[Nick]

Discovery HD Delivers Space Station

Next week, Discovery HD will deliver a live high-def downlink from the International
Space Station, a programming milestone made possible through a cooperative effort
by NASA, Discovery Communications and Japanese broadcaster NHK. The downlink
will take place on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. Eastern

 

[purtman]

Nick, will this only be on at that time or will it be replayed? Thanks!

 

[Richard King]

In slightly related programming:
NASA on HDNet - LIVE!
Thu, Nov 16 - 2:00 PM ET
http://www.hd.net/program_search_results.html?keyword=launch&whattosearch=both

Department of Defense GPS Satellite Launch - Get a close-up view of the next launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Department of Defense is deploying the next in a new generation of GPS satellites which will provide a higher degree of accuracy to locate not only troops at war, but everything from lost hikers and emergency responders to cell phones on the ground and airplanes in the sky. We'll have HD cameras at the launch pad and around NASA to give you views you've never before seen in HD.

This must be a replay as launch is scheduled for Wed. Nov 15 with a window of 2:21-2:34 p.m. EST. I may drive up the road for this one.
http://spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html

 

[Nick]

Nick, will this only be on at that time or will it be replayed? Thanks!

At this time, we don't know .

Like the Moon landing in 1969, the first live downlink of an HD feed from space is a
singular event. It can only be live once. Whether it will be replayed in the future is up
to the DiscoveryHD Channel, but my guess is it will.

 

[Nick]

Here is the tentative replay schedule (all times ET):

NOV 15 2006 @ 09:00 PM

NOV 16 2006 @ 12:00 AM

NOV 16 2006 @ 04:00 AM

NOV 16 2006 @ 05:00 PM

NOV 18 2006 @ 08:00 AM

http://dhd.discovery.com/tvlistings/episode.jsp?episode=0&cpi=120525&gid=0&channel=DHD

 

[James Long]

Washington, D.C. (November 10, 2006) -- NASA next week will go where no camera has gone before. No live High-Definition TV camera, that is.

The space agency will make history on November 15 with the first live HDTV broadcast from space. Discovery HD Theater and the Japanese network NHK will air the event live at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The broadcast will feature Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria on the International Space Station, with Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter serving as camera operator aboard the 220-mile-high laboratory.

Discovery HD Theater, which is available on cable and satellite, will also show the broadcast at Discovery Channel stores.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/hdspace111006.htm

--
Set your DVRs for Wednesday!!!

 

[Chandu]

I watched it live. I wish they could show more LIVE shots of earth, instead of 15 seconds of fuzzy evening time picture over dark West African desert. I'm sure they'll send more brighter HD pictures of earth in days to come.

 

[penguin44]

Could have done without the old guy. He just neeeded to shut up. Let the guys speak! I know there was a delay but the questions were horrible. And why do a link-up to show the earth when it's passing over the night side?

 

[Chandu]

Could have done without the old guy. He just neeeded to shut up. Let the guys speak! I know there was a delay but the questions were horrible.

Further compounding the problem was delay between when he actually spoke and when his voice could be heard in the Space Station.

Anyway, now that they've got the HD camera up there, I'm looking forward to followup programs with better pictures.

P.S. The HD images of eating soup out of a packet in space looked, well, gross. It made me appreciate little things we take for granted on planet Earth.

 

[Nick]

Agreed: HDNet's coverage of NASA/Space events needs much more live video shots
and less on-camera (talking head) narration. At the last shuttle launch, I was amazed at
how much time Greg Dobson was on-camera instead of showing the pre-launch from
the many different HD camera angles available.

But, it does little good to ***** here. If you really want to see HDNet's NASA coverage
improve, email your comments to [email protected].

 

[Nick]

Here's my email:

To: [email protected]
From: Nick ______
Subject: NASA Coverage -- Opportunity for Improvement

More live shots w/voice-over, less talking head(s).

As an avid HDNet 'fan' and frequent viewer, it is my opinion that HDNet's coverage of NASA/Space events needs much more live shots of pre-launch and less on-camera (talking head) narration. At the last shuttle launch, I was amazed and greatly disappointed at how much time Greg Dobson was on-camera instead of showing pre-launch activities from the many different HD camera angles HDNet says are available.

I like Greg and think he's an excellent reporter/narrator, but I think it's too much of him and not enough live video of the pre-launch activity.

Thanks,

Nick ______
Brunswick, Georgia

cc: Mark Cuban, Chairman and President ([email protected])
Dave Green, Executive Producer - News and Documentaries ([email protected])

 

[ASOT]

Thanks for the link Nick.

I too was disappointed in the show. Some great shots, but when they went from a full screen, beautiful HD shot to that shot of 1) small window box of shuttle and 1) even smaller box of talking head and the rest of the screen was that purple and blue background.... I nearly fell out of my chair!

If they just have to show Greg Dobson... at least do it pic in pic style and leave the HD shot alone. I mean a good 60% of the screen was purple when they did that. I simply could not understand the reason behind doing it.

It was like painting over a solid curly maple wood dresser. Unthinkable! It looked like a highschool editing project gone bad.

Ok, I feel better know. I know my wife was sick of hearing me rant about it while watching the show. I will direct my disappointment to the proper place.

Ron

 

[tzphotos.com]

Discovery HD Delivers Space Station

Next week, Discovery HD will deliver a live high-def downlink from the International
Space Station, a programming milestone made possible through a cooperative effort
by NASA, Discovery Communications and Japanese broadcaster NHK. The downlink
will take place on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. Eastern

Seemed to be a lot of stuck pixels on the camera they were using.

Though overall I thought it was pretty cool to see a live HD image from space.

 

[NurseDave]

Seemed to be a lot of stuck pixels on the camera they were using.

Though overall I thought it was pretty cool to see a live HD image from space.

Ya, I thought my TV had a problem for a minute. I didn't know the camera could do that too.

 

[tzphotos.com]

Ya, I thought my TV had a problem for a minute. I didn't know the camera could do that too.

My only guess is the camera got damaged on the ride up.

 

[John in Georgia]

When my previous employer bought several new Panasonic HD Varicams several years ago, the Rep told us that if the cameras needed repair they must be shipped (literally by ocean-going ship) to avoid pixels being damaged by gamma (or some other-type radiation) in the atmosphere at airline height. We have been shipping the cameras via air for location shoots with no problems, but wonder if this will be an ongoing problem at 200+ miles up in the Space Station?

This is the first thing I thought of when seeing all the lost pixels on the Space Station HD shot. I expected that the producers of the program would make mention of this, but I never heard an explanation from them.

John