MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, DESIGN, ART

AND TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER
ENGINEERING

TEL4114: TELEVISION AND VIDEO ENGINEERING

LECTURER: DR. DOROTHY OKELLO

Fundamentals of Television - Written Assignment

(Review questions in chapter 1: Elements of a TV System)

NAME: KASAMBA DAVID

REG NO: 17/U/353
COURSE: BSc. Telecommunications Engineering
1. Why is scanning necessary in TV transmission? Why is it carried out at a fast rate?

The picture information is optical in nature and as a result it is more complex to transmit because
of infinite number of pieces of information. Hence, there are practical difficulties encountered in
transmitting all the information simultaneously and decoding it at the receiving end because the
information exists in both space and time coordinates. Therefore scanning permits the conversion
of information existing in space and time coordinates into time variations only (conversion into
electrical form) and it is then transmitted element by element one at a time and in sequence to
cover the entire screen which is to be televised.

Scanning is carried at a fast rate so that an illusion of simultaneous pick-up and transmission of
picture details is created.

2. What is the basic principle of operation of a television camera tube?

Figure 1. Cross-sectional view of a TV camera tube.

The operation of television camera tube is based on the photoelectric effect in which the optical
information is converted into a corresponding electrical signal, the amplitude of which varies in
accordance with the variations of brightness. The object (whose information is in optical domain)
to be televised is focused by a lens onto the rectangular glass plate of the camera tube. Attached to
the glass plate is a transparent conductive coating on which is laid a very thin layer of
photoconductive material whose surface senses optical information of the object and based on the
 intensity of light, its resistance will decrease and hence the conductivity of each element of the
photolayer changes accordingly.

An electron beam (formed by an electron gun in the TV camera tube) is used to pick-up the picture
information now available on the target plate in terms of varying resistance at each point. The
magnetic deflection and focusing coils deflects the beam horizontally and vertically and saw-tooth
waveforms, each operating at a different desired frequency are generated. As the beam moves from
element to element, it encounters a different resistance across the target-plate, depending on the
resistance of the photoconductive coating which results to a flow of current which varies in
magnitude as the elements are scanned. This current passes through a load resistance that is
connected to the conductive coating on one side and to a dc supply source on the other and
depending on the magnitude of the current, a varying voltage appears across the resistance and this
corresponds to the optical information of the picture.

3. What is a raster and how is it produced on the picture tube screen?

A raster refers to the sequence of horizontal lines that are scanned rapidly with an electron beam
left to right and top to bottom.

It is produced as a result of beam of electrons (emitted by electron-gun structure) aimed at the

fluorescent screen which o striking the screen emits light. The pair of deflecting coils mounted on
the neck of the picture tube deflects the beam as it scans the target in the camera tube. This moves
repeatedly across the screen, then progressively down until the entire area has been covered.

4. Why are synchronizing pulses transmitted along with the picture signal?

Synchronization prevents fragmentation of the picture detail by ensuring that the picture details
don’t spit and get distorted and hence the pulses are transmitted with the picture signal.

5. Why is FM preferred to AM for sound signal transmission?

FM has a better sound quality than AM because its larger Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and
therefore rejects radio frequency interference better than an equal power amplitude modulation
(AM) signal.
6. Describe briefly the functions of various controls provided on the front panel of a TV receiver
(i). The channel selector switch is used for selecting the desired channel.
(ii). The fine tuning control is provided for obtaining best picture details in the selected channel.
(iii). The hold control is used to get a steady picture in case it rolls up or down.
(iv). The brightness control varies the beam intensity of the picture tube and is set for optimum
average brightness of the picture.
(v). The contrast control is actually the gain control of the video amplifier. This can be varied
to obtain the desired contrast between the white and black contents of the reproduced
picture.
(vi). The volume and tone controls form part of the audio amplifier in the sound section, and
are used for setting the volume and tonal quality of the sound output from the loudspeaker.
7. Describe the basic principle of colour television transmission and reception.

Figure 2. Signal transmission paths illustrating compatibility between colourr and monochrome TV systems

Colour television is based on the theory of additive colour mixing, where all colours including
white can be created by mixing red (R), green (G), and blue (B) lights.

At the transmitter, the colour camera provides video signals for the red, green, and blue
information. These are combined and transmitted along with the brightness (monochrome) signal.
Each colour TV system is compatible with the corresponding monochrome system in that colour
broadcasts can be received as black and white on monochrome receivers. In the same way, colour
receivers are able to receive black and white TV broadcasts.
 At the receiver, the three colour signals are separated and fed to the three electron guns of colour
picture tube. The screen of the picture tube has red, green, and blue phosphors arranged in alternate
dots and each gun produces an electron beam to illuminate the three colour phosphors separately
on the fluorescent screen. The eye then integrates the red, green and blue colour information and
their luminance to perceive the actual colour and brightness of the picture being televised

8. Describe the function of saturation and hue controls in a NTSC colour TV receiver.

• The saturation control varies the intensity or amount of colour in the reproduced picture. For
example, this control determines whether the leaves of a tree in the picture are dark green or
light green.
• The hue control selects the correct colour to be displayed. This is primarily used to set the
correct skin colour, since when flesh tones are correct, all other colours are correctly
reproduced.