My Gosh I would hope not. Their credibility would be shot forever. Does anyone know for sure?

During one of the Manta Ray scenes it sure looked like it was CGI but hopefully not. If there were any, I'm sure they were very few and very far between

My Gosh I would hope not. Their credibility would be shot forever. Does anyone know for sure?



No CGI. We hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks.

Some of those animations from space with the receding snow line in the arctic had to be cgi.

Some of those animations from space with the receding snow line in the arctic had to be cgi.



Yes.

The animated orbital sequences were assembled using actual composite satellite photography with only necessary enhancements in order to accomplish a fluid time-lapse representation.

All of the animal behavior shots are presented as captured -- no CGI.

Yes.

The animated orbital sequences were assembled using actual composite satellite photography with only necessary enhancements in order to accomplish a fluid time-lapse representation.

All of the animal behavior shots are presented as captured -- no CGI.
Just to be clear, and to put it in layman's terms, all of the shots were real. They only used a computer to stitch or morph some of them together to create a time lapse video.
Nothing was "created" from CGI.

vegggas

Just to be clear, and to put it in layman's terms, all of the shots were real. They only used a computer to stitch or morph some of them together to create a time lapse video.
Nothing was "created" from CGI.

vegggas



Exactly. Well put.

John,
Could you shed some light on the orbital sequence shots? Were they stock footage from a source like NASA, or were they commissioned?

vegggas

There's an artical in the March 07' edition of Wired Magazine "A View to a Kill" that covers some of the efforts these talented folks go through to capture footage. Well worth reading.

John,
Could you shed some light on the orbital sequence shots? Were they stock footage from a source like NASA, or were they commissioned?

vegggas



Great question. I'll try to get an answer for you.

Thanks for the info DHDT. How were you involved with this project?


*EDIT: opps, sorry, just noticed your sig line.

Thanks DHDT, I enjoy this new series!

Thanks DHDT, I enjoy this new series!


Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

probably the best HD i've ever seen, and amazing cinematography. I'm already planning on ordering the hd-dvd set.

Caught some of the program last night and recorded the episodes.

Fantastic picture. Fantastic content.
Thanks!!

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

I have recorded but not yet watched I am looking forward to it. Thank you for making yourself available to this board.

Any other great things coming down the pike?

I have recorded but not yet watched I am looking forward to it. Thank you for making yourself available to this board.

Any other great things coming down the pike?



Nothing on the order of Planet Earth in the immediate future, but we do have some great new series and specials on the horizon for 2nd Quarter.

So, with apologies for getting off topic, here's a taste of what's on tap for April on Discovery HD Theater -- while biding your time between Planet Earth premieres on Sunday nights of course...

FutureCar - 4x60 mini series; Tuesdays at 8pm throughout April starting 4/3

An encore of a fan favorite...
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie - Wednesday, 4/4 at 9pm
Renowned special effects filmmaker Peter Kuran dedicated over three years to the production of this amazing film which chronicles the top secret, stranges, and visually compelling history of the design, production, and testing of atomic and hydrogen bombs by the United States. Whether being exploded under the ocean, supsended by a balloon, being shot from a cannon or even detonated in space, these weapons are capable of devastating destruction. Narrated by William Shatner.

1,000 Places to See Before You Die - 13 episode series premiering Friday, 4/6 at 8pm

Digging Up The Trenches - Wednesday, 4/11 at 9pm
In Belgium, an 8-lane highway is being built across the legendary Flanders Fields, where over 400,000 soldiers lie lost in the mud. Now, a group of archaeologists and forensic scientists are scrambling to excavate the vast network of trenches, bunkers, and shellholes that made up WWI’s front-lines. For the first time in a century, Flanders will give up its secrets. The archaeologists' task is to excavate and analyze the vast trench network and horrifying no-man’s land of the Great War.

Really Big Things - New series premiering Wednesdays at 10pm starting 4/18

Risk Takers 2 - Three new episodes on Mondays at 8pm starting 4/30 (Polar Bear Alert Specialists, Building Blasters, Paramedics)

Man I wish I wouldn't have watched future car in SD. :D I guess I will catch one of the episodes in HD.

Thanks DHDT, I enjoy this new series!

