Digital Video and DSP: Instant Access

Video data

Initially, video contained only gray-scale (also called black-and-white) information. While color broadcasts were being developed, attempts were made to transmit color video using analog RGB (red, green, blue) data. However, this technique occupied three times more bandwidth than the gray-scale solution, so alternate methods were developed that led to using Y, R–Y, and G–Y data to represent color information, where Y represents the luma (black-and-white part), and R–Y and G–Y represent color difference signals made by subtracting the Y from the red and blue components. A technique was then developed to transmit this Y, R–Y, and G–Y information using one signal, instead of three separate signals, and in the same bandwidth as the original ...