VERA - Early Video Tape Recorder - Peter Axon interview 1958

[BocaRatso]

You guys have got to be kidding. Would you slam the Model T for not having power steering?

[amberola1b]

can you imagine the amount of leader they had to use at the beginning of each reel to let the machine get up to speed before the actual tape with the picture started to go past the heads?

[Watcher3223]

@amberola1b

Surely one of the reasons why the VERA and other similar systems never made it out of the prototype stage, disregarding the release of 2" Quad.

Despite the benefits of superior picture and sound compared to kinescope, this just wasn't a practical or economical system compared to film.

Imagining how much leader tape would be needed is one way of reinforcing that.

Thank goodness for Ampex.

[hubzcaps]

234 IPS !!!! insane amount of data coming off those reels when in use!

[hubzcaps]

its the first vcr lolz ..pure analog!!!!!

[hubzcaps]

this huge thing is the shiznit i like the lockup and speed used...sooo badassss

[jacgoudsmit]

Wow! I'd seen pictures of the VERA before and imagined that those spools would rotate just about as fast as they actually do in the video while playing or recording. Thanks!

[BobWXXI]

Check how fast the tape reel had to run to get decent picture quality. Compare it with the 15 ips that the old Ampex 2" VTRs ran just a few years later...

[80sVideoLord]

Woah - is the George Martin on the left..sure looks like him

[Rockinravie]

A 1950's camcorder would take a bit of carrying!.

[GaryW48]

Looks dangerous if a tape ever came loose from the reel hub.

[kargaroc386]

And this only recorded 405 line signals. for anything like 525 or 625, it would have to of been even faster.

[riqzster]

That was before the helical scan/rotating video heads concept was developed. The required surface speed was achieved by a ridiculously high tape speed! Thanks . . . this is definitely not the sort of thing you see every day! Imagine trying to use a machine like this for a digital signal!

[Wurm1220]

mit welcher geschw. läuft das band?

mfg

wurm1220

[Berniewahlbrinck]

@Wurm1220

this guy wants to know what the SPEED is

[DragonFlyback256]

Obviously there's still no spinning head drum here.

[ProgMetalLover]

Helical scan was invented in the 1960s. The early Ampex video tape machines also used stationary heads.

[DSM1G90]

Nope...stationary heads with that 200ips tape speed. Get the magnetic particles on the tape to move past the head fast enough to capture the FM audio signals and the bias signal.

[btown2011]

the old audio magnetophons from germany could use spinning drum heads.

[DragonFlyback256]

@btown2011

Some Hi-Fi VHS systems use the head drum for audio recording as well instead of a stationary head.

[btown2011]

I know but the magnetophons are pre ww2, its surprising that they had drum heads.

[DragonFlyback256]

@btown2011

I have yet to see one. That is, if even one has survived up to these days.

[ludvan64]

@DragonFlyback256 The BBC has one in its museum, but has no tapes to play or record on it.

[absinthedude]

@ludvan64 I believe there are only a few parts of the VERA machine which remain.

[ludvan64]

@absinthedude That's a shame. Typical BBC they probably cannibalized parts for other things.

[btown2011]

i doubt one would still exist, only in audio magazine's, it was a tonschreiber like seblingtons, but it used the rotating drum head.

[UKSazzy67]

Very interesting, I can't go all techincal cos i don;t know much about it, but if this technology was available then why did BBC record so much of their output on cine film?

[G0IFI]

Because a tape the size of the one in the video could only hold about 15 minutes of footage at 1960s monochrome. resolution. Then, some bright spark had the idea of spinning the pickup and recording heads fast at a diagonal angle to use a wide section of tape, instead of the tape zooming past the heads, and we were on the way.

[DSM1G90]

Back in the mid 60's "Popular Science" magazine had a story on making a VTR that used the same concept - stationary head playback. One would use 10inch reels with 1/4 inch tape with tape speeds of 110ips. Playback was passable, yet headwear was horrible.

[xvdifug]

I have that issue 3 feet away, but which one is it.......I have about 100.I do remember seeing that article.

[opus1075]

If I remember, it was an early 1964, or 1965 issue.

[DSM1G90]

August, 1965 Issue - Page 102  Google Books has a link - do a search on this magazine through Google. Tape speed was 180ips

[lumabi25]

Quite fascinating. I thought I was familiar with all the early VTRs but I was wrong. Incredble tape speed on this unit. 200ips, yet probably only capable of the old 405 line standard I expect.

Thank God someone thought up helical scanning so the machines could sloooow down a bit.

[Interests2009]

Interesting

[phoxetis]

cool feature to instantly check the recording quality. I think a few u-matics had it as well.

[Seblington]

Not seen this video clip before, I have somewhere a small bit of tape from this recorder, one of the engineers wife's supplied it to me, I forget which engineer, the paperwork and tape is now stored away, sadly the two recorders both went to the brakers.

[RODALCO2007]

Very interesting history here. I have seen photo's of the VERA machine but never seen it in operation. An amazing high speed of 200 IPS for play/record about 5 metres / second. which is still about the speed of todays VCR with rotating heads, colour and stereo sound.

I wonder how long the actual heads would last on the VERA.

[SecretFilms]

ooooohh! this is very cool - where on was this unearthed? Would love to resample if possible - hope you enjoy my video response in any case. Thanks for the post!

[Mr1920s]

Amazing. I did'nt know VHS players were that old!

[chachavessel]

amazing! thanks!

[CoolDudeClem]

Fascinating! Very interesting video. I've never seen one of those old recorders before, but I've heard about them. I heard these were a nightmare to use, with not much recording time and the tape frequently breaking, going at such a speed. Thank goodness for the "Helical Scan" system used in todays machines. I guess this was the "cutting edge of technology" when it was new. I dread to imagine what todays vcr's would be like if they still used this kind of recording system!

[coolbluelights]

Wow that's really fascinating! they overcame the need to run the tape so fast by using a spinning record/platback head, and I agree with clydesight about how far we've come ^^

[clydesight]

AMAZING videotape machine! 200 IPS!! I think the video quality was better than the live video they showed. Thanks for this fascinating video! And now, we can do it all on a memory card with a camera that fits in your pocket! How far we have come!