EBU – TECH 3299

High Definition (HD)

Image Formats for Television Production

Geneva
December 2004

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High Definition (HD) Image Formats for Television Production Tech 3299 - E

High Definition (HD)

Image Formats for Television Production

Contents

1. Introduction....................................................................................................................... 3
2. Normative references ....................................................................................................... 3
3. Informative References..................................................................................................... 4
4. Nomenclatures and Image Sampling Systems ................................................................. 4
5. System compliance........................................................................................................... 4
6. System colorimetry and opto-electrical conversion for system S1 to S4........................... 4
7. Signal Formats for System 1 to 4 ..................................................................................... 5
8. Raster structure, digital picture representation and timing reference................................ 5
9. Digital Signal Formats for System 1 to 4........................................................................... 6
10. Digital Interfaces ............................................................................................................... 6

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Tech 3299 – E High Definition (HD) Image Formats for Television Production

1. Introduction
This document defines the basic image formats and digital sampling systems for the High Definition (HD)
television production applications in the European (EBU) 50 Hz environments.
The European Broadcasting Union has published this technical specification to meet the demands of its
Members for interoperability, and implementation stability, for high definition television production systems.
The specification comprises 4 HDTV production systems:
• System 1 (S1) with 1280 horizontal samples and 720 active lines in progressive scan with a frame rate
of 50Hz, 16 x 9 aspect ratio.
• System 2 (S2) with 1920 horizontal samples and 1080 active lines in interlaced scan with a frame rate
of 25Hz, 16 x 9 aspect ratio.
• System 3 (S3) with 1920 horizontal samples and 1080 active lines in progressive scan and a frame rate
of 25Hz, 16 x 9 aspect ratio.
• System 4 (S4) with 1920 horizontal samples and 1080 active lines in progressive scan at a frame rate of
50Hz, 16 x 9 aspect ratio.
The application of this specification is intended for, but not limited to, the television production environment.
This specification draws on the specifications in the normative reference section (Section 2) of this document,
which define in detail1:
– R’G’B’ colour encoding;
– R’G’B’ analogue and digital representation;
– Y’P’BP’R colour encoding, analogue representation and analogue interface; and
– Y’C’BC’R colour encoding and digital representation.
Designers should be aware that single link serial digital interfaces such as SMPTE 292M for formats other than
Y’C’BC’R have not yet been defined, and that the use of System 4 currently requires dual channel usage of
SMPTE 292M as specified in SMPTE 372M. Section 10 describes the current conditions for System 4
infrastructures as well as for R'G'B' interfaces for System 2 to 3.

2. Normative references
EBU R112-2004 EBU Statement on HDTV standards
SMPTE 274M-2003 1920 x 1080 Image Sample Structure, Digital Representation and digital Timing
Reference Sequences for Multiple Picture Rates.
SMPTE 296M-2001 1280 x 720 Progressive Image Sample Structure – Analogue and Digital
Representation and Analogue Interface.
SMPTE RP 177-1993 Derivation of Basic Television Colour Equations
SMPTE 292M-2004 HDTV Signal/Data Serial Interface
SMPTE 372M Dual Link SMPTE 292M Interface for 1920 x 1080 Picture Raster
SMPTE 297M-2000 Fibre Optic Interfaces for SDTV and HDTV interfaces.
SMPTE 377M-2004 MXF File Format Specification
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SMPTE 384M-2004 Mapping of uncompressed pictures to the MXF Generic Container
CIE Publication 15.2 (1986) Colorimetry, Second Edition.
ITU-R BT.1361 Worldwide unified colorimetry and related characteristics
of future television and imaging systems

1
the apostrophe ' in, for example, R'G'B' means that the signal has been gamma corrected
2
under final preparation by SMPTE
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High Definition (HD) Image Formats for Television Production Tech 3299 - E

