Colorimetry and TV Colour Splitting Systems

Abstract

The colorimetric standard of the present-day television system goes back to the American NTSC system from 1953. In this RGB colorimetric system it is not possible, for basic reasons, to produce a scanning device which will provide signals suitable for controlling any displayed unit. From the very beginning of the television system the scanning device has produced inevitable colour deformation. The range of reproductive colours is not fully utilized either by a contemporary Cathode Ray Tube display unit or by a Liquid Crystal Display. In addition, the range is not sufficient for true reproduction of colours. Specific technical and scientific applications in which colour bears a substantial part of the information (cosmic development, medicine) demand high fidelity colour reproduction. The colour splitting system, working in the RGB colorimetric system, continues to be universally used. This article submits the results of a design for a colour splitting system working in the XYZ colorimetric system (hereafter referred to as the XYZ prism). A way to obtain theoretical spectral reflectances of partial XYZ prism filters is briefly described. These filters are then approximated by real optical interference filters and the geometry of the XYZ prism is established.