Datavideo se-500 Instruction Manual page 20

On the top of screen you can see 4 different numbers, each represent
the input channel from the SE-500 rear panel. On the left side of this
section are the 4 controls (Brightness, Contrast, Color, and Tint (NTSC
only)). 0 stands for Unity, or perhaps Unchanged. In either case, it
shows that the signal passing through that particular control is being
neither boosted nor cut. To move to another control, press the up or
down arrow button. To move to another channel, press the left or
right arrow button. To change the settings, press the ＋ or － buttons.
You can see the extent of color processing available in this section by experimenting with the controls.
Brightness adjusts how light or dark the colors in the image will appear at the Video Output. The Y-Gain
controls affect the range between the lightest and the darkest parts of the image, including how much
shadow and highlight detail can be seen. Color controls the saturation or intensity of the color image, from
fully saturated or extremely intense at the top of the scale to completely de-saturated or monochrome (black
and white) at the bottom. The Tint buttons (NTSC only) control the actual hue or specific colors in the image,
in effect rotating all the colors equally around an imaginary color wheel.
Reset works on the selected input source, and when pressed and held for 2 seconds, resets the Color
Processor controls for just that input to 0 or unity. (Press and hold the Reset button until you see the image
shake a bit and return to its unprocessed state.)
So how do you know for certain how effective any of these adjustments are? You can see the changes by
looking at the Main Output on a video monitor, but how do you know if that reference is accurate?
The first part of the answer is: by having an accurately calibrated monitor that shows exactly, with reference
to a standard, what the video looks like. That standard has been described and agreed to by the Society of
Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the European Broadcasters Union (EBU), and is
most commonly shown as "color bars." Color bars are an image consisting of columns and blocks of specific
colors and gray tones. Because of differences in television standards, SMPTE bars and EBU bars do not
look the same. They are used in much the same ways: when these are displayed on a monitor, the monitor
can then be adjusted to meet the standard.
The most serious, accurate color correction is done with the aid of a waveform monitor/vector scope, a signal
analysis instrument (actually a pair of instruments) common in video editing suites, which shows precisely
the details of the video signal. With one of these instruments, you can see at a glance (once you know what
you are looking for) the most intimate electronic details and irregularities of the video signal.
Many users may not have access to a waveform monitor or vector scope, but this does not necessarily
condemn them to produce less than high quality video. It means that more care must be taken and some
different procedures must be followed.
Brightness
19
1 2
±0 ±0
±0 ±0
Contrast
±0 ±0
Color
±0 ±0
Tint*
3 4
±0 ±0
±0 ±0
±0 ±0
±0 ±0