Video signal duplicating systems

Abstract: In a video signal duplicating system (1) in which a video signal reproduced from a record medium is duplicated on to another record medium, n record media (A, B) on which the same video signal is recorded are transported by n playback video tape recorders (3, 5) at a speed n times higher than the normal tape transport speed, and video signals (a₀, b₀) are reproduced from the n record media (A, B) at positions offset by one frame each. The reproduced video signals are timebase-compressed and/or delayed and selectively combined in a processing circuit (7), and are supplied to and recorded by a recording video tape recorder (40) as n times normal speed reproduced signals.

Description: This invention relates to video signal duplicating systems in which a video signal reproduced from a first record medium is duplicated on to a second record medium. More particularly, this invention relates to such a system in which the video signal is duplicated at a speed higher than the normal playback speed. When video information such as a movie or the like is reproduced from a video tape and recorded on another video tape, it is known for a playback video tape recorder (VTR) and a recording VTR both to be driven at a speed, for example, twice as high as the normal speed so that a twice normal speed reproduced signal is supplied to the recording VTR in order to reduce the duplicating time. In order to obtain the twice normal speed reproduced signal, the following two methods have been proposed. In a first method, the transport speed of the video tape (record medium) and the driving speed of the reproducing system such as a rotary head drum or the like are doubled. In a second method, the number of playback heads mounted on the rotary head drum is doubled. However, according to the first method, the rotational speed of the rotary head must be significantly increased. For example, in a VTR of the so-called D2 type such as that described in US Patent No. US-A-5 012 361, the rotational speed of the rotary head reaches 10800 r.p.m. so that, in actual practice, various technical problems must be solved in order to achieve the higher speed. Furthermore, since a signal of frequency band twice the normal frequency band is delivered from the playback head, the signal processing system of the existing VTR must be modified in order to handle the increased frequency band. The second method, on the other hand, needs a special rotary head drum and a special playback head, and also needs two signal processing systems, which requires the existing VTR to be modified considerably. Therefore, in the application of the above two methods, the development period of the VTR is extended and the development cost is also increased. As a result, these methods cannot satisfy a user's requirements at an early stage. According to this invention there is provided a video signal duplicating system in which an original video signal reproduced from n first video tapes is duplicated on to a second video tape, the system comprising: n video tape recorders each for transporting a respective one of the n first video tapes at a speed n times higher than the normal transport speed and concurrently reproducing video signals from said n first video tapes at positions offset by one frame each, the rotational speed of the rotary head drum of each of said video tape recorders being equal to its rotational speed in a normal reproducing speed mode; signal processing means for timebase-compressing by a factor n , or time-compressing by a factor n and delaying, the video signals reproduced by said n video tape recorders and for deriving from these compressed video signals a processed signal corresponding to the original video signal reproduced at n times the normal reproducing speed; and a recording video tape recorder for recording the processed signal from said signal processing means on said second video tape at a speed n times higher than the normal recording speed, n being an integer greater than 1. A preferred embodiment of the invention, described below in more detail, provides an improved video signal duplicating system in which the above-mentioned shortcomings and disadvantages encountered with the previous proposals can be reduced or overcome. More specifically, the preferred embodiment provides a video signal duplicating system in which a video signal can be duplicated at a speed n times higher than the normal speed without increasing the rotational speed of the rotating heads of the playback video tape recorders more than the normal rotational speed. Preferably n is an even number such as 2, 4, 6, 8, 16 ..... . The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, throughout which like parts are referred to by like references, and in which: Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a video signal duplicating system according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic representation used to explain the operation of the video signal duplicating system shown in Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram showing an example of a video or