What do you call those colorful thick lines which appear on the TV when there's no signal?

Question

What do you call those and can someone point me to an appropriate image?

Answer 1

A test card, also known as a test pattern in North America and Australia, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no programme is being broadcast (often at startup and closedown). Used since the earliest TV broadcasts, test cards were originally physical cards at which a television camera was pointed, and such cards are still often used for calibration, alignment, and matching of cameras and camcorders.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/SMPTE_Color_Bars.svg/320px-SMPTE_Color_Bars.svg.png

Answer 2

They're called SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) color bars and they're generated from a piece of test equipment that broadcasters use to calibrate the TV signal.

When they appear on the screen, the TV signal itself looks like a flight of stairs on the screen of a waveform monitor. The top of the stairs (the color on the color bars that requires the most luminescence to generate and, therefore, the peak of the signal) is supposed to have a certain value. So, the technicians adjust the amplitude of this signal until the top of the "stairs" is at the required value as shown on the waveform monitor screen.

Here is a picture of the TV signal of the color bars on a waveform monitor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Waveform_monitor.jpg

If the voltage of the signal is too low, the images on the receiving TV will be darker than normal. And, if the voltage is too high, the colors are saturated on the receiving TV (like if you turned up the color adjustment on your TV too high).

In studio applications where multiple cameras are being used to record a scene, the color bars are also used for color correction of the cameras to ensure that the images don't differ from one camera to another.

Answer 3

at first devoid of seeing the photos and devoid of understanding the form of digicam became used makes it slightly complicated to grant a real answer on your question, yet i will supply it a shot. Now my opinion as a magical investigator is this would in all possibility be what we decide directly to consult with as a sperm orb (term got here from Jason Hess from Rock Island Paranormal, and has been used by using faucets members), yet returned devoid of seeing a image it could be complicated to truly tell what it extremely is. yet another theory would desire to be the action picture that became used (in reaction to what form of digicam you used) it could have been uncovered to a pair style of light, or the photos got here out so darkish because of the fact your settings have been incorrect, or you probably did no longer use the flash putting. Now yet another theory is that it is gentle circulate which you probably did no longer comprehend that became made on a similar time as taking the image, it happens, on a similar time as a magical investigator I easily have taken such photos and had to verify them to verify what they even have been. yet another theory would desire to be that there have been fibers (hair, string, cobwebs, digicam strap...) that would are starting to be to be interior the way on a similar time as you have been taking the image and that they might reason the bright colored strains interior the image(s) Like I stated there are diverse variables for this scenario and devoid of seeing the image(s) it is complicated to tell. i'm sorry that i could no longer be of any further help to you.

Answer 4

Test pattern

Answer 5

test pattern