Magnetic tape system for optimally reproducing still and slow motion video pictures

Claim 1

In a helical scanning VTR having a tape transport motor and rotating video reproducing heads, a control device comprising: a rotary phase detecting and generating means for detecting a rotary phase of said video heads and for generating a rotary phase pulse signal in response to said detached rotary phase; a first pulse detecting and generating means for detecting a low level portion of a reproduced signal from each of said video heads and for generating a first pulse signal which is indicative of the detection of said low level portion; a second pulse generating means connected to said rotary phase detecting means for frequency dividing said rotary phase pulse signal obtained from said detecting means by a factor of 1/2n so as to generate a second pulse signal having a pulse width of T 2 ; and a third pulse generating means connected to said rotary phase detecting means for frequency dividing said rotary phase pulse signal by a factor of 1/n so as to generate a third pulse signal having a pulse width of T 1 ; wherein said second pulse signal is fed to an amplifier where it is amplified and then fed to said tape transport motor; said device further comprising a phase comparator which is connected to said rotary phase detecting means and said first pulse generating means so that when the phase of said rotary phase pulse with the phase of said first pulse signal, an inhibit signal is fed to a gate means connected between said amplifier and said tape transport motor so as to inhibit said second pulse signal from being fed to said tape transport motor so as to thereby enable the reproduction of a still video picture, and further comprising a mixing and amplifying means for mixing and amplifying said second and third pulse signals and for supplying said mixed and amplified signals to said tape transport motor so as to thereby enable the reproduction of a slow motion video picture.