On 29/04/2014 19:12, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Fredxxx wrote:
Urban myth. The max length was defined by the available tapes for the
U-Matic recorder. The rather odd time being down to the same tapes
being used for PAL and NTSC, but running for a longer time at 25
frames per second. ie, a 60 minute tape at 30 fps becomes 72 at 25. 60
minute tapes were just over 60 minutes long to allow for line up data
- it was a pro format. Hence the 74 minutes.

It's origin is more uncertain though there is a lot of association with
the 74 minutes and Beethoven's 9th.

Tapes were made of various lengths, not just 60/72 minutes. Where did
you get this inference?

From the designers of the CD system (from the Philips side) at its launch.

But Philip's prototype was only 60 minutes at 14 bits?

I can't see any article that suggests that Philips were instigators of
the 74 minute 16 bit CD.