Editing Serial digital interface (section)

===Vertical and horizontal blanking regions===
For portions of the vertical and horizontal blanking regions which are not used for ancillary data, it is recommended that the luma samples be assigned the code word 64 (40 hex), and the chroma samples be assigned 512 (200 hex); both of which correspond to 0&nbsp;mV. It is permissible to encode analog vertical interval information (such as [[vertical interval timecode]] or vertical interval test signals) without breaking the interface, but such usage is nonstandard (and ancillary data is the preferred means for transmitting metadata). Conversion of analog sync and burst signals into digital, however, is not recommended—and neither is necessary in the digital interface.

Different picture formats have different requirements for digital blanking, for example all so called 1080 line HD formats have 1080 active lines, but 1125 total lines, with the remainder being vertical blanking.<ref name="DVaH" />