30-03-2019, 06:40 AM
Like Terry, I hadn't thought about any possible similarities between Vera and the Marconi-Stille recorder. About the only things they really had in common was a high speed tape transport with huge spools. The M-S recorder was an early attempt at a pre-war tape recorder using steel tape. A bit like clock spring. Lethal if it broke and flailed around though I don't think anyone was killed by it.
Vera was one of those unfortunate dead ends. Since the early 1950s engineers in various compnaies, notably one owned by Bing Crosby, had been attempting to make a practical video tape recorder. 2 main problems: recording very high frequencies and the number of octaves needed. The output of a magnetic replay head rises at 6dB per octave. OK for 7 octaves of audio but utterly hopeless for 18 or so for video. The solutions were either to record the low freqencies separately or to modulate the whole lot on to a carrier. This only made the high frequency problem worse, needing an even higher tape speed to make it work. The critical breakthrough by Ampex was to move the heads, not just the tape. Ampex demonstrated their first Quadruplex 2" recorder in 1956. It worked and became the sole broadcast standard for over 20 years. Vera didn't see the light of day until 1958 and was used a hadnful of times. Wrong technology, too late.
All subsequent video tape recorders moved the heads, the familiar helical scan of VHS, Beta, Umatic etc. (Except for the Fisher Price toy "gimmick" system). Now all repleced by solid state memory.
Vera was one of those unfortunate dead ends. Since the early 1950s engineers in various compnaies, notably one owned by Bing Crosby, had been attempting to make a practical video tape recorder. 2 main problems: recording very high frequencies and the number of octaves needed. The output of a magnetic replay head rises at 6dB per octave. OK for 7 octaves of audio but utterly hopeless for 18 or so for video. The solutions were either to record the low freqencies separately or to modulate the whole lot on to a carrier. This only made the high frequency problem worse, needing an even higher tape speed to make it work. The critical breakthrough by Ampex was to move the heads, not just the tape. Ampex demonstrated their first Quadruplex 2" recorder in 1956. It worked and became the sole broadcast standard for over 20 years. Vera didn't see the light of day until 1958 and was used a hadnful of times. Wrong technology, too late.
All subsequent video tape recorders moved the heads, the familiar helical scan of VHS, Beta, Umatic etc. (Except for the Fisher Price toy "gimmick" system). Now all repleced by solid state memory.
www.borinsky.co.uk Jeffrey Borinsky www.becg.tv
