ABSTRACT
The waveform displays the amplitude (strength) of the video signal; this translates into the brightness or luminance of the signal. All video requires time synchronization; it is critical to a usable video signal. The waveform monitor can take an external sync source, such as a separate sync generator; however, they usually take sync from the video input they are displaying. In studios, there is sometimes a central sync pulse generator for all equipment. This is often critical when shooting multiple cameras, especially when doing live switching from one camera to another—without sync, switching might produce a visible glitch. In the era of analog cameras from the early days of television until relatively recently, cameras need almost constant maintenance to keep them “on target.” Cameras are pretty stable in these digital days but there are still lots of things that can happen to an image, for better or worse: lighting, exposure, compression, recording format, camera settings—the list goes on and on.
