Hi
The answer to this question can get quite complicated fairly quickly. The YUV signal is another color space the same way RGB is a color space to describe colors. I don�t know of a specific data sheet that describes YUV, although there are a few standards that should describe it at SMPTE.ORG. A good reference for this would be a book called Video Demystified by Keith Jack. It�s the book I personally use, although there are a few other good ones out there.
Essentially, one, or all of the three lines will have the vertical and horizontal synchronization information on them. These signals are usually the same signals as what you would on common composite televisions signals. HDTV signals will have these, but they are slightly different, such as a tri-level hsync signal. The NI PXI-5122 will be able to acquire these signals with a video trigger fairly easily. There are some issues of the some DVD manufacturers adding or changing the signals slightly as they try to prevent copying of their material, which could interfere with the NI PXI-5122�s video triggering ability. If you wanted to acquire all three signals at the same time, you would need two NI PXI-5122s. Or you can Y and U, and while generating the same information from the DVD player, change connections and acquire the V signal after wards.
Depending on what you want to measure, you may need a special DVD that will play standard video test patterns, and test lines depending on the specific measurement desired. If you just wanted to measure the sync parameters, signals that are always present regardless of what the video image is, you would not need the special DVD.
In general, the Y signal will be a 0 to 0.70 volt signal that corresponds to the luminance of the video signal. The U and V will be signals that range from a negative to positive voltage to represent the hue and saturation of the instantaneous color.
I hope this has helped a little; there is a lot of information to answer your questions.
If you would like a more packaged solution, a company called microLEX Systems A/S has developed a video test system with the NI PXI-5122.
http://www.microlexsys.com/products/video/video.htm
Jerry
