Method of and arrangement for recording and reproducing video images

An editing computer comprising:

• an input for receiving a sequence of mosaic frames and a sequence of audio browse samples;
• a central processing unit;
• an intermediate memory;
• input means for entering edit commands;
• an edit-command memory;
• decoding means;
• and
• a frame memory,
• wherein the editing computer:
• stores the received sequence of mosaic frames and the sequence of audio browse samples in the intermediate memory, each of said mosaic frames comprising a plurality of individual browse sets;
• reads out a mosaic frame from the intermediate memory, decodes the read-out mosaic frame, stores the mosaic frames in the frame memory;
• reads out an audio browse sample from the intermediate memory, and two audio samples from said audio browse sample, wherein a most significant half (MSH) of bits of a first of the two audio samples is formed from the MSH of bits of the read-out audio browse sample while a least significant half (LSH) of the bits of the first audio sample is made equal to zero, and the MSH of bits of a second of the two audio samples is formed from the LSH of the bits of the read-out audio browse sample while the LSH of the bits of the second audio sample is made equal to zero;
• supplies the individual browse sets of the mosaic frame stored in the frame memory for display on the display screen;
• and
• supplies the audio samples at a rate suitable for sound reproduction.

A method of recording a video signal comprising a sequence of video frames, said method comprises the steps:

• receiving a sequence of video frames of normal resolution and a sequence of audio samples;
• recording the sequence of video frames and the sequence of audio samples on a carrier in which an initial portion of the carrier is left unrecorded;
• deriving, from each video frame, a browse set of reduced resolution, said browse set being generated by filtering the video frame by a video factor VaH in a horizontal direction, and by a video factor VaV in a vertical direction, VaH and VaV being integers;
• writing a plurality of successive browse sets into a frame memory at different locations to form a mosaic frame, said mosaic frame being formed by writing VaH browse sets side by side into the frame memory, and by writing VaV browse sets below one another into the frame memory;
• deriving an audio browse sample from a plurality of successive audio samples in said sequence of audio samples, wherein each audio sample comprises B bits, B being an even integer, the first B/2 bits in each audio sample being referred to as the most significant half (MSH) of the bits of the audio sample, and the last B/2 bits in each audio sample being referred to as the least significant half (LSH) of the bits of the audio sample, and wherein each audio browse sample is formed by selecting AaH·AaV successive audio samples in said sequence of audio samples, forming the MSH of the bits of the audio browse sample from the MSH of the bits of a first of the successive audio samples, and forming the LSH of the bits of the audio browse sample from the MSH of the bits of the (1+(AaH·AaV)/2)th audio sample of the successive audio samples, where AaH and AaV are horizontal and vertical audio resolution factors;
• writing a plurality of successive audio browse samples in a further intermediate memory;
• reading out said plurality of successive browse sets from said intermediate memory, and said plurality of successive audio browse samples from said further intermediate memory;
• and
• recording said read-out plurality of successive browse sets and said read-out plurality of successive audio browse samples in said unrecorded initial portion of said carrier.