3. Informative References
EBU Tech 3298 An EBU “route map” to High Definition (HD)
ITU-R BT.1120-5 "Digital interfaces HDTV studio signals"
ITU-R BT.1367 "Serial digital fibre transmission system for signals conforming to Recs ITU-R BT.656,
ITU-R BT.799 and ITU-R BT.1120
ITU-R BT.1363-1 "Jitter specifications and methods for Jitter measurements of bit-serial signals conforming
to Recs BT.656, 799 and 1120
ITU-R BT.1577 SDI-based transport interface for compressed television signals in networked television
production based on Rec BT.1120
4. Nomenclatures and Image Sampling Systems
Nomenclature
Luma or Luma or Luma Net image
and abbreviation Active lines Correspondin
EBU R’G’B’ R’G’B’ sample Bit Rate
[samples horiz. x per frame Frame rate, Total lines g SMPTE
Syste Samples sampling3 periods per (4:2:2, 10
active lines/ (picture) Hz per frame system
m per active frequency total line bit)
Scanning/ (AL/F) nomenclature
line (S/AL) (fs), MHz (S/TL) [Mbit/s]
frame rate]
Corresponds
1280x720/P/50
to SMPTE
S1 (abbreviated: 1280 720 50 74.25 1980 750 921.6
296M
720/P/50)
System 3
Corresponds
1920 x 1080/I/25 25
to SMPTE
S2 (abbreviated: 1920 1080 (50Hz 74.25 2640 1125 1036.8
274
1080/I/25) field rate)
System 6
1920 x Corresponds
1080/P/25 to SMPTE
S3 1920 1080 25 74.25 2640 1125 1036.8
(abbreviated: 274
1080/P/25) System 9
1920 x Corresponds
1080/P/50 to SMPTE
S4 1920 1080 50 148.5 2640 1125 2073.6
(abbreviated: 274
1080/P/50) System 3
Table 1: HDTV Systems 1 to 4

The digital representation shall employ eight or ten bits per sample in its uniformly quantized (linear) PCM
coded form.
The image aspect ratio for system 1 to 4 shall be 16 x 9, and the sample ‘aspect ratio’45 shall be 1x1 (“square
pixels”).

5. System compliance
The specification of a system in compliance with this specification shall state, inter alia:
• Which of the systems of Table 1 are implemented
• Which signal interface is implemented (R’G’B’, Y’PBP’R, Y’C’BC’R, R’G’B’A or Y’ C’BC’RA)
• Which quantisation (eight, ten bit) is used.

6. System colorimetry and opto-electrical conversion for system S1 to S4

1.1. Equipment shall be designed in accordance with the colorimetric analysis and opto-electronic transfer
function defined in ITU-R BT.1361.
1.2. Picture information shall be linearly represented by red, green and blue tri-stimulus values (RGB), lying in
the range 0 (reference black) to 1 (reference white), whose colorimetric attributes are based upon
reference primaries with the following chromaticity coordinates, in conformance with ITU-R BT.1361, and
whose white reference conforms to CIE D65 as defined by CIE 15.2 and table 2:

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Usually the sampling frequency on the interface; some equipment may use a different sampling frequency internally
4
The ratio of the densities of vertical ‘samples’ and horizontal ‘samples’
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For interlace scanning several factors reduce vertical resolution , please see EBU Tech 3298
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Tech 3299 – E High Definition (HD) Image Formats for Television Production

Item Parameter Value

1 Opto-electronic transfer Assumed linear
characteristics before non-linear pre-
correction
2 Overall opto-electronic transfer V = 1.099 L0.45 – 0.099 for 1 ≥ L ≥ 0.018
characteristics at source V = 4.500 L for 0.018 > L ≥ 0
where:
L: luminance of the image 0 ≤ L ≤ 1
V: corresponding electrical signal
3 Chromaticity coordinates (CIE, 1931) X y
Primary:
– Red (R) 0.640 0.330
– Green (G) 0.300 0.600
– Blue (B) 0.150 0.060
4 Assumed chromaticity for equal D65
primary signals (reference white):
X y
– ER = EG = EB 0.3127 0.3290

