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EIA 1956 resolution chart

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EIA 1956 video resolution target
Off-air photo of EIA 1956 test card being broadcast by offshore pirate station TV Noordzee, 12 August 1964
Off-air photo of RMA 1946 Resolution Chart being broadcast by Dutch public broadcaster NTS, 7 September 1961

The EIA 1956 Resolution Chart[1][2] (until 1975 called RETMA Resolution Chart 1956) is a test card originally designed in 1956 to be used with black and white analogue TV systems,[3][4] based on the previous (and very similar) RMA 1946 Resolution Chart.[5][6] It consisted of a printed chart filmed by a TV camera or monoscope to be displayed on a TV screen, and was also available as individual rolls of test film to test broadcasting equipment.[7][8] Inspecting the chart allowed to check for defects like ringing, geometric distortions, raster scan linearity, cathode-ray tube uniformity and lack of image resolution.[9][10] If needed, a technician could use it to perform the necessary hardware adjustments.

Today, this chart continues to be used to measure image resolution of modern cameras and lenses and also in scientific research.[3][11][12][13][14][15][16]

Features and operation

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The chart is composed of several features, each designed for a specific test:[17]

  • Large white circle: Allows for image geometry adjustments (image should be centered with the circles being perfectly round).
  • Vertical stripe boxes: A grating with a resolution of 200 Television Lines (TVL), a measurement of image resolution on analogue TV systems, allowing adjustment of horizontal linearity and geometry.
  • Horizontal stripe boxes: A grating, allowing adjustment of vertical linearity.
  • Grayscale steps: Evaluating gamma and transfer characteristics, they allow for contrast and brightness adjustments (at least 6 to 8 steps should be visible)
  • Concentric circles: Allow to test cathode-ray beam sharpness and focus
  • Resolution wedges: The gradually expanding lines near the center, labeled with periodic indications of the corresponding spatial frequency, allow checking of image resolution.
  • Border arrows: Allow for overscan adjustments.
  • Numbers: Going from 200 to 800, they correspond to TV Lines (TVL).

Used with early monochrome TV systems, this chart was useful in measuring image resolution, determined by inspection of the image as displayed on a CRT. On such systems an important measure is the limiting horizontal resolution, affected by hardware and transmission quality (vertical resolution is fixed and determined by the video standard used, usually 525 lines or 625 lines).

Usage

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RMA 1946 Resolution Chart

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The RMA 1946 Resolution Chart was transmitted by NTS and NOS in the Netherlands, SRG SSR in Switzerland,[18] VRT and RTBF in Belgium, RTP in Portugal, TVP in Poland, TVB in Hong Kong,[citation needed] Venevisión in Venezuela (525-lines variant; in conjunction with Indian-head test pattern),[citation needed] WISN-TV in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (525-lines variant)[19] and on low-powered experimental transmissions by Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium in Eindhoven (NL) and Istanbul University in Turkey.

EIA 1956 resolution chart

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The EIA 1956 resolution chart was transmitted by NRK in Norway (in conjunction with the monochrome Pye Test Card G),[20][21] CKCK-TV in Saskatchewan, Canada (525-lines variant),[22] CERTV in the Dominican Republic (525-lines variant), KRMA-TV,[23] KVVV-TV,[24] WVIZ-TV,[25] WHYY-TV[26] and WUAB-TV[27] in the United States (525-lines variant; WUAB-TV's version later partially overlaid on SMPTE color bars), RTBF and VRT[28] in Belgium, NTS[29] in the Netherlands, Magyar Televízió in Hungary, TVP[30] in Poland,[31] American Forces Network in West Germany (525-lines variant, sometimes also with the centre portion overlaid on top of Multiburst test pattern),[32] Yugoslav Radio Television in the former SFR Yugoslavia, Rediffusion Television in British Hong Kong (where it replaced a modified version of the 1950s Marconi-designed Associated-Rediffusion "diamond" test card), ERTU in Egypt and ORTAS in Syria.[33] It was also used by the pirate TV Noordzee station broadcasting to the Netherlands in the 1960s.[34]

This chart, in conjunction with the RMA 1946 Resolution Chart[35] and later widescreen patterns, is commonly used to test consumer and professional standalone, smartphone and tablet cameras for photo and videography[12] and other imaging equipment like microscopes[9] or CCTV cameras.[11][36]

Variations

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Some variations of the EIA resolution test chart exist. Two Japanese variants of the EIA 1956 resolution chart are called "ITE Resolution Chart /EIAJ Test Chart A"[37] and "JEITA Test Chart II".[38] A widescreen update of the EIA 1956 resolution chart was developed around the 1980s for the HD-MAC broadcasting standard,[39] which was later modified by the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers of Japan as its ITE Resolution Chart for High-definition Televisions.[40][41]

Telefunken T 05

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Recreation of Telefunken Test Card T05
A Philips "Starenkasten" 1952 TV set, displaying the Telefunken T05 test card.

