

The Philips Pattern is widely recognised as one of the iconic popular culture symbols of the 1980s and 1990s. Numerous novelty and collectible items has been patterned after the famous test card, including wall clocks, bedsheets, wristwatches, and clothing.


The BBC Test Card F features throughout 2006-07 TV sci-fi detective series Life on Mars.[37][38]

Test card music[edit]

In Britain, music rather than radio sound was usually played with the test card. The music played by the BBC, and afterwards ITV, was library music, which was licensed on more favourable terms for frequent use than commercially available alternatives.[39] Later, Channel 4 used UK library LPs from publishers like KPM, Joseph Weinberger and Ready Music.[40]


Until September 1955, the BBC used live playing 78 RPM commercial records as an audio background to the test cards. After that date, they switched to using recorded music on tape.[41] The following year, the BBC began to build up its own library of specially produced music for the half hour tapes – initially three tunes in similar style, followed by an identification sign (the three notes B-B-C played on celesta). ITV (which began its first trade transmissions in 1957) continued to use commercially available recordings until the late 1960s, when it also began to make specially produced tapes.[41]


For rights reasons, much of the music was recorded by light music orchestras in France and Germany, though sometimes by British musicians, or top international session players using pseudonyms, such as The Oscar Brandenburg Orchestra (an amalgamation of Neil Richardson, Alan Moorhouse and Johnny Pearson) or the Stuttgart Studio Orchestra.[42] Other composers and bandleaders commissioned for this type of work included Gordon Langford, Ernest Tomlinson. Roger Roger, Heinz Kiessling, Werner Tautz, Frank Chacksfield and Syd Dale.[43]


During the 1980s, the test card was gradually seen less and less - it was pushed out first by Teletext pages, then extended programme hours. The same tapes were used to accompany both the test card and Ceefax on BBC channels, but some fans argue that new tapes introduced after Ceefax became the norm in 1983 were less musically interesting.[41]

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, W, X (1934–2006, Mechanical 30- and 240-lines, Monochrome, PAL, SDTV, HDTV, 405- and 625-lines)

BBC Tuning Signals and Test Cards

monochrome test pattern (with RCA logos and Nipper the dog illustrations at corners; c. 1933/34[44][45]–1937,[46] 343-lines)

RCA Victor

/NBC monochrome test patterns #1 and #2 (1938[47]–39,[48][49] 441-lines)

RCA

RCA (1939, 525-lines)

Indian-head test pattern

/CBS/Crosley-Avco/DuMont/NBC monochrome "bullseye" test patterns (c. 1939–47,[50] 525-lines)[51]

ABC

1946 resolution chart (1946, 525- and 625-lines)

RMA

Resolution Chart No. 1[52][53][54][55][56]/English Electric Valve Company Test Chart[57] (c. 1947/c. 1970, 525- and 625-lines)

Marconi

ИТ-72[58] and таблица 0286[59] monochrome test cards (1949, c. 1975–78, c. 1990–92, used in Soviet Union and Russia)

ТИТ-0249

DuMont Industrial Color Television test pattern (1950, experimentally shown on KE2XDR)

[60]

DFF () monochrome (Q1/QI1,[61] Test nr. 04, modified EBU monochrome) and colour (modified HTV TR.0782) test patterns (1952–1991, SECAM, used in East Germany)[62][63][64]

Deutscher Fernsehfunk

Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française "" test card (1953, 819-lines)

Marly Horses

ТИТ-0154 colour test card (1954, abandoned prototype Soviet Union NIIR/SECAM IV system)

/GPO/Belling & Lee G9AED Pilot Test Transmission test cards (1955–56, 405-lines)[65][66]

ITA

–Marconi "diamond" monochrome test card versions 1, 2 and 3[67][68][69] (1955–1958, 625-lines; Version 1 also used by RTV in British Hong Kong, TVM in Crown Colony of Malta and WNTV in the western part of Colonial Nigeria[70])

Associated-Rediffusion

(1956, 525- and 625-lines)

EIA 1956 resolution chart

optical[71] and electronic "tea towel"[72] test cards (1950s/60s, monochrome, 625-lines, used in varying forms in West Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Soviet Union, Portugal and Spain)

Chequerboard

optical monochrome test card (1950s?, 525-lines; 1962–1964,[73] 625-lines)[74]

SMPTE

PM 5522, 5534,[75][76] PM 5538, PM 5540,[77] PM 5543, PM 5544, PM 5552,[78][77] PM 5634, PM 5644 (1960s, 525- and 625-lines, PAL, PALplus, SECAM, NTSC)

Philips

(early-1960s, 625-lines)

Telefunken T 05

(1960s?, 625-lines)

EBU electronic monochrome test pattern

CBS/NBC color "bullseye" test patterns (c. 1964/65–early-1990s, NTSC)

[79]

(late-1960s, PAL)

Telefunken FuBK

(1970, SECAM)

UEIT - Universal Electronic Test Chart

HTV TR.0782 test card (1970s, SECAM, used in Hungary, Poland, East Germany and Romania)

[80]

EZO test card (1971, PAL, used in and Estonian SSR[81])[82][83]

Czechoslovakia

electronic test card (1972, SECAM, used in Bulgaria)

BNT

(1975, PAL)

TVE colour test card

(1977, NTSC, HDTV, SDTV)

SMPTE color bars

EBU colour bars

(1979, PAL)

Electronic Test Pattern 1

VG 1001 (1980, PAL)

Grundig

(c. 1980s–2000s?, PAL, used on various Australian commercial TV stations)[84]

Toolcraft-Goodwood colour test card

colour test cards (1970s?, mid-1990s, 2017, SECAM then PAL, used in North Korea)[85][86]

KCTV

(1990s, TPG20/21 Test Pattern Generators) and SW4 "Zone Plate" (2000s, NTSC, PAL, SDTV)[87][88]

Snell & Wilcox SW2

(2011, HDTV, DTMB, used in Mainland China)[89]

GY/T 254-2011 test card

Blue only mode

Colour chart

List of BBC test cards

Test Card F

YouTube account used for automated performance testing

Webdriver Torso

a UK fan site: details of the UK's Trade Test Transmissions including the history of the BBC and ITA Test Cards, a look at the music used and full details about the Trade Test Colour Films shown from the late fifties to 1973.

The Test Card Circle

The Test Card Gallery

– test cards in Finland, in Finnish language only

Nostalgia-TV: Television testikuva