The proper functioning of a digital video recorder is largely governed by the selection of a suitable channel code in conjunction with both the detection method and the tracking system. The channel code for the Digital Video Cassette Recorder (DVCR) satisfies a variety of design requirements. The paper provides an overview of those requirements. A detailed description is given of the construction of the new channel code, called 24\rarrow 25 code, that complies with the given constraints and involves only a minor drawback in terms of the overhead needed. The servo position information is recorded as low-frequency components, pilot tracking tones, which are embedded in the recorded stream of binary digits.

Key Words: magnetic recording, video recording