In continental Europe,[42] another variation known as Telefunken Test Card T05[43] was used. It had five diagonal bars on the top left of the centre white circle and different resolution wedges reminiscent of the RMA 1946 Resolution Chart. It was also available as individual rolls of test film, particularly in the DACH countries.[17] As a test card, it was used on ARD (from the 1950s up to the 1970s), Hessischer Rundfunk,[43] Bayerischer Rundfunk,[44] WDR,[45] NWRV in northern Germany,[46] Yugoslav Radio Television,[47][43] Österreichischer Rundfunk in Austria,[48] BRT[49] in Belgium, Doordarshan in India, some commercial TV stations in Australia, TVE in Spain, Israel Broadcasting Authority and Israeli Educational Television in Israel, TRT in Turkey,[50] and in early-1950s trial television tests by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.[33]

The centre portion of the Telefunken T05 test card was depicted on the obverse side of the 50 Years of Television commemorative coin minted on 9 March 2005 in Austria.[51]

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The centre portion of the RMA 1946 Resolution Chart was featured on the cover of Die Kreuzen's 7" single of Pink Flag/Land of Treason, released in 1990.[52]

See also

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to EIA Resolution Chart 1956.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Telefunken Test Card T05.

References

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  1. ^ Kang, Moon Gi (April 3, 2003). Selected Papers on CCD and CMOS Imagers. SPIE Press. ISBN 9780819451149 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Sampat, Nitin; Yeh, Thomas (April 3, 1999). Sensors, Cameras, and Applications for Digital Photography: 27-28 January 1999, San Jose, California. SPIE. ISBN 9780819431219 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b Evans, John (2006). Standards for Visual Acuity (PDF). KT Consulting.
  4. ^ QA-70-1 Video Resolution Pattern (EIA-1956) Product Specifications (PDF). Applied Image Inc.
  5. ^ "GJ's Home Page- Resolution test chart RMA 1946". home.kpn.nl.
  6. ^ Bali, S. P. Bali, Rajeev. Audio Video Systems. Khanna Publishing House. ISBN 9788187522058 – via Google Books.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ "Resolution Measured TV Lines". Causeway Security Solutions.
  8. ^ https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204749763743?chn=ps&_ul=GB [bare URL]
  9. ^ a b "Stage Micrometers, Microscopy Calibration Standards, 2008" (PDF). dataoptics.com.
  10. ^ "EIA-1956 Resolution Video Test Chart QA-70 – 登華資訊".
  11. ^ a b Malone, T. (August 1997). VNIIEF NMPC and A Maintenance Management Conference -- video surveillance. VNIIEF NMC&A maintenance management conference. Richland, WA. OSTI 634045.
  12. ^ a b "Video Resolution Test Patterns". www.bealecorner.com.
  13. ^ Liu, Yingli; Dai, Yijie; Shen, Fanqi; Yang, Lin; Ding, Zhanghao; Zheng, Zhenrong; Wu, Rengmao; Xu, Liu (28 March 2022). "High-performance imaging with an advanced non-imaging lens based on full-path optical diffraction calculation in two-dimensional space". Optics Express. 30 (7): 11014–11025. Bibcode:2022OExpr..3011014L. doi:10.1364/OE.449685. PMID 35473054. S2CID 247388943.
  14. ^ Yang, D.X.D.; Gamal, A.E.; Fowler, B.; Tian, H. (December 1999). "A 640/spl times/512 CMOS image sensor with ultrawide dynamic range floating-point pixel-level ADC". IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits. 34 (12): 1821–1834. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.75.7179. doi:10.1109/4.808907. S2CID 35539716.
  15. ^ Simova, Eli; Rochefort, Paul A. (2015). "Ionizing Radiation Effects in Non-Radiation-Tolerant Commercial Video Cameras". 2015 IEEE Radiation Effects Data Workshop (REDW). pp. 1–6. doi:10.1109/REDW.2015.7336719. ISBN 978-1-4673-7641-9. S2CID 18380237.
