Magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus

Abstract

A magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus of a cassette type has a first and a second recording mode converting a luminance signal of a video signal into an FM luminance signal having a first and a second carrier frequency and recording the FM luminance signal on a magnetic tape respectively. When the FM luminance signal is to be recorded according to the second recording mode, a magnetic tape having an excellent short wavelength recording characteristic is used for recording. A cassette containing this magnetic tape is provided with a configurational feature on its upper or lower half, and a detector for detecting this feature is disposed in the apparatus. When the detector detects that a magnetic tape is adapted for recording according to the first recording mode, the FM luminance signal is recorded according to the first recording mode, but when the detector detects that the magnetic tape is adapted for recording according to the second recording mode, the user can select either the first recording mode or the second recording mode as desired. A discriminating circuit is disposed in the reproducing system to discriminate as to whether the FM luminance signal was recorded according to the first recording mode or the second recording mode, and, on the basis of the result of discrimination by the discriminating circuit, the reproduced FM luminance signal is automatically processed in a processing circuit with a processing characteristic corresponding to the recording mode.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.