Difference between revisions of "Atari 7800 Color Documentation"

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(Created page with "==Overview== The process by which the Atari 7800 creates colors is directly related to the way NTSC and PAL encode colors within the signal. To understand 7800 colors, it's im...")
 
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==Overview==
 
==Overview==
The process by which the Atari 7800 creates colors is directly related to the way NTSC and PAL encode colors within the signal. To understand 7800 colors, it's important to have an understanding of NTSC and PAL color encoding.
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[[File:600px-YIQ_IQ_plane_-_7800_factory.png|thumb|Atari factory-calibrated 7800 color values, overlaid on Y=0.5 IQ colorspace.]]
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The the color system in the 7800 is designed to efficiently generate color signals that are PAL or NTSC ready, with very little silicon and support circuitry. To better understand 7800 colors, it helps to have an understanding of NTSC and PAL color encoding.
  
===Hue component of 7800 colors===
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Both NTSC and PAL TV standards have a short [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC#Color_encoding colorburst] signal near the beginning of each scanline. The colorburst serves 2 purposes. Its presence signals to the TV that the scanline will contain color information, but the colorburst signal also serves as a phase reference. If the same frequency is later detected by the TV during the display of a pixel, the TV will compare the phase of the frequency to the phase of the colorburst, and use the difference to determine which hue should be displayed for the pixel.
  
Both NTSC and PAL expect a short colorburst reference signal near the beginning of each scanline. The colorburst serves 2 purposes. Its presence indicates that the scanline contains color information, but also serves as a reference for any color information contained in the rest of the scanline. When the color frequency is detected by the TV during the display of a pixel, its phase is compared to the colorburst, and the phase difference determines the actual hue the TV will display the pixel with.
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NTSC TVs generally use the YIQ colorspace for this color determination, while PAL TVs use the YUV colorspace.  
  
NTSC TVs generally use the YIQ colorspace for this color determination, while PAL TVs use the YUV colorspace.
 
 
[[File:600px-YUV UV plane.svg.png|300px|Y=0.5 UV colorspace]] [[File:600px-YIQ IQ plane.svg.png|300px|Y=0.5 IQ colorspace]]
 
  
  

Revision as of 07:02, 16 November 2015

Overview

File:600px-YIQ IQ plane - 7800 factory.png
Atari factory-calibrated 7800 color values, overlaid on Y=0.5 IQ colorspace.

The the color system in the 7800 is designed to efficiently generate color signals that are PAL or NTSC ready, with very little silicon and support circuitry. To better understand 7800 colors, it helps to have an understanding of NTSC and PAL color encoding.

Both NTSC and PAL TV standards have a short colorburst signal near the beginning of each scanline. The colorburst serves 2 purposes. Its presence signals to the TV that the scanline will contain color information, but the colorburst signal also serves as a phase reference. If the same frequency is later detected by the TV during the display of a pixel, the TV will compare the phase of the frequency to the phase of the colorburst, and use the difference to determine which hue should be displayed for the pixel.

NTSC TVs generally use the YIQ colorspace for this color determination, while PAL TVs use the YUV colorspace.


Luminance component of 7800 colors

Saturation component of 7800 colors

T 7800 uses a constant saturation level of for color for all of the levels of b

Colorspace Model

The