4 ms·

Am I going crazy or do these images look like NTSC video? They are very low resolution, but it's not only that I don't think - there's something more done to t

Am I going crazy or do these images look like NTSC video? They are very low resolution, but it's not only that I don't think - there's something more done to them... like being sent through some kind of baroque video signal chain.

acuozzo 8y ago
It's definitely sourced from NTSC video. Checkout: http://files.80s.nyc/photos/3/05338/0023.jpg http://files.80s.nyc/photos/3/05338/0023.jpg We've got crosstalk typical of NTSC video being passed through a 2D adaptive comb filter during decoding: cross-chrominance and cross-luminance are both visible in this sample. Based on the appearance I'm assuming these images were stored sequentially on U-matic tape. If they had chosen to repeat each image twice they would have enabled perfect 3D comb filtering (SNR issues aside). Unfortunately, they didn't.
- DINKDINK 8y ago
  Where Can I learn more about cross-chrominance and cross-luminance?
  - LeoPanthera 8y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video#Demodulation_loss https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video#Demodulation_l...
  - acuozzo 8y ago
    http://www.cockam.com/vidcomb.htm http://www.cockam.com/vidcomb.htm
- jacobush 8y ago
  In a comment below it is stated that they were archived on Laserdisc. I can imagine the images were written to a tape master first, then the tape used to write the (probably write-once) Laserdiscs. The tape could have been U-matic, but maybe it was digital video tape, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-2_(video) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-2_(video) which was released in 1989. If so, the whole project would have been at the very bleeding edge technology wise.
  - acuozzo 8y ago
    In addition to NTSC artifacts each frame shows a very distinct kind of distortion consistent with storage on an analog videotape medium. D-2 doesn't introduce this kind of distortion.
    - jacobush 8y ago
      Cool, thanks.
erikig 8y ago
Yep, NTSC + Laserdisc. From the site: "...Because the Department of Finance originally recorded each 1980s print as one frame on Laser Video Disks (LVDs), using analog video capture, the low-resolution images were able to be extracted for the Municipal Archives online gallery."

acuozzo 8y ago

It's definitely sourced from NTSC video. Checkout: http://files.80s.nyc/photos/3/05338/0023.jpg http://files.80s.nyc/photos/3/05338/0023.jpg We've got crosstalk typical of NTSC video being passed through a 2D adaptive comb filter during decoding: cross-chrominance and cross-luminance are both visible in this sample. Based on the appearance I'm assuming these images were stored sequentially on U-matic tape. If they had chosen to repeat each image twice they would have enabled perfect 3D comb filtering (SNR issues aside). Unfortunately, they didn't.

DINKDINK 8y ago
Where Can I learn more about cross-chrominance and cross-luminance?
- LeoPanthera 8y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video#Demodulation_loss https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video#Demodulation_l...
- acuozzo 8y ago
  http://www.cockam.com/vidcomb.htm http://www.cockam.com/vidcomb.htm
jacobush 8y ago
In a comment below it is stated that they were archived on Laserdisc. I can imagine the images were written to a tape master first, then the tape used to write the (probably write-once) Laserdiscs. The tape could have been U-matic, but maybe it was digital video tape, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-2_(video) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-2_(video) which was released in 1989. If so, the whole project would have been at the very bleeding edge technology wise.
- acuozzo 8y ago
  In addition to NTSC artifacts each frame shows a very distinct kind of distortion consistent with storage on an analog videotape medium. D-2 doesn't introduce this kind of distortion.
  - jacobush 8y ago
    Cool, thanks.

erikig 8y ago

Yep, NTSC + Laserdisc. From the site: "...Because the Department of Finance originally recorded each 1980s print as one frame on Laser Video Disks (LVDs), using analog video capture, the low-resolution images were able to be extracted for the Municipal Archives online gallery."