Wave form

The translation of the televised scene into its electrical counterpart results in a sequence of electrical waves known as the television picture signal. This is represented graphically in the diagram as a wave form, in which the range of electrical values (voltage or current) is plotted vertically and time is plotted horizontally. The electrical values correspond to the brightness of the image at each point on the scanning line, and time is essentially the position on the line of the point in question.

The television signal wave form is actually a composite made up of three individual signals, as is shown in the figure. The first is a continuous sequence of electrical values corresponding to the brightnesses along each line. This signal contains what is known as the luminance information. The luminance signal is interspersed with blanking pulses, which correspond to the times during which the scanning spot is inactivated and retraced from the end of one line to the beginning of the next, as described above. Superimposed on the blanking pulses are additional short pulses corresponding to the synchronization signals (also described above), whose purpose is to cause the scanning spots at the transmitter and receiver to retrace to the next line at precisely the same instant. These three individual signals—luminance, blanking, and synchronization—are added together to produce the composite video signal.

A blank interval also occurs twice every 525 lines (or twice every 625 lines, depending on the system) when the scanning spot, having reached the bottom of the frame, retraces to the top. This movement is guided by the vertical synchronization signal, a serrated series of impulses (shown in the diagram) that occurs shortly after the scanning spot has reached the bottom of the frame. The vertical synchronization signal is followed by a series of horizontal synchronizing impulses at black level with no luminance information. The interval of time allocated for the reproducing beam to travel from the bottom of the picture to the top is called the vertical blanking interval. During this time, no picture information is transmitted. In the American system, the vertical blanking interval is equivalent to the time necessary to trace a total of 21 scan lines for each field. The reproducing beam in television receivers actually gets to the top of the screen more quickly than the allocated 21 scan lines, but it is not visible since it falls off the screen. Some of these scan lines can then be used to send other information, such as a vertical interval reference signal to calibrate colour receivers, text information to be displayed for the hard-of-hearing (closed captioning), or (in Europe) teletext.

Distortion and interference

The signal wave form that makes up a television picture signal embodies all the picture information to be transmitted from camera to receiver screen as well as the synchronizing information required to keep the receiver and transmitter scanning operations in exact step with each other. The television system, therefore, must deliver the wave form to each receiver as accurately and as free from blemishes as possible. Unfortunately, almost every item of equipment in the system (amplifiers, cables, transmitter, transmitting antenna, receiving antenna, and receiver circuits) conspires to distort the wave form or permits it to be contaminated by “noise” (random electrical currents) or interference.

Among the possible distortions in the signal producing the picture are (1) failure to maintain the rapidity with which the wave form rises or falls as the scanning spot crosses a sharp boundary between light and dark areas of the image, producing a loss of detail, or “smear,” in the reproduced image; (2) the introduction of overshoots, which cause excessively harsh outlines; and (3) failure to maintain the average value of the wave form over extended periods, which causes the image as a whole to be too bright or too dark.

Throughout the system, amplifiers must be used to keep the television signal strong relative to the noise that is everywhere present. These random currents, generated by thermally induced motions of electrons in the circuits, cause a speckled “snow” to appear in the picture. Pictures received from distant stations are subject to this form of interference, since the radio wave by then is so weak that it cannot override random currents in the receiving antenna. Other sources of noise include electrical storms and electric motors. Distortions of a striated type may be caused by interference from signals of stations other than that to which the receiver is tuned.

Another form of distortion arises when a broadcast television signal arrives at the receiver from more than one path. This can occur when the original signal bounces or is reflected off large buildings or other physical structures. The time delays in the different paths result in the creation of “ghosts” in the received picture. These ghosts also can occur in cable television systems from electrical reflections of the signal along the cable. Care in the design of the receiver tuner and amplifier circuits is necessary to minimize such interference, and channels must be allocated to neighbouring communities at sufficient geographic separations and frequency intervals to protect the local service.