Time code in the vertical interval, this is a time code recorded on a series of dedicated lines on the video track that are recorded in the vertical erase interval. It can be read perfectly even during slow speed playback or in still images.

The information is repeated in the vertical erase intervals of each field (even or odd) redundantly in two non-consecutive lines, usually found in lines 19 and 21 of the odd field and in 332 and 334 of the even field.

In modern magnetoscopes, a frame is made up of 90 bits.