Analog video is the representation of a series of multiple images (video) through the use of a rapidly changing signal (analog). This analog signal indicates the luminance and color information within the video signal.

Sending a video picture involves the creation and transfer of a sequence of individual still pictures called frames. Each frame is divided into horizontal and vertical lines. To create a single frame picture on a television set, the frame is drawn line by line. The process of drawing these lines on the screen is called scanning. The frames are drawn to the screen in two separate scans. The first scan draws half of the picture and the second scan draws in between the lines of the first scan. This scanning method is called interlacing. Each line is divided into pixels that are the smallest possible parts of the picture. The number of pixels that can be displayed determines the resolution (quality) of the video signal. The video signal television picture into three parts: the picture brightness (luminance), the color (chrominance) and the audio.

This figure demonstrates the operation of the basic NTSC analog television system. The video source is broken into 30 frames per second (25 frames per second for PAL) and converted into multiple lines per frame. Each video line transmission begins with a burst pulse (called a sync pulse) that is followed by a signal that represents color and intensity. The time relative to the starting sync is the position on the line from left to right. Each line is sent until a frame is complete and the next frame can begin. The television receiver decodes the video signal to position and control the intensity of an electronic beam that scans the phosphorus tube ("picture tube") to recreate the display.