The most fundamental job of a video decoder is to separate the color from the black and white information for video composite signals. This task has been achieved many ways since the introduction of color television over 50 years ago. Many different separation methods have been used through the years. With the availability of new cost effective technologies, the consumer has been seeing a gradual improvement in picture quality and detail. Advances in display tube technology and semiconductor processes have pushed the technological envelope providing sharper, more robust video. But separating the chrominance from the luminance information is especially challenging due to the fact that the signals overlap each other in the frequency spectrum. How do you separate them, while minimizing display artifacts? Composite Signal Construction The composite video signal is constructed with 3 basic elements: - Luminance Information from DC to 5.5MHz (B&W Detail) - Chrominance Information modulated onto a carrier (at 3.58MHz or 4.43MHz) - Synchronization Information (Horizontal and Vertical Sync)The three analog elements of a composite video signal carry all the information necessary to display a two dimensional picture on a cathode ray tube (CRT) television. Luminance (a B&W World) The luminance signal carries the black and white parts of the picture. This component of the composite video signal requires the most bandwidth (typically to 5MHz), and signal integrity, to convey sharp and clear images. Edge information, brightness, and contrast of the image are entirely contained in the luminance portion of the signal. Until 1947 the broadcast video signal was only black and white. To maintain compatibility with the installed equipment of the time, color or chrominance information was added to the luminance signal to create the color composite signal as we know it today. Figure 1 shows the specified bandwidths for NTSC and PAL.