Preserving Color Television Programs on Black-and-White Film by Electronic Video Recording

Electronic Video Recording (EVR) is a system for recording encoded color television signals on black-and-white motion-picture film. To examine the system capability as a medium for permanent preservation of color television programs, properties of the recorded films were measured with a fine beam microdensitometer. The granularity of the recorded master and print films, if normalized by the image area, was found to be no worse than that of 35mm motion-picture color negative films. The signal-to-noise ratios of both the recorded films were 44 dB at medium density. The loss in frequency response of the recorded master film was less than 2 dB at 4.2 MHz, and that of the print film throughout the printing process was minimal. Modifications of the system, so as to use positive master and print film with an appropriate form of gray scale, line-scanning recording, an added anti-jitter code and players with line-scanning devices, were proposed and tested. It has been found that a modified system consisting of the recorded films with the modifications described and players with line sensors or a line-scanning flying-spot scanner would be effective for broadcasting use and very well suited for permanent preservation of color television programs.

Print ISSN

0036-1682

Published

1978-01

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J17455