Waveform
The Waveform scope plots signal levels vertically against the horizontal position of each pixel in the frame. Use it to judge exposure, balance channels, and spot illegal levels at a glance.
Display Modes
Luma
Single luma trace — a weighted sum of the gamma-encoded R'G'B' channels. The weights follow the active colour space (Rec. 709: 0.2126 / 0.7152 / 0.0722; Rec. 2020: 0.2627 / 0.6780 / 0.0593). This is luma (Y'), not scene luminance (Y).
RGB
R, G, B overlaid on the same area. Individual channels can be toggled on/off.
RGB Parade
R, G, B side by side with configurable spacing
YRGB Parade
Y, R, G, B side by side
YCbCr Parade
Y, Cb, Cr side by side
Each mode can be colorized — in luma mode this applies HSV-based colouring, in parade modes each channel is tinted with its own colour.
Luma vs. luminance. Luma (Y') is computed from the non-linear R'G'B' code values and is what broadcast waveform monitors have always shown. True luminance (Y) would require first linearising the signal through its inverse EOTF. For QC against legal-range limits or relative exposure reads, luma is the correct quantity; for absolute nit measurements, use the PQ / HLG nit scale described below — which does decode through the inverse EOTF.
Scale
IRE
0–100
Percentage
0–100 %
8-bit
0–255
10-bit
0–1023
PQ ST 2084
0–10 000 nits (logarithmic)
HLG
0–1 000 nits (logarithmic)
mV
50–700 mV
The scale follows the input source by default. Enable Scale override in the scope settings to choose a different scale per scope.
Legal range lines — when enabled, lines are drawn at the narrow-range (a.k.a. video-range / "legal") code values defined by Rec. 709 / Rec. 2020: 64 and 940 in 10-bit, 16 and 235 in 8-bit. Values below black level or above nominal peak (but still inside the 0–1023 / 0–255 container) are legal in the full-range sense but may be clipped or flagged by downstream broadcast gear. See Signal Range for full-range vs. narrow-range handling in the OFX integration.
HDR / PQ Scale
PQ and HLG scales are absolute: the code values are decoded through their inverse EOTF (SMPTE ST 2084 for PQ, ARIB STD-B67 for HLG) to a physical luminance in nits. A 10-bit PQ code value of 769 is 1 000 nits regardless of the display it is eventually shown on — this is what makes HDR absolute and SDR relative.
Adjust the Mastering Level slider to zoom into a specific nit range. Double-click to reset to the maximum value. Reference graticules at standard HDR levels (26, 203, 1 000 nits) help align HDR deliverables — 203 nits is the SMPTE ST 2084-A reference diffuse-white level, and 1 000 nits is the most common mastering-display peak.
Trace Presentation
Gain
Master trace brightness (1–100 %)
Enhance Edges
Lifts fine detail in the trace for better visibility
True RGB colours
Use pure red/green/blue instead of shaded trace colours
True Y
Show the raw Y' channel from the incoming YCbCr signal instead of re-deriving luma from the RGB conversion. Only active for YCbCr sources — RGB sources are unaffected. Peak-level overlays and alert scaling stay accurate when this option is enabled. Useful when verifying a broadcast Y'CbCr deliverable that has already been chroma-subsampled, because re-deriving Y' from chroma-upsampled R'G'B' can introduce small rounding differences.
Smooth Trace
Light temporal/post smoothing to reduce speckle noise
Enhanced Render
Use line-strip rendering instead of point rendering
Highlight Trace Edges
Render coloured outlines at the outermost boundaries of the waveform trace — useful for quickly spotting signal extent and comparing shots.
Edge thickness
0.5–3 px
Edge colour
Customisable (default: red)
Mark QC Luma Violations
When the Luminosity Limit QC check is enabled, turn on Mark QC luminosity violations to render luma trace samples in red wherever they exceed the configured min/max thresholds. This gives an immediate visual indication of out-of-range levels directly on the waveform.
