in editing a collection of video still pictures prerecorded on a video disk , a composite picture is displayed showing a cropped part of each still picture and a message pertaining to the picture . the message suggests alternative decisions that may be made in relation to editing the picture . by temporarily substituting the missing part of the picture for the message , the user can obtain a better indication of image content before making a decision . the substitution is made by a two - state video switch having a first state in which it ordinarily passes a video picture signal obtained from the video disk and a video text signal corresponding to the message . the switch has a temporary second state in which it passes only the video picture signal . by pressing a button on a user - operated controller , the video switch is placed in its second state and only the video picture is displayed . releasing the button redisplays the composite picture .