Magnetic recording apparatus with capability of recording signals of a plurality of different television systems

A magnetic recording apparatus of the rotary head helical scan type which can selectively record input information signals of a plurality of signal formats to a plurality of kinds of cassettes, comprising:

• input signal kind discriminating means having at least two kinds of input terminals for an HD signal and an NTSC signal;
• cassette kind discriminating means;
• a recording signal processing circuit;
• a servo circuit;
• control means for generating control output signals so as to set at least the recording signal processing circuit and the servo circuit into a predetermined mode on the basis of the result of the discrimination of the input signal kind discriminating means, the result of the discrimination of the cassette kind discriminating means, and a recording mode command, and for controlling at least the recording signal processing circuit and the servo circuit;
• and
• means for displaying a present recording state on the basis of a control output signal which is generated from the control means;
• wherein in correspondence to an output of the input signal kind discriminating means and the recording mode command, the control means generates a control output signal such as to make only the recording modes of a preset combination of at least a kind of input signal, a kind of cassette, and a recording mode effective;
• and
• wherein when an initial setting state of the magnetic recording apparatus is selected, the control means generates a control output signal for setting a recording mode of the magnetic recording apparatus to a recording mode selected from a plurality of recording modes of preset available combinations of at least a kind of input signal, a kind of cassette, and a recording mode ranked in an order of priority from a most optimum recording mode having a highest priority to a least optimum recording mode having a lowest priority, wherein a process of selecting a recording mode begins with the most optimum recording mode having the highest priority among the plurality of recording modes.

A magnetic recording apparatus comprising:

• cassette receiving means for receiving a cassette selected from a plurality of kinds of cassettes including at least an NTSC cassette and an HDTV cassette, the cassette having a magnetic tape disposed therein;
• cassette discriminating means for discriminating a kind of the cassette received by the cassette receiving means;
• input means for receiving at least one input signal selected from a plurality of input signals including at least an NTSC signal and an HDTV signal;
• input signal discriminating means for discriminating a kind of the at least one input signal received by the input means;
• selecting means responsive to a first control signal for selecting one input signal from the at least one input signal received by the input means;
• processing means responsive to a second control signal for processing the one input signal selected by the selecting means to produce a recording signal having a selected recording format, the selected recording format being selected from a plurality of recording formats including at least an NTSC format and an HDTV format;
• rotary head helical scan recording means for recording the recording signal from the processing means on the magnetic tape in the cassette received by the cassette receiving means, the rotary head helical scan recording means including a servo circuit responsive to a third control signal for controlling the rotary head helical scan recording means to record the recording signal on the magnetic tape in the selected recording format;
• display means for displaying all presently available recording modes based on the kind of cassette discriminated by the cassette discriminating means and the kind of input signal discriminated by the input signal discriminating means, wherein a recording mode represents a combination of kind of cassette, kind of input signal, and recording format, and wherein the presently available recording modes are displayed ranked in an order of priority from a most optimum recording mode having a highest priority to a least optimum recording mode having a lowest priority;
• means for producing a recording mode command indicative of a recording mode selected by an operator;
• and
• control means for generating the first, second, and third control signals based on
• (1) the kind of cassette discriminated by the cassette discriminating means and the kind of input signal discriminated by the input signal discriminating means when there is only one available recording mode, and
• (2) the kind of cassette discriminated by the cassette discriminating means, the kind of input signal discriminated by the input signal discriminating means, and the recording mode command when there is more than one available recording mode.