Telefunken FuBK

Telefunken FuBK test pattern

16:9 / PALplus variation of the FuBK test pattern

Two 4:3 FuBK test cards as shown on a PlayStation Vita (top; OLED screen) and PlayStation Portable (bottom; LCD screen)

The Telefunken FuBK^[1] (Funkbetriebungskommission - Television Service Commission) was an electronic analogue TV test card developed in West Germany in the late-1960s^[2] and used with analogue PAL broadcasts. Not as popular as the Philips PM5544, nevertheless it saw widespread use in West Germany (and later reunified Germany) and some other European, Asian and African countries, as well as by some commercial TV stations in Australia.^[3][4]

The test card was generated electronically by a Video-signal generator such as Grundig VG 1001^[5] or other more modern hardware.^[6][7]

Test card features[]

Some elements present on the FuBK test card:^[4]

• Cross Hatch - makes up the background of the table and allows adjustment of CRT convergence and focussing;
• Circle - provide a way to correct vertical and horizontal raster scan geometrical distortions;
• Colour bars - colour bars at 75% luminance (100/0/75/0) to adjust color saturation and purity;
• Grey Staircase - five bars (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) that allow setting brightness, linearity and contrast control;
• 2T Convergence Cross - check for signal reflections and group delay, help with geometrical image centering;
• Multiburst- four grating with sine curves at 1, 2, 3 and 4.433 MHz, as a test of horizontal resolution;
• Black Section- check for reflections, transient response and group delay;
• ±V/ +U Ramp - two lines that allow checking PAL decoder linearity with UV signals;
• +V/ ±U Anti PAL - two achromatic fields to test the PAL decoder delay line;

On PAL broadcasts, with a maximum displayable video bandwidth of around 5 MHz, individual lines should just be visible in all Multiburst gratings. On other situations, like a VHS recording with reduced bandwidth, they become more and more indistinct, merging into a grey area.

The two special achromatic fields should display as grey if PAL decoding is functioning correctly. If not, colour will be seen on these areas.^[4]

Variations[]

4:3[]

• A variation (used by Doordarshan^[8] in India, and occasionally by PTT-NL/Nozema/NOS^[9] in the Netherlands and in West Germany^[10][11]), kept the 4:3 display format and all other features intact while simply omitting the centre circle.

• Another variation that adds border castellations and changes the middle downward triangle to a simple vertical bar, used by some German channels^{[12][13][14][15]} as well as Kanal 2^[16] in Denmark.

• Another modification, again omitting the circle but including a grid cross in the middle, was known to be used on some TV transmitters in Belgium and the Netherlands.^[17]

• A monochrome variant, omitting the centre circle and replacing the colour bars with a black box showing the transmitter name and channel, as well as an on-screen line gauge replacing the ±V/ +U Ramp and +V/ ±U Anti PAL sections near the bottom, was used on some DBP-operated TV transmitters in West Germany in the 1970s.^[18][19][20]

16:9[]

In the 1990s, a FuBK variant in the 16:9 aspect ratio format was developed for the PALplus and MAC standards and was used by some channels such as ARD.^[21][22] It included geometric markings for the central 4:3 safe area, with the other details being generally the same as on the original version. This pattern could be generated by the Grundig VG 1100 video generator, introduced around 1995.^[23][24]

Usage[]

Modified FuBK test card used by IRIB

This pattern was used by many broadcasters, including:

• ARD^[25] and ZDF^[26] (Germany, ARD used the 16:9 variation)^[3]
• Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR Fernsehen; Northern German Broadcasting Hamburg)^[27][3]
• Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR Fernsehen; West German Broadcasting Cologne)^[28]
• Südwestrundfunk (SWR Fernsehen; southwest Germany)^[29]
• Deutsche Bundespost (Germany)^[30]
• Hessischer Rundfunk (hr-fernsehen, Germany)^[31]
• Hrvatska radiotelevizija (Croatian Radiotelevision)
• RTL9 (Luxembourg)
• Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP; Portuguese public broadcasting corporation)^[32][33]
• Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB; used a variation of the pattern)
• RTL-TVI^[34] and VT4^[35] (Belgium)
• Canal+ (Belgium; used a modification of the pattern with grid cross)^[36]
• NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation)^[3]
• YLE,^[37] Kolmoskanava, MTV3 and Nelonen (Finland)^[3]
• Yugoslav Radio Television^[38][3][33]
• SRG SSR (SF, TSR, TSI); Teleclub (Switzerland)^{[39][3][40][41]}
• Doordarshan (Indian public television broadcaster; 4:3 version without circle)^[8]
• BTV6^[42] and GTV9^[43] in Australia
• Channel 7 (Thailand)^[44]
• Magyar Televízió (Hungarian public television broadcaster; since 2009)^[45]
• NPO 1, NPO 2, NPO 3 (Netherlands)^[46]
• Nozema and Staatsbedrijf der Posterijen, Telegrafie en Telefonie (Netherlands)
• TVR 1 (Romanian Television 1)^[47]
• Czechoslovak Television^[48]
• ERTT (Tunisia)^[49]
• M-Net^[50] and e.tv^[51] (South Africa)
• LJBC (Libya)^[52]
• Kanal 2 (Denmark)^[16]

See also[]

• Philips PM5544
• ETP-1
• Test card

References[]