AVID:Requests for Comment/Test cards for the Audiovisual Identity Database

Test cards for the Audiovisual Identity Database
Hey'yall, recently I was working on a little project regarding test cards, and then thought of the test card itself as an art form. A test card has it's audiovisual identity AND history, with it's colored bars and it's somewhat regular beeping sound. I thought more, and then noticed that it can be a cool fit for the current AVID description format, and as such, this idea has stuck on to me since, so here I am.

Now, how would I envision a test card page?

Basically, a description would go like this. I will be referencing the MTV3 test card from 1993 to 2004 as an example. You can see a video of this test card in action right here.

(ordinal) Card (year of when it was used, in this case 1993-2004)

Card: This would describe the card itself. Instead of completely repeating the type of test card in detail, we could seperate the test card types (In this case, the Telefunke FuBk test card) into categories, which would explain the type of test card in more detail, as well as the following pages that contain the particular test card type. An introductory page for test cards could be good in this case too.

Variant: There may be variations of a test card that appeared in say, different areas. This was the case in the test card MTV3 used at this time. For instance, you can see a version from Oulu right here.

Music/Sounds: These are usually accompanied with a beeping sound, but in the case of some Yle test cards that I've seen, you can hear the Yle Radio playing in the background, so variants definitely do exist.

Technique: Aside from a test card generator as to how the names were put, this is otherwise kind of pointless, so we can leave this out.

Availability: This can be pretty much the same as how it's originally done; here we describe the times a test card appeared on.

Legacy: Test cards aren't the most essential thing so it may be pointless to add a Legacy section here.

What benefits would this addition give to the Audiovisual Identity Database?
 * Another section for people to edit (and therefore, more pages!)
 * Another tidbit of audiovisual identity stored in our database, giving it more diversity (We have bootscreens too, so why not test cards?)

So, what do you think? VPJHuk (talk) 18:03, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

Support
I can name quite a few testcards (namely those used by the BBC) that have quite an interesting and fairly well documented history, and I am sure there are even more like that out there. I think it'd be a wonderful addition to AVID. Luke2505 (talk) 18:08, 29 May 2023 (UTC)


 * I agree! Finnish test cards (the very ones that gave me the inspiration to make this RfC) are also quite varied and also have been documented somewhat well. (Of course, there are a few wild cards such as this case where an unknown card cuts into the regular test card for Kolmoskanava (or MTV3?). VPJHuk (talk) 18:14, 29 May 2023 (UTC)