Book excerpt: Newnes Guide to TV and Video Technology is a guide to TV and video technology and covers topics ranging from transmission and reception to color decoding, magnetic tape basics and video signals, and signal processing. Tips on care, operation, and maintenance of videotape recorders are given. Block diagrams are used throughout the book. Comprised of 21 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the basic principles of monochrome television, followed by a discussion on the light and color aspects of TV. The reader is then introduced to assembling a color TV outfit by triplicating the "basic" television system and assigning one primary color to each of the three; the principle of chroma encoding and the method of "dovetailing" the chroma and Y signals; transmission and reception; color decoding; and color display devices. VTR principles and circuits are explained in general terms, taking examples from all home formats to illustrate the techniques used. This monograph is aimed at interested laymen, students, and technicians and those in allied fields seeking an insight into the technicalities of TV and VTR practice.