How To Guide
www.tektronix.com/products/video_test/4
The Differences
Figure 5 allows us to quickly see just how the Spearhead enables us to work in an entirely new dimension by allowing us to see
that effects of Saturation that simply were not available in the Vectorscope and Diamond Displays.
Notice in the 5B and 5C that the Yellow Dot appears in the same position for both 75% Saturation, 100% Amplitude and for
100% Saturation and 75% Amplitude. The Vectorscope tells us about the Color Hue (angular position) and amplitude of
the chrominance signal (the combined effect of color and lightness but not the Saturation. The Diamond does just what it is
supposed to do in telling us that we have not exceeded the legal RGB limits, but only the Spearhead display tells us which
one is 100% Saturated (5C) and which one is 75% Saturated (5B).
Saturation is the purity or vividness of a color expressed as the absence of white. A color with 100% Saturation contains no
white. Reducing Saturation drains the color away leaving just the gray-scale component.
Figure 5. Vector, Diamond and Spearhead.
5A
5B
5C