Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Shigeo Eshima

Takayasu Yoshida

Hideyo Shibata

Ritsuro Kinoshita

To facilitate highly accurate editing with reference to the audio and to reduce the cost for facilitating highly accurate editing with reference to the audio, the following features are adopted: A slow-motion reproduction is enabled by reproducing video and audio signals recorded on a magnetic tape in a digital format at a speed lower than that of the normal reproduction and outputting a video signal of the same frame or field over a plurality of frame or field periods. An audio switching signal is generated in accordance with a variation in the video signal and the output of the audio signal is controlled in response to the audio switching signal, so that of the plurality of frame or field periods over which a video signal of the same frame or field is repetitively outputted, only during one frame or field period immediately after the video signal varies, the audio signal is outputted, and during the remaining frame or field periods, the output of the audio signal is stopped.

Method and apparatus for slow-motion video and audio reproduction

In a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus for reproducing a video signal recorded on a video track of a magnetic tape by pair of magnetic heads arranged in a rotation drum so as to oppose to each other at an angle of 180 degrees, while rotating a capstan for moving the magnetic tape in the longitudinal direction, a memory controller controls the reproduced video signal to be written into and be read out from two memories, each of which stores a video signal of at least one field. Then, a quality of image judgment circuit judges a part of the reproduced video signal having a quality of image higher than a predetermined threshold quality level, among a plurality of parts of the reproduced video signal obtained through scan of a pair of magnetic heads. In a slow-motion reproduction, the memory control circuit controls the part of the reproduced video signal having the higher quality of image to be written into one of the two memories, whereas the memory control circuit simultaneously controls a further reproduced video signal to be read out from another one of the two memories.

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Kyoto, Japan

Shigeo Eshima