A method and apparatus for representing the amplitude curve of a selected portion of a video signal upon the picture screen of a video display device, at least the selected portion being in digital form and not requiring conversion to analog form prior to such representation.This is achieved by using the line structure of the line raster produced on the picture screen of the video display device as a digital-analog converter. The range of possible digital values for the individual picture elements of the selected line of the video signal are allocated as reference values to respective lines of the line raster, and during each line period of the line raster the digital values of the elements are compared in succession with the appertaining reference value. When during any line period of the line raster the compared values agree the picture screen is momentarily brightened, so that each picture element of the selected line is represented on the screen with a vertical displacement determined by its digital value, so that an amplitude curve similar to an oscillogram is produced having a horizontal time axis.In a further embodiment of the invention, arranged to display the amplitude curve of selected picture elements each taken from a respective line of the video signal, the reference values are allocated to respective columns of the line raster of the display device. The result is the production of an oscillogram on the picture screen having a vertical time axis.