ABSTRACT
A variation of this chapter has been in every NAB Engineering Handbook since the 5th edition in 1960. By that time the NTSC color television standard was still in the early stages of development and implementation. However, understanding how color could be added to a black-and-white TV system in a compatible manner was a difficult concept for many television engineers (comparable to evolving from analog to digital systems). As a result, the 5th edition and subsequent editions of the NAB Engineering Handbook contained the following tutorial format of the fundamentals of the foundation technology used in color television broadcasting from camera to receiver. Although some of the material and terminology seems dated, it is still relevant to the NTSC color television system used today. While digital and high-definition systems use newer standards for video, NTSC still plays a major role in production, distribution, transmission, and reception and will for some time to come. The material in this chapter has been adapted from “Color Television, A Manual for Technical Training,” RCA Corp. (with permission).
