Blackmagicdesign Pocket UltraScope, Operation Manual

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Blackmagic UltraScope
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2. Waveform Display
The Waveform Display provides three ways to examine your video and is similar to traditional composite
waveform monitors seen in many broadcast studios. The three views can show you luminance only,
composite only, or both luminance and composite at the same time.
Push B/W for the luminance only view, COMP for the composite only view, and BOTH for the twin
luminance and composite view.
The composite view is exciting because it’s a fully digitally encoded composite waveform view and
similar to a traditional waveform monitor. This provides a much easier way to align to test signals, such
as color bars, because you can use the composite waveform exactly the same way as it has always been
used. Composite view also works in high definition, so you have a consistent and traditional way to
adjust video even when working in high definition!
When BOTH view is selected, the composite and luminance waveforms display side by side in a twin
view. This is incredibly useful when adjusting video levels or color correcting. It’s impossible for a
vectorscope to show which objects in the video have color because a vectorscope just shows what
colors are in the whole image and not which objects have color. When color correcting, you often need
to look for specific parts of the image, remove the color and produce a neutral state. This is because the
composite waveform is the same as the luminance signal but with chroma added.
Choosing this twin view makes it easy to identify similar items in the luminance and composite waveforms,
and if more blur or chroma is observed in the composite area, the item has color. If some part of the
video image is neutral gray, then it should look the same on both waveforms because no chroma will
be present. With the twin view, you can look around the waveform and see the levels of color or chroma
of various objects. As you color correct, the composite waveform will display more or less chroma in
the video signal. Now you can see if specific objects in the video image are color or black and white.
You can make technical and creative decisions using the Waveform Display.