Digital Television Recording with Low Tape Consumption

It is anticipated that analog equipment now issued in studio centers and for transmission throughout the IBA network will be progressively replaced by equivalent digital equipment. This change, however, could not be envisaged until digital video recording was proved feasible. The essentially different characteristics of digital recorders are compared with those using analog techniques. This study considers the problems and requirements which arise in achieving high packing densities on magnetic tape and how these may be resolved to yield a digital recorder using about the same amount of tape as current analog broadcast-quality 1-in helical videotape recorders.