Video recording apparatus

Abstract

Apparatus for directly recording television signals on a magnetic medium strips out sync and blanking information. Low frequency components of the television signals are time compressed, i.e. frequency shifted, and recorded as a substitute for the stripped-out sync and blanking information. Thus, high frequency components of each video line are recorded, followed by that line's low frequency components, thereby facilitating the playback of low frequency information. The low frequency video information is time compressed sufficiently to provide time, during the time slot which corresponds to sync and blanking information, for the recording of reference signal information. During playback, the reference signal information is employed to set the gain of the playback circuit. In time compressing the low frequency information, the video signal content of a line is sampled at a predetermined rate. Each sample is then quantized for purposes of improving playback signal-to-noise ratio, i.e. the effect of tape modulation, and other, noise is nullified by sample quantization. To assure against the loss during playback of significant low frequency signal information, the quantization bits are rearranged according to their significance, bits of higher significance being recorded in proximity to the reference signal information, and vice versa.

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