audio processor used in the video signal duplicating system shown in Figure 1. Referring to Figure 1, in a video signal duplicating system 1, video tapes (record media) A, B are respectively loaded into two ( n = 2) digital VTRs 3, 5. The same information signal (for example, video and audio signals of a movie) is recorded on the video tapes A, B and the two VTRs 3, 5 are driven in phase with each other by a playback operation instruction signal RS supplied thereto from an external control apparatus (not shown) through a terminal 10 and also by means of output signals TCA, TCB from a time code generator 20 also receiving the playback operation instruction signal RS. Reproduced signals from the VTRs 3, 5 are supplied to a signal processor 7, in which they are processed in a manner to be described to provide twice normal speed reproduced signals. In this embodiment, a video signal a 0 and an audio signal A 0 from the VTR 3, and a video signal b 0 and an audio signal B 0 from the VTR 5, are processed to provide the twice normal speed reproduced signals. In this case, the audio signals A 0 , B 0 are processed in a similar manner to the video signals a 0 , b 0 and therefore only the processing procedure of the video signals a 0 , b 0 will be described below. At the beginning of the process, as shown in Figure 2, the playback start position of the video tape B is located at a position (track T 2 ) which is offset by one frame from the playback start position ( track T 1 ) of the video tape A. Also, the VTRs 3 and 5 are driven in phase with each other so that the video tapes A, B start being reproduced at the same time. In the example of Figure 2, the time code TCB is supplied from the time code generator 20 to the VTR 5 by a time Δt of one frame before the time code TCA supplied to the VTR 3, whereby the reproduction start position of the video tape B is offset by one frame. Driving portions of the playback systems, such as rotary head drums or the like of the VTRs 3, 5, are placed in the normal speed mode, that is, in the mode in which all tracks T 0 to T 10 are sequentially scanned to provide a normal image. In this case, the tracking control is carried out by using a piezoelectric element (thus providing dynamic tracking playback) and the two video tapes A, B are transported at a speed twice as high as the transport (drive) speed of the standard speed mode. By this reproducing method, the VTR 3 derives the signal a 0 (contents of tracks T 1 , T 3 , T 5 , T 7 , T 9 ) and the VTR 5 derives the signal b 0 (contents of tracks T 2 , T 4 , T 6 , T 8 , T 10 ), respectively. In Figure 2, Δt is selected to be, for example, one-thirtieth of a second. In the next part of the process, the signals a 0 , b 0 are supplied to a video processor 9 of the signal processor 7 and from Figure 3, it will be seen that the signals a 0 , b 0 are respectively supplied to timebase-compressing units 2 and 4. In the timebase-compressing units 2 and 4, the signals a 0 and b 0 are timebase-compressed to Δt/2, thereby producing timebase-compressed signals a 1 , b 1 , respectively. In the final part of the process, the signal a 1 is supplied to a signal selecting unit 8 and the signal b 1 is supplied through a delay circuit 6 to the signal selecting unit 8. In this case, since the signal b 1 is delayed by a delay time of Δt/2 by the delay circuit 6, the resulting delayed signal b 2 is supplied to the signal selecting unit 8 after the signal a 1 by the delay time Δt/2. The signal selecting unit 8 functions such that the signals a 1 , b 1 sequentially supplied thereto are produced in the sequential order of the video signals recorded in the video tape A (or B) in the early stage (namely in the sequential order of the tracks T 1 to T 10 ), whereby the content of each of the tracks T 1 to T 10 falls within the time Δt/2. As a consequence, the signal selecting unit 8 derives a reproduced signal V which is effectively a representation of the video signal of the video tape A at a speed twice as high as the normal speed, and this reproduced signal V is provided as an output of the video processor 9. In a like manner, the audio signals A 0 , B 0 respectively reproduced from the VTRs 3, 5 are delivered from the audio processor 11 as a twice normal speed reproduced audio signal AU. In general, when the video signals a 0 , b 0 are obtained by DT playback, the colour framings in the playback mode must be made coincident with each other, for example, by a professional VTR. As a consequence, if the playback operation instruction signal RS is not coincident with the colour framing in the recording mode of the video signal on the video tape A, then processing for making the colour framings of the reproduced signals coincident must be carried out. In this embodiment, however, the colour framing must only be coincident with that of the finally obtained signal V so that the processing for making the colour framings of both reproduced signals coincident is not needed. Further, although interpolation processing may generally be carried out for interpolating discontinuous portions of the audio signals A 0 , B 0 , the final