Comments on: The Space Age in high def http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/ I am an astronomer, writer, and skeptic. I likes reality the way it is, and I aims to keep it that way. My real name is Phil Plait, and I run the Bad Astronomy blog. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:40:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: Don Wiseman http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87298 Don Wiseman Fri, 09 May 2008 12:56:54 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87298 Richard: It's been a good life. Back working at NASA (United Space Alliance) after 20 years in business for myself - not all it's cracked up to be. Most of the Hollywood types feel about space guys the way many just plain folks think of stars. BTW I graduated from U.Va. back in '57. Met my future ex-wife there. Best BBQ in Houston = The Goode Company. Not like Virginia bbq - better. There are several of them, but the best is the original. I'll be at the Banjo Blast (Tucson) next week. Jazz, not country, doing a little playing and mainly emceeing. Richard: It’s been a good life. Back working at NASA (United Space Alliance) after 20 years in business for myself - not all it’s cracked up to be. Most of the Hollywood types feel about space guys the way many just plain folks think of stars.

BTW I graduated from U.Va. back in ‘57. Met my future ex-wife there.

Best BBQ in Houston = The Goode Company. Not like Virginia bbq - better. There are several of them, but the best is the original.

I’ll be at the Banjo Blast (Tucson) next week. Jazz, not country, doing a little playing and mainly emceeing.

]]> By: Bo Babbyo http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87297 Bo Babbyo Fri, 09 May 2008 07:32:27 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87297 . . . Most of the original Apollo footage was film, not video, but most us have only ever seen it as NTSC scans. . . . Exactly -- and most of it was/is very high quality 35mm film. Maybe even some 70mm. NASA didn't kid around capturing all those images for posterity. It will look very VERY good, I'm sure. I'm especially looking forward to the super-slow motion Saturn V launch sequences. . . . Most of the original Apollo footage was film, not video, but most us have only ever seen it as NTSC scans. . . .

Exactly — and most of it was/is very high quality 35mm film. Maybe even some 70mm. NASA didn’t kid around capturing all those images for posterity. It will look very VERY good, I’m sure. I’m especially looking forward to the super-slow motion Saturn V launch sequences.

]]> By: csrster http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87296 csrster Fri, 09 May 2008 06:36:54 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87296 My parents woke us all up in the middle of the night to see the first moonwalk. We sat up in their bed and watched the grainy images on a crummy old B&W TV. I'm 44 now and it's still one of the highlights of my life so far :-) My parents woke us all up in the middle of the night to see the first moonwalk. We sat up in their bed and watched the grainy images on a crummy old B&W TV. I’m 44 now and it’s still one of the highlights of my life so far :-)

]]> By: Buzz Parsec http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87295 Buzz Parsec Fri, 09 May 2008 03:24:22 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87295 Matt - Most of the original Apollo footage was film, not video, but most us have only ever seen it as NTSC scans. "Remastering", to me, means going back to the originals (film, which is much higher resolution than TV) and re-digitizing it. That in itself will greatly improve the images. As for the live TV from the moon, I remember it as being extremely snowy and with way too much contrast, and digital techniques can improve that a lot! Matt -

Most of the original Apollo footage was film, not video, but most us have only ever seen it as NTSC scans. “Remastering”, to me, means going back to the originals (film, which is much higher resolution than TV) and re-digitizing it. That in itself will greatly improve the images. As for the live TV from the moon, I remember it as being extremely snowy and with way too much contrast, and digital techniques can improve that a lot!

]]> By: Richard B. Drumm http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87294 Richard B. Drumm Fri, 09 May 2008 02:29:30 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87294 Don: Nice to meet you! (So to speak...) I just -HAD- to Google you and came up with this: http://www.archive.org/details/HoustonWeveGotAProblem You've had a fun career! This Discovery Channel program will have to be on my short list of Blu-Ray discs to get to feed to my new Sony 40" 1080p screen. I'll be in Houston week after next shooting Hi-def for GlaxoSmithKline, where is the best BBQ? Rich in Charlottesville Don:
Nice to meet you! (So to speak…)
I just -HAD- to Google you and came up with this:
http://www.archive.org/details/HoustonWeveGotAProblem
You’ve had a fun career!

This Discovery Channel program will have to be on my short list of Blu-Ray discs to get to feed to my new Sony 40″ 1080p screen.

I’ll be in Houston week after next shooting Hi-def for GlaxoSmithKline, where is the best BBQ?
Rich in Charlottesville

]]> By: Jack Hagerty http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87293 Jack Hagerty Thu, 08 May 2008 23:35:55 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87293 Is Rob Godwin (Apogee Books) behind this one, too? I couldn't find his name anywhere on that MSNBC page. - Jack Is Rob Godwin (Apogee Books) behind this one, too? I couldn’t find his name anywhere on that MSNBC page.

- Jack

]]> By: Don Wiseman http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87292 Don Wiseman Thu, 08 May 2008 18:07:43 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/08/the-space-age-in-high-def/#comment-87292 I remember after Apollo 8 getting a call at 2:30 a.m. to got to the lab and see the footage as it came off the printer/processor. The little room was packed with those who were or would become the key players and flight crews in lunar exploration. What an exultation! But I was just a working stiff who wrote and directed the lunar mission films done in Houston (and later the only one). And now they've HD'd and we were able to further bury the shots that provex we shot in in the New Mexico desert. It used to bother me when people could "prove we shot it on Earth." But, after a certain # of years on this planet, you learn to shrug it off. They will never be convinced. Neither will the anti-evolutionists. So I do my job in what NASA does, keep collecting evidence that make a rational case and not worry about religious or anti-religious philosophies. It might make us feel warm and fuzzy in our fury, but it doesn't really accomplish much. In the early space program, we can say we accomplished something big. I remember after Apollo 8 getting a call at 2:30 a.m. to got to the lab and see the footage as it came off the printer/processor. The little room was packed with those who were or would become the key players and flight crews in lunar exploration. What an exultation! But I was just a working stiff who wrote and directed the lunar mission films done in Houston (and later the only one). And now they’ve HD’d and we were able to further bury the shots that provex we shot in in the New Mexico desert.

It used to bother me when people could “prove we shot it on Earth.” But, after a certain # of years on this planet, you learn to shrug it off. They will never be convinced. Neither will the anti-evolutionists. So I do my job in what NASA does, keep collecting evidence that make a rational case and not worry about religious or anti-religious philosophies. It might make us feel warm and fuzzy in our fury, but it doesn’t really accomplish much.

In the early space program, we can say we accomplished something big.

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