View source for Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus

{{short description|Attempt by the BBC to record television onto magnetic tape}}
{{Infobox media
| name = Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus (VERA)
| logo = 
| image = 
| caption =
| type = [[Magnetic tape]], ½-inch open reel
| encoding = [[System A]]
| capacity = 
| read = 
| write = 
| standard = 
| owner = [[BBC]]
| use = [[Video production]]
| dimensions=
| extended from = 
| extended to = 
}}

'''Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus''' ('''VERA''') was an early [[analog recording]] [[videotape]] format developed from 1952 by the [[BBC]] under project manager Dr [[Peter Axon]].

==History==
In order to record high frequencies, a tape must move rapidly with respect to the recording or playback head. The frequencies used by video signals are so high that the tape/head speed is on the order of several meters per second (tens of feet per second), an order of magnitude faster than professional analog audio tape recording. The BBC solved the problem by using {{convert|52|cm|adj=on}} reels of magnetic tape that passed static heads at a speed of {{convert|5.08|m/s}}.

VERA was capable of recording about 15 minutes (e.g. 4,572 meters) of [[405-line television system|405-line]] [[black-and-white]] video per reel, and the picture tended to wobble because of some jitter (uneven speed) of the tape transport. Later video recorders used a time base corrector to remove this jitter and make synchronization with the studio house possible.

In order to cope with 625-line [[PAL]] or [[SECAM]] colour transmissions VERA would likely have required an even faster, and possibly unfeasible, tape speed.

Development began in 1952, but VERA was not perfected until 1958. It was given a live demonstration on-air on ''[[Panorama (British TV programme)|Panorama]]'' on 14 April 1958; Richard Dimbleby, seated by a clock, talked for a couple of minutes about the new method of vision recording with instant playback, and then the tape was wound back and replayed. The picture was slightly watery, but reasonably watchable,<ref>Description from seeing the original transmission. Part of it can be seen on [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfs8h1MAUTc YouTube].</ref>{{or|date=October 2021}} and instant playback was something completely new.

However, by this time it had already been rendered obsolete by the [[Ampex]] [[Quadruplex videotape|quadruplex]] video recording system. This used {{convert|5|cm|adj=on}} wide tapes running at a speed of {{convert|38|cm|abbr=on}} per second. The rapid tape-to-head speed of quadruplex videotape was achieved by spinning the ''heads'' rapidly on a drum: the system used, with variations, on all videotape systems ever since, as well as [[digital audio tape|DAT]].

The BBC scrapped VERA and quickly adopted the Ampex system. It has been suggested{{by whom|date=October 2021}} that the BBC only continued to develop VERA as a bargaining tool, so it would be offered some of the first Ampex machines produced in unstated exchange for abandoning further work on a potential rival, but the colossal disadvantages of VERA and its status as a technological dead-end make this seem highly unlikely.{{cn|date=October 2021}}

== See also ==

* [[Helical scan]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links ==
* [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1182165.stm BBC: The rise and rise of the video]
* [http://www.vtoldboys.com/vera.htm Oldboys article including instruction manual and film footage]
* [http://www.terramedia.co.uk/media/television/bbc_vera.htm Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus]  [[Chronomedia]] by ''Terra Media''
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f1GDQDB0Ss youtube.com VERA - Early Video Tape Recorder - Peter Axon interview 1958]
*[http://videopreservation.conservation-us.org/museum/index.html videopreservation.conservation-us.org museum BBC's VERA (Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus)]
*[http://www.birth-of-tv.org/birth/assetView.do?asset=BIRTHOFTELEV19001___1102013442156  birth-of-tv.org VERA 1958: Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510022456/http://www.birth-of-tv.org/birth/assetView.do?asset=BIRTHOFTELEV19001___1102013442156 |date=2015-05-10 }}
*[https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/introduction-video-recorder/ Introduction to the video recorder], [[National Science and Media Museum]] blog
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEH4N2XfGf0 youtube.com VERA]
*[http://rfwilmut.net/broadcast/videorec.html rfwilmut.net BROADCAST VIDEO RECORDING]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=TOMOmmrvwCcC&dq=Vision+electronic+recording+apparatus&pg=PA83 The History of Television, 1942 to 2000,  By Albert Abramson, Christopher H. Sterling, page 83]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCyxPLXLaKA youtube.com, Richard Dimbleby demonstrates the new BBC Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus in an edition of Panorama in April 1958.]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=-vSUwc8UMRwC&dq=Vision+electronic+recording+apparatus&pg=PA447 Basic Radio & Television, 2/E,  By Sharma, page 447]

{{Video storage formats}}

[[Category:Audiovisual introductions in 1952]]
[[Category:Videotape]]
[[Category:History of television in the United Kingdom]]