A picture information detecting apparatus includes a picture area signal output circuit to detect a picture area excluding black band portions from the input video signal to produce a picture area signal to designate the picture area from which picture information is detected. Also included is a picture information detecting circuit for detecting picture information from the input video signal in the designated area. A picture quality compensating circuit is also provided for compensating the video input signal using the detected picture information to produce the gradation compensated video signal. An EDTV 2 discriminating circuit may also be included to determine if the video input signal is an EDTV 2 signal.