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Author
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Topic: Quality of Apollo 17 moonwalk footage
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carmelo
Member Posts: 1051
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 12-14-2015 11:30 AM
   
The other night I have see again Spacecraft Films' DVD on Apollo 17. The EVA footage are pretty good; the best of Apollo missions.My question is, is this the highest quality, or a better definition is obtainable from the original material? |
Dwight
Member Posts: 577
From: Germany
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted 12-19-2015 12:20 PM
The original Apollo 17 TV footage was sent via Image Transform, the company started by John Lowry, which applied noise reduction to the signal. The footage on the Apollo 17 DVDs was obtained from 2" videotape and/or kinescope (16mm shot off a high-res monitor - or better known as video to film). If the source is 2" it is the cleanest highest quality possible. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3160
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 12-20-2015 05:27 PM
The Apollo 16 EVA television was also put through the "Lowry process" and I always felt the quality of the Apollo 16 TV was marginally better than the Apollo 17 TV. I accept that this may a subjective conclusion. It is certainly possible that our family TV had better reception in April 1972 than in December 1972. Colour TVs were not as reliable four decades ago. Also, a very slight aerial misalignment could have made a difference. Is there any objective test to determine which was better? |
Space Cadet Carl
Member Posts: 225
From: Lake Orion, Michigan
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 12-23-2015 09:52 AM
I remember how amazing it was to see the Apollo 16 and 17 EVAs when they were run through John Lowry's enhancement process in real time and supplied to the networks. When Young, Duke, Cernan or Schmitt leaned very close to the rover camera, you could actually make out the thread stitching on their spacesuits, which in 1972 was pretty mind boggling. As much as I applaud Mark Gray and the Spacecraft Films DVD sets for the fabulous job they did... I do remember the original American network broadcasts of those EVA's being even more "colorful" and slightly sharper than what's offered on the Spacecraft Films DVDs. Indeed, CBS News to this day still has some brief videotape segments of those EVAs that appear slightly sharper and more color saturated than Spacecraft Film's DVDs. Again, I'm nit-picking and I truly appreciate what Mark Gray has done with his DVD sets. But, what a shame the American public had lost interest in Apollo by 1972, because the television quality was so good. |
Wehaveliftoff
Member Posts: 2343
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 01-09-2016 08:09 PM
But by the same token the first lunar steps were deplorable. |
Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 1428
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
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posted 01-09-2016 11:10 PM
I've read comments in the past (don't know whether they were true or not) that live Apollo 11 TV was almost an afterthought. Looking back, it was OK for its time but when you see the difference between July '69 and November '69 on Apollo 12 (forgetting the minimal coverage on 12) the difference was staggering. |
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