About the waveform monitors and vectorscope

Adobe Premiere Pro has a vectorscope and waveform monitors (YC Waveform, YCbCr Parade, and RGB Parade) to help you output a video program that meets broadcast standards and also assist you in making adjustments based on aesthetic considerations, such as color corrections.

For decades, video production and duplication facilities have used waveform monitors and vectorscopes to accurately evaluate video levels—specifically, color and brightness.

A vectorscope measures the chrominance (color components) of a video signal, including hue and saturation. A vectorscope maps a video’s color information onto a circular chart.

The traditional waveform monitor is useful in measuring the brightness, or luminance component, of a video signal. In Adobe Premiere Pro, the waveform monitors can also display chrominance information. The waveform monitor works something like a graph. The horizontal axis of the graph corresponds to the video image from left to right. Vertically, the waveform displays the luminance levels, and optionally, the chrominance levels.

For more information about reading vectorscopes and waveform monitors, see the video tutorial, Digital Video Principals: How To Read Scopes, on the lynda.com website.