Waveforms and Parades
The waveform family is five kinds over one renderer.
The Five Kinds
Section titled “The Five Kinds”- Waveform — luma, with an IRE graticule.
- RGB Waveform — R, G and B, overlaid additively in color.
- RGB Parade — three side-by-side waveforms, one a channel.
- YRGB Parade — four side-by-side, Y, R, G and B.
- YCbCr Parade — three side-by-side, Y, Cb and Cr.
The Seven Scales
Section titled “The Seven Scales”The Scale row starts at IRE.
| Scale | Axis | Numbers printed |
|---|---|---|
| IRE | 0 to 100 | 0, 10, 20 … 100 |
| Percentage | 0% to 100% | 0%, 10% … 100% |
| 8-bit | 0 to 255 | 0, 32, 64 … 255 |
| 10-bit | 0 to 1023 | 0, 100, 200 … 1023 |
| mV | 0 to 700 | 0, 100, 200 … 700 |
| PQ (ST 2084) nits | 0.001 to 10000 nits | 0.005, 0.05, 0.5, 5, 203, 1000, 4000, 10000 |
| HLG nits | 0.001 to 1000 nits | 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100, 203, 1000 |
The nits scales are logarithmic.
On PQ the rungs at 203 and 1000 nit are emphasised, and on HLG the rung at 203.
The Legal Lines
Section titled “The Legal Lines”The legal pair is a full-width line at each end of the legal band, in the codes of the selected scale, and appears only when Grid and Legal range are both on.
On every scale but 8-bit the pair is 64 and 940. On 8-bit the pair is at the codes for 16 and 235.
The Lanes
Section titled “The Lanes”Waveform has one lane and a Filter row offering Luma or Chroma, starting at Luma. Chroma plots the length of the chroma vector, scaled so about 0.5 fills the plot.
RGB Waveform always shows three lanes, and the parades one panel per channel.
Layout is offered on RGB Parade alone, with R, G, B (the default), B, G, R and Overlay. The first two reorder the panels and tint each one with its own channel color. Overlay gives each trace the whole plot and separates them by lane.
What each panel plots is fixed: R, G and B for RGB Parade, Y, R, G and B for YRGB Parade, and Y, Cb and Cr for YCbCr Parade.
A waveform plots luma and chroma under the matrix the incoming frame declares, not the Space / Xform choice on a Vectorscope tile.
What the Pane Lets You Change
Section titled “What the Pane Lets You Change”| Row | Values | Stock |
|---|---|---|
| Enhance edges | switch | off |
| Highlight edges | switch | off |
| Trace | Dots or Traces | Traces |
| Edge | 1 to 3 px, plus the outline’s color | 1.0 px, [255, 64, 64] |
| Low-pass | slider 0.0 to 20.0 | 0.0 |
| Zoom | slider 0.5 to 20.0, logarithmic | 1.0 |
| Pan | slider -1.0 to 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Blacks (5x) | switch | off |
Traces strokes the consecutive samples of one scan line, and Dots is one point per sample, the softer cloud.
Low-pass smooths the trace.
Pan anchors a magnified waveform: +1 puts the blacks at the foot of the scale, -1 the highlights at its head, and 0 the centre of the plot.
Blacks (5x) magnifies the bottom fifth of the scale five times, 0 to 20 IRE. Drag Pan for another magnification and the window stays on the blacks.
Set the zoom from these rows or from a Stream Deck dial, whose actions include Waveform zoom in blacks and Waveform zoom in whites.
Peak Markers
Section titled “Peak Markers”Min/Max levels is offered on the five waveform kinds and on Min / Max. The marker’s number matches the rule beside it, and the ink is [230, 230, 120].
Which One to Place
Section titled “Which One to Place”- Choose Waveform when luma is the question, and RGB Waveform for a cast or a clipping channel.
- Choose a parade to attribute a level to one channel in a color frame.
- Choose Chroma as a diagnostic. It shows nothing about luma.