An Experimental High Speed Data Recorder for Digital Image Recording

Abstract

An experimental model of a high speed data recorder which records compressed HDTV images is developed. This data recorder is capable of recording digital data up to 140 Mbps in a cassette-type half-inch tape for 60 minutes, and is applicable to various transmission rates less than 140 Mbps by changing an interface board. In this data recorder, a double Reed-Solomon code is used as an error correction code. Record equalization is employed to reduce the channel bit error rate. With this method, a channel bit error rate of 10^-5-10^-4 is obtained. An off track margin of ± 5μm is obtained, to keep the channel bit error rate at less than 10^-4. The channel bit error rate degrades in a low humidity condition caused, in our estimation, by an increase of a rubbing noise. When recorded HDTV image data is compressed with HDTV-CODEC, our experimental model gives playback data without degrading the coded picture quality.