Technical Standards for Color Television

This paper consists of a simplified technical derivation of the standards for compatible color television as approved by the Federal Communications Commission for broadcast use. It is shown that compatible color television is based upon principles which are logical extensions of the principles used in monochrome television, in that means for controlling hue and saturation are added to the conventional means for controlling brightness in the reproduced images. The role of the primary color process in color television is explained, and the electronic multiplexing techniques used to combine the three independent components of a color signal for transmission through a single channel of limited bandwidth are described. The paper is concluded by a summary of all the major processes used in compatible color television from the camera input to the receiver output.