Chapter 5

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS IN VIDEO

 Introduction to Video

The term video refers to the moving picture,

accompanied by sound such as a picture in television.
Video is a series of images
When this series of images are displayed on screen at
fast speed ( e.g 30 images per second), we see a
perceived motion
It projects single images at a fast rate producing the
illusion of continuous motion
These single images are called frames
 Introduction to Video(cont’d)

The rate at which the frames are projected is

generally between 24 and 30 frames per second
(fps).
The rate at which these images are presented is
referred to as the frame rate
This is fundamental to the way video is modeled
in computers
 Introduction to Video(cont’d)

To model smooth motion psychophysical studies have

shown that a rate of 30 frames a second is good enough
to simulate smooth motion
 Old Charlie Chaplin movies were taken at 12 frames a
second and are visibly jerky in nature.
Each screen-full of video is made up of thousands of
pixels
A pixel can display only one color at a time.
Your television has 720 vertical lines of pixels (from
left to right) and 486 rows of pixels (top to bottom). A
total of 349,920 pixels (720 x 486) for a single frame.
 Introduction to Video(cont’d)

There are two types of video:

 Analog Video
 Digital Video
 Introduction to Video(cont’d)

Analog Video
Analog video is represented as a continuous (time
varying)signal.
It is used throughout the television industry
For television, images and sound are converted into
electric signals by transducers
Distortion of images and noise are common problems for
analog video
 Introduction to Video(cont’d)

In an analogue video signal, each frame is represented by

a fluctuating voltage signal
This is known as an analogue waveform
One of the earliest formats for this was composite video
Analog formats are susceptible to loss due to transmission
noise effects
Quality loss is also possible from one generation to
another.
This type of loss is like photocopying, in which a copy of
a copy is never as good as the original
 Introduction to Video(cont’d)

Digital Video
Digital technology is based on images represented in the
form of bits
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that
works by using a digital.
With a digital video signal, there is no variation in the
original signal once it is captured on to computer disc
The image does not lose any of its original sharpness and
clarity.
The image is an exact copy of the original
 Introduction to Video(cont’d)

The limitations of analog video led to the birth of digital

video.
Digital video is just a digital representation of the analogue
video signal.
Unlike analogue video that degrades in quality from one
generation to the next, digital video does not degrade.
Each generation of digital video is identical to the parent.
There are two significant advantages for using computers
for digital video :
 Video can be stored on digital devices or in memory
 Repeated recording does not degrade image quality
 Displaying Video

 There are two ways of displaying video on screen:

 Progressive scan
 Interlaced scan

I. Interlaced Scanning
 Interlaced scanning is where each picture, referred to as a
frame, is divided into two separate sub-pictures, referred
to as fields. Two fields make up a frame.
 Displaying Video…

 Designed for the analog NTSC television system

 uses two fields to create a frame
 One field contains all the odd lines in the image, the
other contains all the even lines of the image.
 A television scans 60 fields every second (30 odd and
30 even).
 The odd-numbered lines are traced first, and then the
even-numbered lines are traced. This results in “odd”
and “even” fields — two fields make up one frame
 Displaying Video…

Figure shows the scheme used. First the solid (odd) lines are traced,
P to Q, then R to S, etc., ending at T; then the even field starts at U
and ends at V.
 Displaying Video…

II. Progressive Scanning

 television scanning in which each successive line is scanned in
sequence
 PC CRT displays are fundamentally different from TV screens.
 Monitor writes a whole picture per scan.
 Progressive scan updates all the lines on the screen sequentially,
60 times every second.
 This is known as progressive scanning.
 Today all PC screens write a picture like this.
 The main advantage with progressive scan is that motion appears
smoother and more realistic.
 Displaying Video…

Here is a comparison of computer and television display.

Computer Television

Scans 480 horizontal lines from top to

Scans 625, 525 horizontal lines
bottom
Scan each line progressively Scan line using interlacing system
Scan full frame at a rate of typically
Scans 25-30HZ for full time
66.67HZ or higher
Uses limited color palette and
Use RGB color model restricted luminance
(lightness or darkness)
 Displaying Video…

Interlaced Scanning

Progressive Scanning
 Types of Color Video Signals

There are three types of video signals:

 Component
 Composite
 S-video
1. Component video- 3 Signals
• Higher-end video systems make use of three
separate video wires for the Red, Green, Blue
channel.
• The primaries can either be RGB or a
luminance-chrominance transformation of them.
• Most computer systems use Component Video,
with separate signals for R, G, and B signals.
 Types of Color Video Signals

Component Video gives the best color

reproduction since there is no “crosstalk”
between the three channels.
Requires more bandwidth and good
synchronization of the three components
component-video cables do not carry
audio and are often paired with audio
cables.
 Types of Color Video Signals