Ditto...it was beautiful. :)

Thanks John I will watch for those shows upcoming

An encore of a fan favorite...
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie - Wednesday, 4/4 at 9pm
Renowned special effects filmmaker Peter Kuran dedicated over three years to the production of this amazing film which chronicles the top secret, stranges, and visually compelling history of the design, production, and testing of atomic and hydrogen bombs by the United States. Whether being exploded under the ocean, supsended by a balloon, being shot from a cannon or even detonated in space, these weapons are capable of devastating destruction. Narrated by William Shatner.


I love that show. Got the DVD, can't wait to see it in HD!

ok, now i'm not one to complain, but I do think there was some CGI in these, especially "oceans"

most noticeably the start (intro title) had a pod of dolphins that looked horribly cgi... am I wrong here?

Also "pole to pole" had a very weird looking shot of a buncha baboons that just threw off that marker that something didn't look right, almost as if they clones a few to make more seem to be in the shot..

Title revised.

John, has their been any discussion on Season 3 of Deadliest Catch that was filmed in HD coming to DHDT in the near future?

ok, now i'm not one to complain, but I do think there was some CGI in these, especially "oceans"

most noticeably the start (intro title) had a pod of dolphins that looked horribly cgi... am I wrong here?

Also "pole to pole" had a very weird looking shot of a buncha baboons that just threw off that marker that something didn't look right, almost as if they clones a few to make more seem to be in the shot..

They allready said NO CGI, just some composite shots.

I recorded this on a Direct TV SAT HD box- HR10- Spectacular and at full 16:9 capture- My DVDR was a Pioneer 640-2006 which does 16:9 record.- It was very close to HD original since I recorded the first 3 one hour episodes at XP record mode and burned three discs accordingly. Incredible. The HD Direct TV Box HR10 captures full record at 16:9 unlike the HD Dish Sat Box VP211.

http://www.helinet.com/

http://www.helinet.com/4.185.0.0.1.0.phtml

http://www.helinet.com/media-center.phtml

I thought it was astounding as well...content and PQ.

In fact both of my dogs were glued to the TV most of the show, particularly when they had animal close ups on the screen. Their favorites were the polar bears. They would back up and sort of crouch down and then kind of jump forward at it. It was hilarious.

Discovery,
This was by far one of the best "nature" shows I have ever seen. Especially the "Pole to Pole" premiere here in the States.

Some of my favorite sequences so far?

1) The hyena strategized hunt
2) The shark's attack in slow-mo
3) The teaser image of the aligator attack (can't wait for that episode!)
4) The snow leopard's attack in the snow


Question:
Why replace Richard Attenborough's v/o narration?
In my opinion, Weaver's voice isn't "recognizable" enough to warrant the switch, and, usually, an English accent lends more credibility to the imagery. I don't understand why the switch was made.

DHDT---How are the Cuts effecting you guys?

Nothing on the order of Planet Earth in the immediate future, but we do have some great new series and specials on the horizon for 2nd Quarter.

So, with apologies for getting off topic, here's a taste of what's on tap for April on Discovery HD Theater -- while biding your time between Planet Earth premieres on Sunday nights of course...

FutureCar - 4x60 mini series; Tuesdays at 8pm throughout April starting 4/3



How about Bizarre Foods? I love this series and I am a vegetarian :) The bizarre foods will truly be bizzare in HD.

Discovery,
This was by far one of the best "nature" shows I have ever seen. Especially the "Pole to Pole" premiere here in the States.

Some of my favorite sequences so far?

2) The shark's attack in slow-mo

ITA. That was absolutely astounding. I've seen video of great whites breaching before, but never like that.

So far I've only watched the first 2 eps, but I've already lost track of how many times my wife and I have been left with our jaws hanging open. This series is definitely one for the ages. Amazing.

One teensy quibble: does the narration have to keep mentioning the amazing new tech that allows them to capture this, that, or the next cool shot? Yeah, we get it. :D

My Gosh I would hope not. Their credibility would be shot forever. Does anyone know for sure?

I'm curious as to what even made you bring up this issue in the first place and why you decided that if they did use CGI, their credibility would be shot forever.

Wonderful show and enjoying it immensely.

I think we should start a drinking game. Every time the narration mentions "for the first time ever" or "innovative technology", we have to do a shot :)

Does anyone know if this series is showing on Discovery HD Canada?

Out of interest, does the Discovery version of Planet Earth have the BBC narration and BBC presenter (Sir David Attenborough)? Do you also get the 10 minute mini-making-of behind the scenes films (surely made for the DVD/HD-DVD/BD release!) - which I think are SD 16:9?

