Color Bars Reference Levels

Color Bars is the most used Test Pattern.

At first it was defined in analog RGB signal format, then in analog composite NTSC/PAL/SECAM formats, then in analog component format (YPbPr aka YUV), and finally – in digital component RGB and YUV formats.

In accordance with ITU-R Recommendation BT.471 the nomenclature (type specification) of any color bars test pattern should consist of RGB levels as a percentage of Reference White in the following sequence:
White Bar / Black Bar / Max Colored Bars / Min Colored Bars.

For 100/0/75/0 “EBU Bars” the MathCAD RGB_Bars matrix in percents looks like this:

Continue reading “Color Bars Reference Levels”