
PRODUCT SPECIFICATION
TMC22x5yA
49
In either of these methods, the 
“K”
 signal can be used to cross 
fade between the 
YCOMB
 and
the
 SIMPLE 
bandsplit signals. 
The resulting comb filter equation can be expressed as:
Combed Luma = Simple 
+
 (K * Combed High 
Frequency Luma)
Combed Chroma = Simple 
-
 (K * Combed High 
Frequency Luma)
In the case of the chroma comb, the weighted combed high 
frequency luma is subtracted from the 
SIMPLE
 high pass fil-
ter output to produce the combed chroma signal, and for 
luma comb filters the weighted combed high frequency luma 
is added to the 
SIMPLE
 low pass filter output to provide the 
combed luminance signal. 
Comb Fails
The inputs to the comb filter are monitored to detect discon-
tinuities that would cause the comb filter operation to fail. 
Whenever a significant failure is predicted, the comb filter 
architecture is modified and an error signal proportional to 
the discontinuity is produced. For flat areas of color, it is a 
relatively simple to produce an error signal that switches 
between the outputs of the comb filter and the simple band 
split filter without visibly softening the picture horizontally 
or vertically. However, as horizontal frequencies increase 
during vertical transitions, so the decision for switching 
between the comb and simple bandsplit decoder becomes 
more complex.
A line based comb filter can separate the luma and chroma 
signals from line repetitive composite video signals, with no 
loss of luma or chroma bandwidth. However, if there is a ver-
tical transition, i.e. a change from one scan line to the next, 
as shown for a NTSC two line comb in Figure 17, a 
comb
fail
 occurs. The comb fail shown in Figure 17, clearly illus-
trates the resulting vertical smearing of the luma and chroma 
signals. 
In addition to the smearing, the resulting phase of the 
chrominance signal with respect to the burst can cause hue 
errors in the demodulated picture. In this example, the 
chrominance signal would be demodulated with a 180 
degree phase error. Unlike the “simple” decoder technique 
any errors in the comb filter decoding produce components 
that if re-encoded will never reproduce the original compos-
ite video waveform. It is therefore imperative that the num-
ber and magnitude of comb fails be kept to its absolute 
minimum. This is not possible with non-adaptive comb filter 
architectures, and all vertical and diagonal transitions in the 
picture will cause irreversible picture degradation. For this 
reason, all the TMC22x5yA comb filter decoders implement 
an adaptive comb filter architecture.
To aid in this decision making process, comprehensive comb 
fail signals are generated and fed to a user-programmable 
lookup table (XLUT). The output of the lookup table pro-
vides the control for the cross fade between the comb and 
simple bandsplit decoder.
Comb Fail Detection
The traditional approach of using the low frequency data to 
look for vertical luma transitions, and rectifying the high 
frequency data to estimate vertical transitions in the chroma 
provides adequate comb fail detection. However, chroma 
signals that are equal in magnitude but 180 degrees apart in 
phase, which can also have a small difference in luma level, 
for example green and magenta, can produce undetected 
comb fails in the comb filter output.
To overcome problems with simpler comb fail measurement 
techniques, the TMC22x5yA generates an array of patented 
comb fail and comb filter control signals. To produce these 
signals each input to the comb filter is passed through a sim-
ple bandsplit decoder. This provides a luma signal from the 
low frequency portion of the comb filter input, and the hue 
(phase) and saturation (magnitude) from the high frequency 
portion of the comb filter input. These signals are compared 
and the differences in luma, hue, and saturation are used to 
determine the type of comb filter used to generate the 
YCOMB
 signal and to provide the cross fade control signal 
“K”
. The 
“K”
 signal can be weighted within the XLUT 
lookup table, allowing the user to tailor the comb 
filter response to their system requirements.
Figure 17. Example of a Comb Fail Using a NSTC Two Line Comb Filter
65-22x5y-58