Originally designed to test early colour camera encoders, it is commonly (albeit incorrectly) used as a standard test signal.

The saturated colour bars and luminance grey bar are usually used to cheque monitors for colour accuracy. The saturated colour bars are a poor test of any nonlinear circuit or system and at best, show video continuity. Testing a video system using colour bars is analogous to testing an audio system using a simple set of monotonal frequencies. Many colour TV test signals have been developed to accurately assess video processing equipment such as ADCs, compressors, etc.