posted 11-18-2020 09:03 AM            

1. There were a number of unique TV moments on Apollo 15, such as the clearest Apollo TV of astronauts climbing down the LM ladder; the deployment of the lunar rover; the "hammer and feather" demonstration; and the first live LM launch footage.

2. Apollo 15 provides surface movie footage showing the mountainous "terrain" and the first footage from a rover driving along. There was no lunar surface movie footage on Apollo 17.

3. The quality of the Apollo 17 EVA television was higher because of the enhancement process introduced on Apollo 16.

4. There is much better coverage (including movie footage) of the deep-space EVA on Apollo 17.

5. The Apollo 15 splashdown coverage is more dramatic because of the collapsed parachute.

6. On Apollo 15, the training footage is silent. The equivalent on Apollo 17 is accompanied by audio from various press-conferences, etc.

Some EVA footage uses the original telecine recordings made on 16mm movie film off TV monitors. This often provides a better memory of the colour TV I remember watching live, with the lunar surface and mountains often a slightly golden-brown hue. The other tell-tale sign of colour deterioration in the actual video recordings is the red stripes on the suits of Dave Scott and Gene Cernan. Sometimes they are red, sometimes colourless, sometimes a weird greenish colour.

I don't think you could say one set is better than the other on accurate colour.

posted 12-13-2020 03:40 PM               

When I first found out about these DVDs I was so excited that I bought the Apollo 17 set, it being my favourite mission, before I even owned a DVD player and thinking that that one set would completely satisfy my hunger for Apollo lunar surface footage. And then over the years I gradually bought them all and they all have their own unique addition to the complete story. As mentioned, you need Apollo 15 for the rover deployment. But Apollo 16 has the best DAC coverage on the surface.