Vectorscope

1.1 Video
In video applications, a vectorscope supplements a
waveform monitor for the purpose of measuring and testing television signals, regardless of format (NTSC, PAL,
SECAM or any number of digital television standards).
While a waveform monitor allows a broadcast technician
to measure the overall characteristics of a video signal,
a vectorscope is used to visualize chrominance, which
is encoded into the video signal as a subcarrier of specic frequency. The vectorscope locks exclusively to the
chrominance subcarrier in the video signal (at 3.58 MHz
for NTSC, or at 4.43 MHz for PAL) to drive its display.
In digital applications, a vectorscope instead plots the Cb
and Cr channels against each other (these are the two
channels in digital formats which contain chroma information).

A video vectorscope displaying color bars. The diagonal direction of the color burst vector is indicative of a PAL signal.

A vectorscope uses an overlaid circular reference display,

or graticule, for visualizing chrominance signals, which is
the best method of referring to the QAM scheme used
to encode color into a video signal. The actual visual
pattern that the incoming chrominance signal draws on
the vectorscope is called the trace. Chrominance is measured using two methodscolor saturation, encoded as
the amplitude, or gain, of the subcarrier signal, and hue,
encoded as the subcarriers phase. The vectorscopes
graticule roughly represents saturation as distance from
the center of the circle, and hue as the angle, in standard position, around it. The graticule is also embellished with several elements corresponding to the various
components of the standard color bars video test signal,
including boxes around the circles for the colors in the
main bars, and perpendicular lines corresponding to the
U and V components of the chrominance signal (and additionally on an NTSC vectorscope, the I and Q components). NTSC vectorscopes have one set of boxes for the
color bars, while their PAL counterparts have two sets of
boxes, because the R-Y chrominance component in PAL
reverses in phase on alternating lines. Another element
in the graticule is a ne grid at the nine-o'clock, or -U
position, used for measuring dierential gain and phase.

The graticule of an NTSC vectorscope.

A vectorscope is a special type of oscilloscope used in

both audio and video applications. Whereas an oscilloscope or waveform monitor normally displays a plot of
signal vs. time, a vectorscope displays an X-Y plot of two
signals, which can reveal details about the relationship between these two signals. Vectorscopes are highly similar in operation to oscilloscopes operated in X-Y mode;
however those used in video applications have specialized
graticules, and accept standard television or video signals
as input (demodulating and demultiplexing the two components to be analyzed internally).

Often two sets of bar targets are provided: one for color
bars at 75% amplitude and one for color bars at 100%
amplitude. The 100% bars represent the maximum amplitude (of the composite signal) that composite encoding
allows for. 100% bars are not suitable for broadcast and
are not broadcast-safe. 75% bars have reduced amplitude
and are broadcast-safe.

Applications

In some vectorscope models, only one set of bar targets

1

is provided. The vectorscope can be set up for 75% or

100% bars by adjusting the gain so that the color burst
vector extends to the 75%" or 100%" marking on the
graticule.
The reference signal used for the vectorscopes display
is the color burst that is transmitted before each line of
video, which for NTSC is dened to have a phase of 180,
corresponding to the nine-o'clock position on the graticule. The actual color burst signal shows up on the vectorscope as a straight line pointing to the left from the
center of the graticule. In the case of PAL, the color burst
phase alternates between 135 and 225, resulting in two
vectors pointing in the half-past-ten and half-past-seven
positions on the graticule, respectively. In digital (and
component analog) vectorscopes, colorburst doesn't exist; hence the phase relationship between the colorburst
signal and the chroma subcarrier is simply not an issue.
A vectorscope for SECAM uses a demodulator similar
to the one found in a SECAM receiver to retrieve the U
and V colour signals since they are transmitted one at a
time (Thomson 8300 Vecamscope).
On older vectorscopes implemented with cathode ray
tubes (CRTs), the graticule was often implemented as a
silk-screened overlay which was superimposed over the
front surface of the CRT. One notable exception was
the Tektronix WFM601 series of instruments, which are
combined waveform monitors and vectorscopes used to
measure CCIR 601 television signals. The waveformmode graticule of these instruments is implemented with
a silkscreen, whereas the vectorscope graticule (consisting only of bar targets, as this family did not support
composite video) was drawn on the CRT by the electron
beam. Modern instruments have graticules drawn using
computer graphics, and both graticule and trace are rendered on an external VGA monitor or an internal VGAcompatible LCD display.
Most modern waveform monitors include vectorscope
functionality built in; and many allow the two modes to
be displayed side-by-side. The combined device is typically referred to as a waveform monitor, and standalone
vectorscopes are rapidly becoming obsolete.

1.2

Audio

In audio applications, a vectorscope is used to measure

the dierence between channels of stereo audio signals.
One stereo channel drives the horizontal deection of the
display, and the other drives the vertical deection. A
monoaural signal, consisting of identical left and right signals, results in a straight line with a gradient of +1. Any
stereo separation is visible as a deviation from this line,
creating a Lissajous gure. If a straight line appears with
a gradient of 1, this indicates that the left and right channels are 180 out of phase.

EXTERNAL LINKS

2 References
3 External links
Software Vectorscope. Rumblehouse Media. MultiScopeLite

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

4.1

Text

Vectorscope Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectorscope?oldid=731120146 Contributors: Kku, Ahoerstemeier, Denelson83, Gary

D, Grm wnr, YUL89YYZ, Atlant, Jpotherington, Gene Nygaard, Firsfron, Je3000, BD2412, MMuzammils, EngineerScotty, Mssetiadi,
IslandGyrl, SmackBot, Plated-steel, Alexv7255, CmdrObot, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Glennchan, Jahoe, Magioladitis, P i g lett, Pablobenja,
Martin451, AkeHolm, Twinsday, Binksternet, Mild Bill Hiccup, BillGatos, Arjayay, MystBot, Addbot, Ehrenkater, Luckas-bot, Wonder,
Nedim Ardoa, Chongkian, RedBot, Dolovis, Daggum21dog and Anonymous: 22

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