The subject of encoding and decoding has become increasingly important with the trend towards the use of component technology in production. This handbook treats the entire subject of encoding and decoding from first principles leading up to today’s most sophisticated technology. Section 1 - Introduction to composite video 1.1 What is composite video? 1.2 Brief history of NTSC PAL and SECAM 1.3 Quadrature modulation 1.4 NTSC encoding 1.5 PAL encoding 1.6 SECAM encoding 1.7 Digital encoding Section 2 - Spectral analysis of composite video 2.1 Sampling theory 2.2 Aperture effect 2.3 Two and three dimensional sampling spectra 2.4 Spectrum of NTSC 2.5 Spectrum of PAL 2.6 Colour framing and Sc-H phase Section 3 - Composite decoding 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Simple Y/C separation 3.3 Field combs 3.4 Line combs 3.5 Adaptive filters 3.6 Multi-dimensional filtering 3.7 Chroma demodulators 3.8 NTSC demodulation 3.9 PAL demodulation 3.10 Digital decoders