ADVANCE INFORMATION
VDP 3108
MICRONAS INTERMETALL
13
2.4. Display Processor
In the display processor the conversion from digital
YC
r
C
b
to analog RGB is carried out. A block diagram is
shown in figure 2–18. In the luminance processing path
contrast and brightness adjustments and variety of fea-
tures such as black level expansion, dynamic peaking
and soft limiting are provided. In the chrominance path,
the C
r
C
b
signals are converted to 20.25 MHz sampling
rate and filtered by a color transient improvement circuit.
The YC
r
C
b
signals are converted by a programmable
matrix to RGB color space.
The signals inserted via the YC
r
C
b
bus are identified by
their respective priority. The display processor provides
separate control settings for two pictures, i.e. different
coefficients for a ‘main’ and a ‘side’ picture.
The digital RGB insertion circuit allows the insertion of
a 5 bit RGB signal. The color space for this signal is con-
trolled by a programmable color look up table (CLUT)
and contrast adjustment.
The RGB signals and the display clock are synchronized
to the horizontal flyback. For the display clock a gate
delay phase shifter is used. The RGB signals are syn-
chronized by a FIFO. In the analog back-end, three 10-
bit digital-to-analog converters provide the analog out-
put signals.
2.4.1. Contrast Adjustment
The 8 bit luminance input is multiplied by a factor of 0 ...
2 in 64 steps. A 2-bit noise shaping on the result is used
to increase the resolution of the luma signal. Contrast
adjustment is separate for main and side picture.
2.4.2. Black Level Expander
The black level expander enhances the contrast of the
picture. Therefore the luminance signal is modified with
an adjustable, nonlinear function. Dark areas of the pic-
ture are changed to black, while bright areas remain un-
changed. The advantage of this black level expander is
that the black expansion is performed only if there is a
large dynamic range in the video signal and when it will
be most noticeable to the viewer.
The black level expander works adaptively. Depending
on the measured amplitudes ‘L
min
’ and ‘L
max
’ of the low-
pass-filtered luminance and an adjustable coefficient
BTLT, a tilt point ‘L
t
’ is being established by
L
t
= L
min
+ BTLT ( L
max
– L
min
).
Above this value there is no expansion, while all lumi-
nance values below this point are expanded according
to:
L
out
= L
in
+ BAM
(L
in
– L
t
)
A second threshold, L
tr
, can be programmed, above
which there is no expansion. The characteristics of the
black level expander are shown in Fig. 2–14 and Fig.
2–15.
The tilt point L
t
is a function of the dynamic range of the
video signal. Thus, the black level expansion is only per-
formed when the video signal has a large dynamic
range. Otherwise, the expansion to black is zero. This al-
lows the correction of the characteristics of the picture
tube.
L
in
L
out
L
min
L
max
L
t
L
tr
Fig. 2–14:
Characteristics of the black
level expander
L
tr
BAM
BTHR
BTLT
a)
L
min
L
max
L
t
L
t
b)
Fig. 2–15:
Black-level-expansion
a) luminance input
b) luminance output
2.4.3. Dynamic Peaking
Especially with composite input signals and notch filter
luminance separation, it is necessary to improve the lu-
minance frequency characteristics.
In DIGIT3000 the luma response is improved by ‘dynam-
ic’ peaking. The algorithm has been optimized regarding
step and frequency response. It adapts to the amplitude
of the high frequency part. Small amplitudes are en-
hanced while large amplitudes stay nearly unmodified.