The Art of Film & Video

Part 1 Introduction &The Genesis of Editing

HomeShop10 Most Popular ProductsFREE LibrarySite OverviewForumsAbout UsAdvertiseCart

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Email Address:* Required

First Name:

Last Name:

Subscribe

Unsubscribe

Stay Connected

Subscribe to the Newsletter Email us directly Request print catalog RSS feed Find us on Facebook

Satisfied Customers

Professional Producer Course

We've been in the biz for many years and yet found a number of new tricks in your course that will make us more money.

Jim Wheless

Popular Directories

Camera Rental Houses Camera Reviews By Users Video Distributors Public Access TV Stations How To Buy Video Production Insurance LocalVideo Associations Video and Audio Manufacturers

Popular Articles

50 Ways to Grow Your Video Business How To Use Color Bars Birth of Television Broadcast Quality - Is It or Isn't It? Copyright Your Video (gov't form)Chroma Key Basics DV Formats - Everything you need to know Engineering Primer What's the Best Video Editing System? Editing - 10 CommandmentsLens - Adjusting Back Focus Finding The Right Video Business Make Video Look More Like Film PhotoShop for Video Tips Sony Z1 HDV Camcorder

-User Comments Smart Contracts TV Test Patterns, inc Indian Head Demo Reel Success SecretsList All Articles

Accolades

Forbes Magazine calls VideoUniversity one of the best business-to-business sites for digital video production.

Winner... Videography Magazine's "Website of the Month" Award

Winner... PC Magazine Online "Best Desktop Video Site" Award

Winner... CyberFilm School's "FOUR STAR" Award

Color Bars and How To Use em Video University http://www.videouniversity.com/articles/color-bars-and-how-to-use-em/

1 de 7 25/07/2012 10:54

Quick Links

What's New Video-Entrepreneur General Reference (non-video) Video Links Consulting

Recent Comments

Dan Banici on Shooting Video With a DSLRJohnson on 10 Secrets to Shooting Great Wedding Videos

Hal on 10 Secrets to Shooting Great Wedding VideosMichael on 10 Secrets to Shooting Great Wedding Videos

Ninan Kovoor on The Casablanca Reviewed

CNET Video Reviews

JVC Everio GZ-EX250Pivothead Durango (glacier blue)

Ion Air ProSony Handycam HDR-CX210 (silver)

Sony Handycam HDR-CX200Sony Handycam HDR-CX190

Samsung HMX-W300 (red)Sony Bloggie Live HD Camera (silver)

GoPro HD Hero2 Surf EditionPanasonic HDC-HS900

Color Bars and How To Use emEmail This PagePrint This Page

by Hal Landen

HD Calibration Disk for Monitors, TVs, Displays, Blu-ray Players and more.

Color bars are an artificial electronic signal generated by the camera or by post production equipment. They are recorded at the head of a videotape toprovide a consistent reference in post production. They are also used for matching the output of two cameras in a multi-camera shoot and to set up a video

monitor.

Before we proceed, you should know that computer monitors are quite different from video monitors and TV sets. You are seeing this on a computermonitor so you will not have the same kind of controls or images as on a video monitor. In fact, if you create graphics on a computer monitor, its very easy

to be fooled into thinking you have a great looking graphic for your video. But the only real test is when you see that image on a properly adjust videomonitor.

The graphics on this page are for example only. Youll want to use real color bars generated from a camera and viewed on a VIDEO monitor or TV set.Send engineering feedback on this article

Color Bars and How To Use em Video University http://www.videouniversity.com/articles/color-bars-and-how-to-use-em/

2 de 7 25/07/2012 10:54

To Set up a Video Monitor or TV

1. Allow the monitor to warm up for a few minutes2. Dim the room lights and block any reflections on the monitor

3. Feed color bars to the monitor either from a camera or house barsfrom your editing system

4. Set the contrast also called picture to its midpoint5. Turn the chroma also called color all the way down until the color bars

are shades of black and white

Diagram of Colors and Values

6. Notice the three narrow bars labeled 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 on the bottom right. These are thePluge Bars which stands for Picture Lineup Generating Equipment. Adjust the brightness control until the middle (7.5 units) pluge bar is not quite visible.

The lightest bar on the right (11.5 units) should be barely visible. If its not visible, turn the brightness up until it becomes visible.

Since 7.5 units is as dark as video gets, you should not see any difference between the left bar (3.5 units) and the middle bar (7.5 units). There should be nodividing line between these two bars. The only division you should see is between 11.5 and 7.5 (Note this same technique is used in setting the b&w

viewfinder on your video camera.)

7. The next step is to set the contrast control for a proper white level. To do so, turn the contrast all the way up. The white (100 unit) bar will bloom andflare. Now turn the contrast down until this white bar just begins to respond. The image below shows what it should look like at this point.

Correct NTSC Color Bars without Color

The image below is INCORRECT.

Color Bars and How To Use em Video University http://www.videouniversity.com/articles/color-bars-and-how-to-use-em/

3 de 7 25/07/2012 10:54

Incorrect NTSC Color Bars without Color

The above image shows a monitor whose black level (brightness) is too high. Of the three pluge bars, only the 11.5 pluge bar should be visible.

NOW for the colors

First a shortcut to adjusting hue: With a little experience you can avoid the next two steps by simply eye-balling the yellowand magenta. The yellow should be a lemon yellow without orange or green. And the magenta should not be red or purple.

And youre done.

But heres another way: Many professional monitors have a blue-only switch. If your monitor has one, switch it on. If yourmonitor does not have a blue-only switch, you can use a piece of blue lighting gel. Hold it to your eye like a viewing lens. If

you see any of the red, green or yellow colors, double the blue gel over to increase the blue effect.

