[opendtv] Re: 405 line pictures
- From: "Allen Le Roy Limberg" <allimberg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:15:48 -0500
When I lived near Schenectady and worked at GE's Central Research Facility,
I was struck by how good WRGB looked compared to other stations in the area.
This was one of the oldest transmitters in the country, and it maintained
correct black level better than most newer transmitters. So, I can believe
black control is important to NTSC quality.
Good DC-restoration is critical in the receiver, but it puts greater demands
on the receiver power supply. Our cheap kitchen receiver looked terrible on
WRGB. So, I suppose transmitters may have been purposely adjusted not to
maintain correct black level to avoid murky pictures on cheap receivers.
Al
----- Original Message -----
From: "flyback1" <flyback1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 6:09 PM
Subject: [opendtv] Re: 405 line pictures
>
>
> Mark Schubin wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Television Digest reported decades ago (in the black-&-white days)
> > about an American television delegation that went to the UK in its
> > 405-line, 3-MHz-video-bandwidth days and found the pictures superior
> > to those in the U.S. There was much discussion about why.
> >
> > TTFN,
> > Mark
> >
> >
> I agree there may have been more care taken in BBC TV production, but I
> also believe the 405 line pictures looked better to the U.S. delegation
> because they had more visible information and detail in the darker parts
> of the image.
>
> In Europe, the camera setup standard was different. The grayscale setup
> chart used was different from the one used with NTSC, eleven steps
> instead of nine,
> and the range of reflectance was also different as was the gamma. This
> still may be the case today.
>
> The result is [as I am remembering, because I can't find my camera
> notebook] the 50% crossover point on a European waveform monitor is
> about 45 IRE whereas
> with NTSC cameras it is around 55 IRE.
>
> This brings the lower levels up by 10 IRE on a European camera, and adds
> subtle shading and nuance in the dark parts of the picture creating a
> more natural looking image.
>
> Sort of like how very old movies shot with low contrast B&W silver
> nitrate film look.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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