  16. ^ Ghosh, Kunal Kumar (2010). Miniature and Mass-Producible Fluorescence Microscopes for Biomedical Imaging (Thesis). ProQuest 2442179265.
  17. ^ a b Dhake, A. M. (May 1, 1999). TV and Video Engineering. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 9780074601051 – via Google Books.
  18. ^ https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2021/07/television-test-card-distant-memory-of-the-nightly-broadcast-shutdown/ [bare URL]
  19. ^ https://www.wisn.com/article/wisn-12-history-in-photos/6274357 [bare URL]
  20. ^ "Non-UK Television Test Cards, Tuning Signals, Clocks and Idents - Norway". January 12, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-01-12.
  21. ^ "Tidslinje for fjernsynet". www.eace.no. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  22. ^ "EIA Resolution Chart 1956 CKCK- V". January 6, 2016 – via Flickr.
  23. ^ https://sam.rmpbs.org [bare URL]
  24. ^ "KVVV-TV, Channel 16 Ruins - Test Pattern Image". monkeyview - Here are the albums of Invisible Texan.
  25. ^ "Celebrating 50 years of WVIZ/PBS". 27 March 2015.
  26. ^ "Test pattern". 19 October 2010.
  27. ^ WUAB Ch. 43 Cleveland - Test Pattern from 1976!, retrieved 2023-01-14
  28. ^ "Reception DX TV Belgique". dxtv.
  29. ^ "Reception DX TV Pays Bas". dxtv.
  30. ^ "Reception DX TV Pologne". dxtv.
  31. ^ "Non-UK Television Test Cards, Tuning Signals, Clocks and Idents - Poland". January 12, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-01-12.
  32. ^ "Europesche-testbeelden, Radio Bulletin 1972". fmtvdx.eu.
  33. ^ a b "Non-UK Television Test Cards, Tuning Signals, Clocks and Idents". January 12, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-01-12.
  34. ^ "TV Noordzee testbeeld, handige knutselaar ontvangt testbeeld via betonwijzer | Nationaal Archief". www.nationaalarchief.nl.
  35. ^ Lamminen, H; Ruohonen, K; Uusitalo, H (May 2001). "Visual tests for measuring the picture quality of teleconsultations for medical purposes". Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine. 65 (2): 95–110. doi:10.1016/S0169-2607(00)00120-6. PMID 11275330.
  36. ^ https://cctvbuyersguide.com/2019/01/a-history-of-cctv-test-charts/ [bare URL]
  37. ^ "TE095". www.image-engineering.de. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  38. ^ JEITA Test Chart (PDF). JEITA：Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association. 2018. p. 4.
  39. ^ "Television Test Cards, Tuning Signals, Clocks and Idents". www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  40. ^ ITE Test Card (PDF). ITE：Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers. 2022. p. 19.
  41. ^ "TE128". www.image-engineering.de. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  42. ^ Hamer, Keith; Smith, Garry (2018). TV DX-ING FM DX-ING TEST CARDS (PDF). HS PUBLICATIONS. p. 18.
  43. ^ a b c "Television & Video: Test Cards & Signals - Telefunken, Jerome Glick". jeromeglick.net.
  44. ^ "Reception DX TV Allemagne Baviere". dxtv.
  45. ^ "Reception DX TV Allemagne Rhenanie du Nord Westpha". dxtv.
  46. ^ SWALUW; VAN DER WOERD (1962). INLEIDING TOT DE TV SERVICE (PDF). Philips. p. 162.
  47. ^ "Testcards, Jugoslovenska Radiotelevizija - Radio Televizija Zagreb (JRT/RTZ) 1974". testcards.retropia.co.uk.
  48. ^ "Reception DX TV Autriche". dxtv.
  49. ^ "Reception DX TV Belgique". dxtv.
  50. ^ https://tvark.org/features/testcards/other-4x3-testcards [bare URL]
  51. ^ "50 Years Television coin". Austrian Mint. Archived from the original on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
  52. ^ https://www.discogs.com/release/3888258-Die-Kreuzen-Pink-Flag [bare URL]
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