Application of Optical Disks to Digital Color Video Recording

Magnetooptic disks offer many advantages such as large capacities, rewrit-ability, and random access. However, the storage capacities and data transfer rates of magnetooptic disks are not yet adequate for application in color video recording. There are two approaches to the application of magnetooptic disks to color video recording. One involves improvement of the storage capacity and data transfer rate of the magnetooptic disks; the other relies on image data compression techniques. We review stacked optical disk files and high-speed, high-density recording technologies as examples of the former approach. We then describe a multimedia filing system using stacked optical disk files, which can record and reproduce video and audio information in an integrated manner. Finally, we describe a color video data compression technique and explain the suitability of magnetooptic disks for packaged video media.