THE ADVENT OF D-1 TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

The advent of the D-1 cassette standard will have a profound impact upon the instrumentation tape recording industry starting in about 1990. Under the auspices of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the European Broadcast Union (EBU), broadcasters, media manufacturers and television recorder manufacturers have developed a series of standards governing digital recording of television signals using a set of standard, high-quality cassettes. To support television applications, two specific formats are necessary to cover the marketplace; a “component” format, which is independent of the television standard and compatible with a digital studio, and a “composite” format which is dependent upon the national format and is compatible with analog studios found today. Standards are in place covering 4:2:2 digital component recording. Proposals covering composite digital recording formats are now being discussed in the industry. As the only U.S. recorder manufacturer with a declared intent to manufacture hardware for the television industry to these standards, Ampex has participated in the generation of these standards. This paper will discuss the cassette and data standards which have been created for the television industry. Where deficiencies and limitations in those standards exist for data recording, these will be pointed out.