Thought I should post a comment, .... after the passing of "The Most Trusted Man in America" Friday evening.

You're looking at a man who's dominated his field of work in his best days, for two decades. I think the various networks are mindfully aware the media watchdogs would be on to them if they don't at least attempt some degree of respect and balance in their coverage of Walter Cronkite. ....Hey, how about a Walter Cronkite memorial in HD???

CBS has extensive coverage of Cronkite this morning; though probably 'recut', a lot of the old footage is widescreen (including Beatles interview).

In all respect, he should have his own thread instead of adding to this one.

In all respect, he should have his own thread instead of adding to this one.

New topic started.

The best way to pay tribute is to replay some interviews where he talked about his career and his experiences, and also replay some of his old broadcasts.

The "tributes" from people like Katie Couric ... Blech! I don't need that.

And tributes from people who forced him out of broadcasting, or people who only pretend to be news reporters are not worthy of air time, even in HD.

The best way to pay tribute is to replay some interviews where he talked about his career and his experiences, and also replay some of his old broadcasts.

The "tributes" from people like Katie Couric ... Blech! I don't need that.

And tributes from people who forced him out of broadcasting, or people who only pretend to be news reporters are not worthy of air time, even in HD.

Well said.

Thought I should post a comment, .... after the passing of "The Most Trusted Man in America" Friday evening.

You're looking at a man who's dominated his field of work in his best days, for two decades. I think the various networks are mindfully aware the media watchdogs would be on to them if they don't at least attempt some degree of respect and balance in their coverage of Walter Cronkite. ....Hey, how about a Walter Cronkite memorial in HD???
Two reasons for the Cronkite tribute not being produced in HD: first, much of the broadcast was culled from "Walter Cronkite Remembers", a 2-hour retrospective that aired several years before CBS News had any HD production capability in New York, and second, all of the historic footage in the hour is SD by definition (no pun intended).

HD or not, there was an incredibly jarring moment tonight at the end of the CBS Cronkite tribute:

"This is Walter Cronkite. Goodnight."

Silence.

And then...

"Previously, on Big Brother..."

Two reasons for the Cronkite tribute not being produced in HD: first, much of the broadcast was culled from "Walter Cronkite Remembers", a 2-hour retrospective that aired several years before CBS News had any HD production capability in New York, and second, all of the historic footage in the hour is SD by definition (no pun intended).

Indeed. Still quite moving.

Indeed. Still quite moving.

It was a good tribute tonight. I don't mind the fact that it is SD. A fair bit of the material was in the best definition possible. As someone mentioned, back in those days who would have thought some of these footage needed to be saved in the first place. Even NASA didn't save the original moonwalk tapes.

Nice tribute show. They did a good job of coming up with some clean copies of some of the material -- some of the early color stuff looked like it was dubbed from the original 2-inch tape, instead of multi-generations of U-matic -- I could really feel the texture of those Norelco cameras.

I'm pretty sure I have his entire final "CBS Evening News" from 1981 in my archive, though on VHS. I gotta dig that out and watch it.

As you might expect, a good deal of time and effort was spent in making the footage look and sound as good as possible.

I missed the tribute that ran in the place of 60 Minutes, but the segments on Sunday Morning were very, very nice.

CBS recently showed a 1962 episode of "Shell's Wonderful World of Golf" in HD and it looked very good.

I missed the tribute that ran in the place of 60 Minutes, but the segments on Sunday Morning were very, very nice.Yes, the Sunday morning spot was much better. The correspondents being interviewed were in HD, and all of Walter's old footage was resized in widescreen. Not HD obviously, but looked very nice just the same.

Why didn't CBS air a 1-hour or 90-minute time capsule of the 1969 Armstrong/Aldrin moonwalk tonight, with Walter Cronkite's play-by-play? It would "kill two birds with one stone", if you know what I mean.

I consider this a huge opportunity missed, for CBS -- especially. The other networks (OTA or cable) can do it, but it would be most appropriate and poignant for CBS to do so. I think the last time a network did this was on the 20th Anniversary of Apollo 11 (1989). A&E aired all the major events of the flight (liftoff, moonwalk and splash) in a real time, using NBC archive tape.

History has "Live from the Moon" tonight, with the original Walter Cronkite narration.

Only 30 minutes, but that's enough. You wouldn't want the whole thing with Nixon's phone call. :D

History has "Live from the Moon" tonight, with the original Walter Cronkite narration.

Only 30 minutes, but that's enough. You wouldn't want the whole thing with Nixon's phone call. :D

I still have the A&E/NBC recording, Nixon's phone call was 2 minutes out of 155minutes of coverage. It didn't kill the show. Probably wouldn't be JFK to make the call anyway since the latest he could've stayed in office was until January 1969. Would anyone else make any difference *to the call* - Humphrey, Johnson, Wallace?

My recollection was that it was closer to 30 minutes. :D

It's not that I objected to Nixon. It's that the first moon walk was very short and very important. Who knew if there would even be another successful Apollo mission? Any time taken away, even two minutes, was too much.