Table 2: Opto-electronic conversion characteristics

7. Signal Formats for System 1 to 4

Item Parameter Value

1 Conceptual non-linear pre-correction Γ=0.45

of primary signals
2 Derivation of luminance signal Y’ Y’ = 0.2126 R + 0.7152 G’ + 0.0722 B’
3 Derivation of colour-difference 0.5
component signals. P 'B = ( B'−Y ' )
1 − 0.0722
P’B, P’R are filtered and may be coded 0.5
as C’B, C’R components for digital P 'R = ( R'−Y ' )
transmissions. For system 1 an 1 − 0.2126
example filter template is given in
SMPTE 296M Figure B.2. For system
2 to 4 an example filter template is
given in SMPTE 274-2004 Figure
D.2.

Table 3: Signal formats

8. Raster structure, digital picture representation and timing reference

The raster structure, digital picture representation and timing reference for System 1 shall be according to
SMPTE 296M and for System 2, 3 and 4 in accordance with SMPTE 274M.

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High Definition (HD) Image Formats for Television Production Tech 3299 - E

9. Digital Signal Formats for System 1 to 4

1.3. The digital signal format for system 1 to 4 shall employ R’G’B’ or Y’C’RC’B components.
1.4. The digital signals should be pre-filtered prior to sampling to prevent aliasing
1.5. The nominal bandwidth for system 1 to 3 shall be 30MHz and shall be 60MHz for system 4 according to
table 4.
Signal Systems 1,2,3 System 46
Bandwidth and sampling frequency
component (4:2:2) (4:2:2)
R’, G’, B’ 30 MHz 60MHz

Bandwidth Y’ 30 MHz 60MHz

C’B, C’R 15 MHz 30MHz

R’, G’, B’ 74.25MHz 148.5MHz

Interface sampling frequency Y’ 74.25MHz 148.5MHz

C’B, C’R 37.125MHz 74.25MHz

Table 4 Bandwidth for each system

Further details and example filter templates are given in SMPTE 296M for system 1 and SMPTE 274 for system
2 to 4.

10. Digital Interfaces

1.6. Systems 1 to 3 should employ the single link Bit Serial Interface according to SMPTE 292M, which
operates at a nominal bit-rate of 1.485Gbit/s at 8 and 10 bit resolution. SMPTE 292M defines the coaxial
interface and SMPTE 297M defines the optical interface.
1.7. Conversion from 8 bit to 10 bit shall be performed by adding two padding bits
1.8. Users are advised that the SMPTE 292M interface represents a “standard-interface for real-time HDTV
signals” in traditional studio infrastructures which is similar to the SDTV serial digital interface (SDI).
Informative Note: The SMPTE is currently revising SMPTE 292 with respect to the interface. Check also
for a revised SMPTE 297M standard for the optical interface part.
1.9. R'G'B' encoding of System 2 and 3, and Y'C’B, C’R for System 4 currently require the dual link bit serial
interface version of SMPTE 292M as specified in SMPTE 372M.

Informative Note: Users should be aware that only a limited number of systems are available today to
support System 4 and that setting up a large television production studio infrastructure with a dual-link
interface may be a complex task. Studies are planned on light compression systems for studio use with
System 4, including the use of 4:2:0 compression. System 4 technologies are in development by several
manufacturers.
1.10. For file format transport of Systems 1 to 4, the Material Exchange Format (MXF), according to SMPTE
377M, should be used. The mapping of uncompressed pictures in MXF covering systems 1 to 4 of this
specification is defined in SMPTE 384M.
1.11. Informative section on data exchange using compressed versions of systems 1 to 4
There are possibilities of mapping data corresponding to compressed versions of systems 1 to 4 into bit-
serial digital interfaces such as SMPTE 305M (SDTI) and SMPTE 348M (H-SDTI). Further studies are
required before any of these interfaces and compression algorithms can be recommended, however. This
is also true for a file format mapping of compressed versions of systems 1 to 4.

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Users are advised to verify the bandwidth values with practical implementations
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