PURPOSE: To eliminate the addition of the level of a contour signal due to noise component and to effectively eliminate the noise due to clip processing by performing contour emphasis by means of the contour signal where the higher absolute level is selected from among the contour signals in the horizontal and vertical scanning directions.

CONSTITUTION: The absolute values of an H direction contour signal DTL (H) and a V direction contour signal DTL (V) are checked, and the contour emphasis is performed while taking the only contour signal with higher level. Since the H direction contour signal DTL (H) and the V direction contour signal DTL (V) does not appear simultaneously other than approximately point- state picture and in a corner part like noises, the sufficient contour emphasis can be attained at all times even when the only contour signal with higher level is taken out to perform the contour emphasis. Thus, the contour signal is not added, the addition of the contour signal due to noises and the corner part of pictures is eliminated, the elimination function of unnecessary contour signal components can be sufficiently attained, and the deterioration of the picture quality can surely be suppressed.