Development of a consumer VCR format and a high-density magnetic recording using an MR head

We present a new consumer VCR format, MICROMV, and a higher density recording technique. Applying the MR head to a helical-scan tape recorder, we have successfully recorded at an areal density of 0.8 Gbit/inch², so it becomes possible to store 6.5 Gbytes of data on a small cassette of 12 cm³ volume. We also report a technique of electric-power transformation through a rotary drum and a method to compensate for the amplitude asymmetry of the MR head output signal.