signal AU may be found to be sufficiently continuous without such interpolation processing. The reproduced signals V and AU derived from the digital VTRs 3, 5, and which are then processed as the twice normal speed signals by respective digital-to-analog (D/A) converters 30, 31, are duplicated on video tape by a plurality of analog VTRs 40 which can record the signal at twice normal speed. As described above, according to this embodiment, the video tape B starts being reproduced from a position offset from the video tape A by one frame and the reproduced signals a 0 , b 0 from the VTRs 3, 5 are each timebase-compressed by Δt/2 to produce timebase-compressed signals a 1 , b 1 . The signal b 1 is then delayed by a delay time of Δt/2 to produce the delayed signal b 2 which is supplied to the signal selecting unit 8, and the signals a 1 , b 2 are alternately selected and output by the signal selecting unit 8, thereby forming the final twice normal speed reproduced signal V. Accordingly, the VTRs 3, 5 can be designed by carrying out only a small modification, for example by removing the arrangements for effecting reproduced signal coincident colour framing and interpolation processing. Therefore, since the development period of the VTRs 3, 5 can be reduced, a video signal duplicating system embodying the present invention can provide improved economy, such as a reduction in the development cost. Also, a video signal duplicating system embodying the present invention can satisfy the requirements of a user at an early stage due to the reduced development period, and can result in improvements from a user services standpoint. The video signal duplicating system is not limited to the two VTRs 3, 5 and can be applied to reproduction performed by n VTRs and n video tapes, n preferably being an even number, for example, n = 4, 6, 8 or 16. As will be understood from the above description, according to the video signal duplicating system of the present invention, information signals offset by one frame each are reproduced from n record media, the reproduced signals are timebase-compressed by 1/ n and organised in the recording order of the original information signals, whereby n times normal speed reproduced signals (at a speed n times higher than the normal speed) are obtained.

Claims: A video signal duplicating system (1) in which an original video signal reproduced from n first video tapes (A, B) is duplicated on to a second video tape, the system (1) comprising: n video tape recorders (3, 5) each for transporting a respective one of the n first video tapes (A, B) at a speed n times higher than the normal transport speed and concurrently reproducing video signals from said n first video tapes (A, B) at positions offset by one frame each, the rotational speed of the rotary head drum of each of said video tape recorders (3, 5) being equal to its rotational speed in a normal reproducing speed mode; signal processing means (7) for timebase-compressing by a factor n , or time-compressing by a factor n and delaying, the video signals reproduced by said n video tape recorders (3, 5) and for deriving from these compressed video signals a processed signal (V) corresponding to the original video signal reproduced at n times the normal reproducing speed; and a recording video tape recorder (40) for recording the processed signal (V) from said signal processing means (7) on said second video tape at a speed n times higher than the normal recording speed, n being an integer greater than 1. A system (1) according to claim 1, comprising a time code generator (20) for supplying reference time code signals (TCA, TCB) to said n video tape recorders (3, 5) such that said time code signals (TCA, TCB) for each of said video tape recorders (3, 5) differ from each other by a time corresponding to one frame. A system (1) according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said signal processing means (7) comprises n timebase-compressing means (2, 4) for compressing the time bases of video signals supplied from said n video tape recorders (3, 5) by 1/ n , ( n -1) delay means (6) applied to output signals from respective ones of said timebase-compressing means (2, 4) and for delaying the respective signals applied thereto by a predetermined delay time (Δt), and signal selecting means (8) for selectively outputting output signals of said ( n -1) delay means (6) and of said timebase-compressing means (2, 4) to form said processed signal (V). A system (1) according to claim 3, including digital-to-analog converting means (30, 31) supplied with the output signals of said signal processing means (7) for converting said signals supplied thereto into analog signals. A system (1) according to claim 4, wherein said recording video tape recorder is an analog video tape recorder (40). A system (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein n is an even number.

Inventors: NAGASAWA FUMIHIRO, NAGASAWA, FUMIHIRO, Nagasawa, Fumihiro, c/o Patents Div.
Applicants: SONY CORP, SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1991
Main classification: G11B5
IPC codes: G11B27, H04N5, G11B5