Test Card W is a test card, an image used to determine the quality of a broadcast television picture. It is an updated 16:9 (1.78:1) widescreen version of Test Card F, which was created by BBC engineer George Hersee. Test Card W is similar to Test Card J, the latter being a 4:3 version. Both appeared for the first time in November 1999.
The colour-bars on the top and right of the image are the full 100 percent saturation version, unlike Test Cards F and J which use the 95 percent type. Extra mirrored arrow-heads on the central axis at the sides mark the positions of the middle 4:3 and 14:9 sections of the image.
As television is usually broadcast 24 hours a day, the test card is now rarely used. The last known occasion that this card was broadcast on British screens was Friday 9 January 2004, when early morning tests were carried out on BBC One and BBC Two. BBC Two still closes every weekday morning between 4.00 and 6.00 and during Educational Holidays, but pages from Ceefax rather than test cards are broadcast on these occasions.
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The last occasion that Test Card W was broadcast on BBC One and BBC Two was Friday 9 January 2004. The times before that were for a few minutes on 3 December 2003 on BBC Two during the 2003 tests; seen for around 20 minutes during Pages from Ceefax time from about 02.20 on 22 June 2003; a brief appearance in the early in the morning of 14 August 2001 in a programme gap; on BBC One between 03.00 and 04.00 on 27 July 2001 (while BBC Two was on reduced power); and during the August 2000 BBC rebroadcast test. Test Card W flashed up briefly on BBC1 early in the morning of Tuesday November 3, 2009 during the opening credits to BBC breakfast news
On Freeview in the United Kingdom, Test Card W can be viewed at any time on most Freeview boxes.[1]