Technicolor test patterns

This page is dedicated to cataloging the numerous test pattern types used by Technicolor Home Entertainment Services, formerly known as The Vidtronics Company, Technicolor Videocassette, Inc., Technicolor Video Services, and Technicolor Video/CD/DVD Services, for over 20 years.

Test pattern types

The first four test pattern types listed below were used on tapes printed in California from late-1985 to April 1989.

• Black screen, 400 Hz tone
• Black screen, 410 Hz tone
• Black screen, 420 Hz tone
• Black screen, 1010 Hz tone
• From 1986 to 1987, some tapes released by Walt Disney Telecommunications & Non-Theatrical Company had a silent white screen (with black vertical lines). This usually preceded the black screen with the tone.
• From 1989 to 2006, most tapes duplicated in Livonia using industrial real-time duplicators would open and close with DTMF tones.
  • Sometimes, the tones that follow the first tone are performed twice at the beginning and/or twice at the end.
  • Sometimes, in 1992, the tones were only heard in the linear track.
  • Most tapes had the tones played on the left audio channel. Sometimes, in early-to-mid-1993, the tones were heard on the right audio channel. However, the tones are identical if the linear audio track on the VCR that the tape is played on is only mono, as it is hard to find a VCR capable of stereo linear audio playback. Also, on some tapes, the tones in the Hi-Fi track may be different from the ones in the linear track.
• During the 1990s, some tapes had shuffling color/black-and-white bars (usually 1-2 seconds if at the end of the tape; 1-6 seconds if a mastering error has occurred on the master tape in the middle of the tape), with or without color static.
• Some tapes printed in California in early 1993 had a silent white screen formed by black vertical lines at the end, possibly from the master tape being stopped.

Pre-1989 test patterns

• American Flyers (Warner Home Video, 1986) - Changeover screen, silent
• The Ballad of Cable Hogue (Warner Home Video, 1985) - Changeover screen, silent
• Bronco Billy (Warner Home Video, 1985) - Changeover screen, silent
• Sleeping Beauty (Walt Disney Home Video, 1986) - Gray screen, 400 Hz tone
• Dirty Dancing (Vestron Video, 1988) - Gray screen, silent

Gallery

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Post-1989 test patterns

• Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Very Merry Christmas Songs (Walt Disney Home Video, 1990) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (Walt Disney Home Video, 1991) - DTMF tones (heard in the linear track only)
• Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Be Our Guest (Walt Disney Home Video, 1992) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Friend Like Me (Walt Disney Home Video, 1993) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Disney's Sing-Along Songs: The Twelve Days of Christmas (Walt Disney Home Video, 1993) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Circle of Life (Walt Disney Home Video, 1994) - DTMF tones (twice)
• For Our Children: The Concert (Walt Disney Home Video, 1993) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Fantasia (Walt Disney Home Video, 1991) - DTMF tones (the first tone is longer than usual)
• 101 Dalmatians (Walt Disney Home Video, 1992) - DTMF tones (heard in the linear track only)
• Vince Gill: I Still Believe in You (MCA Music Video, 1992) - DTMF tones (twice)
• The Muppet Movie (Jim Henson Video, 1993) - DTMF tones (twice)
• The Great Muppet Caper (Jim Henson Video, 1993) - DTMF tones (twice)
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (Jim Henson Video, 1993) - DTMF tones (twice)
• The Fox and the Hound (Walt Disney Home Video, 1994) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Cool Runnings (Walt Disney Home Video, 1994) - DTMF tones (twice)
• The Nightmare Before Christmas (Touchstone Home Video, 1994) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Walt Disney Home Video, 1994) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Pinocchio (Walt Disney Home Video, 1993) - DTMF tones (heard on the right channel)
• Free Willy (Warner Home Video, 1993) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Dennis the Menace (Warner Home Video, 1993) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Across the Great Divide (Video Treasures, 1993) - DTMF tones (twice)
• Jiminy Cricket's Christmas (Walt Disney Home Video, 1990) - DTMF tones (twice)
• You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown (Shell Oil Company, 1993) - DTMF tones (twice)
• The Lion King (Walt Disney Home Video, 1995) - DTMF tones (twice)

Other duplicators that used these test patterns

• WRS Motion Picture & Video Laboratory (Black screen, 400 hz tone)