Requires at least one min or max check to be active in the Luminosity Limit QC panel.
Peak Levels
Peak level indicators show the minimum and maximum signal values for each channel as numeric readouts with horizontal marker lines.
Show Peak Levels
Enable/disable the indicators
Trace-based Peak Levels
Derive peaks from the rendered trace shape instead of image statistics (Luminosity and RGB modes only)
Peak Levels colour
Customisable line and text colour
In parade modes, peak levels are shown per channel.
Zoom & Pan
Zoom vertically into shadows or highlights for detailed inspection, then pan the zoomed scale to inspect a different level range.
Mouse wheel
Zoom in/out (0.5×–20×)
Space + Left-click drag
Pan the zoomed waveform vertically
Middle-click or Double-click
Reset zoom to 1×
Context-menu presets for quick zoom levels:
0–20 IRE (5×) · 0–15 IRE (7.5×) · 0–10 IRE (10×)
Toggle between zoom shadows (default) and zoom highlights to target the range of interest. In video range mode the view automatically centres on legal black or legal white.
Adaptive Scale
The waveform scale adapts its granularity to the current zoom level — the more you zoom in, the more intermediate scale values appear. This keeps the readout useful at every magnification without cluttering the view when zoomed out.
Custom Targets
Up to 4 per-scope reference lines at specific signal levels — useful for marking black points, white points, or exposure targets.
Value
Adapts to the current scale (IRE, 8-bit, 10-bit, nits, etc.)
Colour
Customisable per target
Thickness
1–5 px
Targets can be dragged directly on the waveform for quick repositioning.
Global Target Sets
Global targets provide a shared set of luma reference lines that appear across all waveform and parade scopes. Toggle individual targets, adjust colours and thickness, and save/recall target sets for different projects or standards.
Filtering
Waveform Low-Pass filter
Horizontal box blur that softens the trace. Adjustable kernel size (0.5–20).
Signal Low-Pass filter (EBU R103)
Uses EBU R103 pre-filtered input. Requires the filter to be enabled globally in Preferences.
Broadcast Workflow Notes
Practical guidance from industry waveform/vectorscope practice:
Use waveform as the primary legal-range check: keep most luma in the narrow range (64–940 in 10-bit) and allow only controlled specular excursions per delivery spec (EBU R103, ARIB TR-B32, SMPTE RP 2077).
In digital workflows setup is not used; the legacy 7.5 IRE setup only applies to analogue NTSC.
For balancing, pair RGB Parade with the Vectorscope: parade for channel-level alignment (neutral balance = aligned top/bottom of the three traces), vectorscope for hue/saturation verification.
For HDR deliverables, don't rely on luma alone — switch to the PQ or HLG nit scale to read absolute brightness. Diffuse white should sit near 203 nits, highlights ride above that, and only a small percentage of pixels should reach the 600–1 000 nit "sparkle" zone.
Layout & Spacing
Channel spacing
Gap between parade channels (0–30 px). Only active in parade modes.
Top & Bottom margin
Vertical margin (0–100 px)
Left margin
Space for the scale labels
16:9 ratio
Lock the scope aspect ratio to 16:9
Color Pins
When colour pins are placed on the Source Signal viewer, they are reflected on the waveform:
Luma / RGB modes — circle at the pin's horizontal position and luma value
Parade modes — circles in each channel lane at the respective R, G, B values
Hovering a pin draws a horizontal line at its luma level
Keyboard Shortcuts
Mouse wheel
Mouse wheel
Zoom in/out
Space + Left-click drag
Space + Left-click drag
Pan zoomed waveform
Middle-click
Middle-click
Reset zoom
Alt (hold)
Alt (hold)
Morph between waveform and source image
StreamDeck / Action Editor
WaveformZoomBlacks
Cycle zoom presets for shadows (5×/7.5×/10×/1×). Also supports continuous dial control.
WaveformZoomWhites
Cycle zoom presets for highlights
WaveformTogglePeakLevels
Toggle peak level indicators
Related
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