Videotape Recorders

A video signal consists of changes of information which occur at rates between 50 times and 5.5 million times a second! If the magnetic tape is not moving sufficiently fast there will be insufficient room to record details of the video signal. Fast tape motion poses problems, and uses a lot of tape. So instead, the record/replay head itself is made to pass rapidly over a slow-moving tape, effectively producing a high recording speed. The result is a series of parallel slanting tracks across the tape.

Cassette VTRs

Open-reel videotape recorders (VTRs) have been superseded by a variety of cassette-based formats most of which are incompatible with one another. The professional formats are as follows:

U-matic High Band, ...

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