2. Composite Video - 1 Signal

Composite video: color (“chrominance”) and intensity
(“luminance”) signals are mixed into a single carrier
wave.
In video, luminance (luma or Y for short) represents the
brightness in an image (the "black-and-white" of the
image)
While chrominance (chroma or C for short) is the signal
used in video systems to convey the color information of
the picture, separately from the accompanying luma
signal
 Types of Color Video Signals

Since color and intensity are wrapped into the same

signal, some interference between the luminance and
chrominance signals is inevitable(kan hin oolle)
All the signals are mixed together and carried on a single
cable as a composite of the three color channels and the
sync signal
 Types of Color Video Signals

3. S-Video - 2 Signals
S-Video: (separated video, or Super-video)
uses two wires, one for luminance and
another for a composite chrominance signal
As a result, there is less crosstalk between
the color information and the crucial gray-
scale information
Because an S-video cable only carries the
video signal you still need the old stand
(red/white) audio cables in order to hear
sound
Types of Color Video Signals
 Video Broadcasting Standards/TV standards

 Most countries of the world use TV Standards that are incompatible

with other countries.
 For example, a video recording made in the Germany could not be
played back on the American TV.
There are three different video broadcasting standards:
 NTSC
 PAL
 SECAM

1. NTSC (National Television Standards Committee)

NTSC is based on 525 lines, 60 fields or 30 fps at 60 Hz for
transmission and display a video image.
Interlaced, each frame is divided into 2 fields.
Is official video standard in Usa, canada, mexico, some parts of
centar and south america ,japan taywan and korea.
 TV standards….

2. PAL (Phase Alternate Line)

United Kingdom, Western Europe, Australia, South
Africa, China, and South America
Is the dominant format in the world for analog television
broad casting and video display.
Based on 625 line
Better overall picture than NTSC .
 TV standards….

3. SECAM (Sequential Color with Memory)

 Introduced in 1960’s and implemented in France

 Like PAL it is 625 line.

 Countries on the SECAM system includes France, Russia,

Eastern Europe, and some parts of the middle east.

 They differ slightly in their color coding scheme
TV standards….
 TV standards….

TV system Frame No of scan

rate(fps) lines

NTSC 30 525

PAL 25 625

SECAM 25 625

Comparison of Analog Broadcast TV Systems

 TV standards….

HDTV (High Definition Television)

High-Definition television (HDTV) means broadcast of
television signals with a higher resolution than traditional
formats (NTSC, SECAM, PAL) allow.
Modern plasma television uses this technology.
It consists of 720x1080 lines and higher number of pixels
(as many as 1920 pixels).
Having a choice in between progressive and interlaced is
one advantage of HDTV. Many people have their
preferences
 Video File Formats

Very popular video file formats by their extension are:

.mov = QuickTime Movie Format

.avi = Windows movie format
.mpg = MPEG file format
.mp4 = MPEG-4 Video File
.flv = flash video file
.rm = Real Media File
.3gp = 3GPP multimedia File (used in mobile phones)
 Factors of Digital Video

With digital video, four factors have to be kept in mind.

These are:

 Frame rate
 Spatial Resolution
 Color Resolution
 Image Quality
 Factors of Digital Video…

Frame Rate
 is the rate at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or
displayed.
 expressed in frames per second or FPS
 The standard for displaying any type of non-film video is 30
frames per second (film is 24 frames per second).
 This means that the video is made up of 30 (or 24) pictures or
frames for every second of video.
 Additionally these frames are split in half (odd lines and even
lines), to form what are called fields.
 Factors of Digital Video…

Color Resolution
Color resolution refers to the number of colors displayed
on the screen at one time.
Computers deal with color in RGB (red-green-blue)
format, while video uses a variety of formats.
One of the most common video color formats is called
YUV.
Although there is no direct correlation between RGB and
YUV, they are similar in that they both have varying
levels of color depth (maximum number of colors)
 Factors of Digital Video…

Spatial Resolution
 The third factor is spatial resolution - or in other words, "How big is the
picture?".
 The width and height of the displayed image, measured in pixels.
 In other words, the total number of pixels contained in each individual
frame
 Images having higher spatial resolution are composed with a greater
number of pixels than those of lower spatial resolution.
 The National Television Standards Committee ( NTSC) standard used
in North America and Japanese Television uses a 768 by 484 display.
 The Phase Alternative system (PAL) standard for European television is
slightly larger at 768 by 576.
 Factors of Digital Video…

Image Quality
The last, and most important factor is video quality.
The final objective is video that looks acceptable for
your application.
For some this may be 1/4 screen, 15 frames per second
(fps), at 8 bits per pixel.
Other require a full screen (768 by 484), full frame rate
video, at 24 bits per pixel (16.7 million colours)