By using the blue-only switch or a piece of blue gel, you have removed the red and green elements of the picture. Only theblue remains. If the tint and color (also called hue) are correct, you should see alternating bars of equal intensity as in the

example below. With a little practice, youll be able to eye-ball this step fairly precisely.

8. With the blue switch on (or your blue gel in front of your eye) turn the chroma or color untilthe grey bar at the far left and the blue bar at the far right are of equal brightness. One trick is to match either the gray or

blue bar with its sub-bar.

9. Adjust the hue control until the cyan and magenta bars are also of equal brightness.You can also match either of them with their sub-bars. Now the four bars gray, blue, cyan, and magenta should be of equal

intensity. The yellow, green and red (which are black in the diagram below) should be completely black.

Heres a diagram:

Blue Only Diagram

Now heres what it looks like in color.

Correct Blue Check (minus Red & Green)

You should now have a properly adjusted video monitor. However, if flesh tones dont look right, you may need to make further adjustments to the chromaand hue. Thats why engineers say (half jokingly) NTSC means Never Twice The Same Color.

Color Bars and How To Use em Video University http://www.videouniversity.com/articles/color-bars-and-how-to-use-em/

4 de 7 25/07/2012 10:54

Correct NTSC Color Bars

Heres what these same color bars look like on a waveform monitor:

Color bars on a waveform monitor

Once you have set up your monitor, leave it alone. Unless you have a waveform and vectorscope, its the only instrument you have to see how accurateyour video is. This is true of your camera viewfinder, your field monitor and your studio monitor.

After youve set up a few monitors, youll soon know what proper bars look like and then youll be able to easily eye-ball it with a fair amount ofprecision. For more information on the video signal, see the engineering article.

But before you get too technical, why not think about making your video business more PROFITABLE!

Also see PAL Color Bars contributed by Sheldon Kennedy.

Update: Im grateful for the many great emails Ive received about this article. One email resulted in the article being used, with my permission, in asophisticated defense system. But of all the great email I have received, my favorite was from the Inventor of the Color Bar Generator. I have included that

correspondence in a separate article.

14 Comments

What a beautifully concise explanation . If only the author of the DVE set up disc could have learned from you .Thankyou.

Comment by Nicholas Scott October 7, 2009 @ 4:59 pm

1.

Glad you liked it. You should see our new Blu-Ray test disc http://www.videouniversity.com/shop/blu-ray-test-dvd-kit

Comment by admin October 7, 2009 @ 6:28 pm

2.

I refer other camera assistants here for a clear explanation of the set up process of the monitor. Thank you for posting such a clear explanation.

Comment by Stephen November 24, 2009 @ 6:58 am

3.

thanks for this ot help me with my media studdies so much. =] thanks again

Comment by lea November 25, 2009 @ 3:08 am

4.

48 42 0Google + 0

Color Bars and How To Use em Video University http://www.videouniversity.com/articles/color-bars-and-how-to-use-em/

5 de 7 25/07/2012 10:54

Reaaaly good explanation- Digital Film Student

Comment by Lean November 28, 2009 @ 8:13 am

5.

This is a good article minus any videohieroglyphics. But even after proper calibrationfor CRT or LCD the fact remains that many folk

play DVDs in their default computer playerswhich I have found make even good video look

too dark. Is there a fine line between propermonitor calibration and the dvd computer player?Can I adjust for both worlds ?

Comment by Vance December 6, 2009 @ 8:28 am

6.

@ VanceI believe this has to do with colorspaces. Computers default to 0-255 colorspace and a TV expects a 16-235. If you have a high quality TV you may

find a Studio Color or PC Color option. This should solve your problem if not:If your using Windows Id recommend ffdshow tryouts and look at the Output and RGB Conversion. If your using Linux I recommend Mplayer with

SMPlayer and read the Mplayer Man pages.

Comment by Taco January 13, 2010 @ 1:57 pm

7.

please tell us exact procedure to adjust pal monitors using color bars from camera

Comment by swapnil March 25, 2010 @ 11:24 pm

8.

Great information..!

Under the displayed photos in this article it saysNTSC Color Bars

I am working in PAL, is there any difference or can I adjust my monitor with the above guidelines.

Suzana

Comment by Suzana May 12, 2010 @ 5:02 am

9.

It would be great if this could be updated with the new smpte hd color bars. I am not quite sure what all the extra bars are for and if I need to worryabout them.

Comment by bk May 28, 2010 @ 5:14 am

10.

Thanks for the great resource. I agree with #10-bk. As our TV station SLOWWWWLY transitions to HD acquisition, Im curious about the HD barsand set up.

Comment by Dixon August 6, 2010 @ 9:33 am

11.

Thanks. Your article helped me calibrate a new DLP projector which insisted in overdriving the picture.

Comment by greet August 25, 2010 @ 7:53 am

12.

Thanks Hal, using this settled a lot of arguments with students on the proper calibration of my display monitors in-studio.

Comment by Jim Ross February 20, 2011 @ 9:29 pm

13.

Color Bars and How To Use em Video University http://www.videouniversity.com/articles/color-bars-and-how-to-use-em/

6 de 7 25/07/2012 10:54

Very concise explanation! I have recommended that my students visit your site to get a different overview of the process.

Comment by Tim Nelson March 4, 2012 @ 10:21 am

14.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Confirm you are NOT a spammer

Shop | FREE Library | Forums | About Us | Advertise | Privacy PolicyOak Tree Press | 875 State Road Unit 11 #143 | Westport, MA 02790 | Voice: (401) 253 2800 | Fax: (401) 396-9132

1997 - 2012 Oak Tree Press. All rights reserved.

Color Bars and How To Use em Video University http://www.videouniversity.com/articles/color-bars-and-how-to-use-em/

7 de 7 25/07/2012 10:54