Test Patterns

[Ptarmigan]

Remember those test patterns you see in the middle of the night on television. Televisions stations called it the night. Either it is the color bar pattern or with black and white, the Indian head. Also, you hear a tone played at a certain frequency, music, or feed from a radio station.

Indian Head


SMPTE Color Test Pattern

[pojo]

I worked at a TV station for over a year and then Color Test was used to color balance the cameras when they weren't in use.... Usually a station either goes off air during the night or plays infomericals.... Very rarely do the stations use these patterns live.

[Ptarmigan]

I worked at a TV station for over a year and then Color Test was used to color balance the cameras when they weren't in use.... Usually a station either goes off air during the night or plays infomericals.... Very rarely do the stations use these patterns live.

Nowadays, TV stations don't go off the air, if so, it is usually around 5:00 AM on a weekend. I do see patterns every now and then, usually on network affiliated stations. They always air infomercials. I remember, they used to air movies and old shows.

[pojo]

The ones here in Green Bay/Appleton market don't use the patterns and rarely go off air.... the smaller DMA stations quite possibly use the patterns when informercials are not aired in the early morning hours.

[CajunMama]

the abc affiliate here will go off the air around 2am. They'll show live radar all night long.

[Ptarmigan]

the abc affiliate here will go off the air around 2am. They'll show live radar all night long.

That's interesting. I do remember one TV station in Waco doing that too.

[southerngale]

The CBS affiliate here will also show live radar all night when they go off the air. They don't go off the air on weeknights though (CBS Up to the Minute comes on), just on the weekend, and I don't recall if it's Friday or Saturday night, or both.

[O Town]

Wow its been a long time since I saw the color bar one. Never seen the indian before, I like it. Not sure if the stations go off or not I can't stay up that late anymore.

[TexasStooge]

I remembered those days. Some stations in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that were signing off the air every night display the color bars, or station logo along with the tone and 5 minutes later, all static. Now, only 2 to 3 stations sign off the air Sunday Night to Monday Morning.

[Cyclenall]

I see those patterns all the time in the middle of the night. I have never seen or heard of the Indian Head one though.

[Ptarmigan]

SMPTE is short for Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, which was formed in 1916. It's the organization that created that famous color and bar pattern you see at 3 in the morning.

Wikipedia-SMPTE
SMPTE

Here's a bars and tones video clip.

Link

[azsnowman]

I worked at a TV station for over a year and then Color Test was used to color balance the cameras when they weren't in use.... Usually a station either goes off air during the night or plays infomericals.... Very rarely do the stations use these patterns live.

Nowadays, TV stations don't go off the air, if so, it is usually around 5:00 AM on a weekend. I do see patterns every now and then, usually on network affiliated stations. They always air infomercials. I remember, they used to air movies and old shows.

Some of the HBO channels go off air for awhile and they do the color pattern. Remember those days just before stations went off air they would show the "Pilots Prayer" or something along those lines?

[TexasStooge]

I remember when Pay-Per-View was still on Analog Cable, they would show Movie and Event Previews as well as Promos for next month before they show the test pattern on Weekday Mornings.

[Ptarmigan]

Some of the HBO channels go off air for awhile and they do the color pattern. Remember those days just before stations went off air they would show the "Pilots Prayer" or something along those lines?

Weird. I remember seeing a video clip of HBO going off the air. It was from the late 1970s. I never thought the other HBO channels go off the air even today. Strange.