Both halves of the series - it was shown in two chunks over here - have been very popular in the UK - and it is shown regularly on the BBC HD channel. It is fantastic isn't it?

Thank goodness the BBC and Discovery work together on these kinds of shows - the BBC Natural History Unit makes them (though many of the staff who work on them are freelance I believe), and Discovery partially fund them, and get a US edit.

Out of interest, does the Discovery version of Planet Earth have the BBC narration and BBC presenter (Sir David Attenborough)? Do you also get the 10 minute mini-making-of behind the scenes films (surely made for the DVD/HD-DVD/BD release!) - which I think are SD 16:9?

Both halves of the series - it was shown in two chunks over here - have been very popular in the UK - and it is shown regularly on the BBC HD channel. It is fantastic isn't it?

Thank goodness the BBC and Discovery work together on these kinds of shows - the BBC Natural History Unit makes them (though many of the staff who work on them are freelance I believe), and Discovery partially fund them, and get a US edit.
Sigourney Weaver was the narrator for the Discovery version. The behind the scenes stuff was shown on Discovery HD. I doubt, I didn't watch the SD version, that the behind the scenes stuff was shown on the normal Discovery Chnannel (SD), because of commercials.

Sigourney Weaver was the narrator for the Discovery version.


Ah - that would be really strange for a Brit. Sir David IS Natural History in the UK. His delivery may be easy to make fun of - but his enthusiasm is amazing. He's a great storyteller.

As the HD-DVD/BD releases are, I believe, a BBC Home Video (via Warner) release rather than a Discovery release, I would suspect they may contain the BBC narration from Sir David, rather than the Discovery narration from Sigourney?


The behind the scenes stuff was shown on Discovery HD. I doubt, I didn't watch the SD version, that the behind the scenes stuff was shown on the normal Discovery Chnannel (SD), because of commercials.

Ah - is Discovery HD commercial free? That would make sense - the BBC scheduled Planet Earth in an hour slot (58-59 mins of programme) - but this included the Planet Earth Making Of (Planet Earth Diaries?) in the last 10 mins or so. They felt very "optional" and I thought as I watched them they would be a very easy way of delivering a 50 min version to fit into an hour long slot on a commercial channel.

The first episode, at least (that's all I've watched so far) had one commercial break.

Ah - is Discovery HD commercial free? That would make sense - the BBC scheduled Planet Earth in an hour slot (58-59 mins of programme) - but this included the Planet Earth Making Of (Planet Earth Diaries?) in the last 10 mins or so. They felt very "optional" and I thought as I watched them they would be a very easy way of delivering a 50 min version to fit into an hour long slot on a commercial channel.
The HD version had commercials and HD promos and the beginning, end and one pod in the middle of the program.

I'm curious as to what even made you bring up this issue in the first place and why you decided that if they did use CGI, their credibility would be shot forever.
Well in their promo DVD that they sent out in mags they said 200 locations, 2000 days of shooting and 5 years in the making. Now Disc HD channel prides themselves on actual shots of real nature unless it is dinosaur or alien planet stuff. Some of their shots in the initial Sunday 3 parts were incredible- It is a very understandable question- parts looked so good underwater one would AND should wonder. Apparently one of their employees has come on this thread and said, no, they did not. Now as to you questioning why anyone would ask this leads me to believe you want to halt questions on this board. Is questioning things abhorrent to your intellect? God help you if so. However back to your premise - if they used CGI for a series of Planet Earth and all that it is supposed to mean, CGI would be ridiculous for HD Discovery on this series- Plain and simple- But one has to ask- do you understand questioning? Maybe you are a gamer who is use to imagining and watching fake stuff. I am not. I want the real thing on video when doing a Planet Earth series as this is proclaimed. Now if this does not answer your question I suggest you go back to your video games. You have not even watched this premiere series yet. Admit it.

This is a bit off topic (is there a better thread to post this in?)...

During "Ocean Deep" the posterization on my Vizio GV47LF was pretty distracting during some of the underwater scenes. For example:

11 minute mark - with light from the top left and the manta rays swimming
16-18 minute mark - When sub was facing the camera with its lights illuminating the surrounding water

There might be more, but I haven't finished watching it yet :)

FWIW, I'm watching via a recording on a Comcast Motorola DCT-3416 outputing 1080i via HDMI. How does it look on other panels (LCD or Plasma)? I guess I'm wondering if it's the content, delivery, DVR, TV (panel or processor) or a combination of all of them.

I didn't notice that on my LG LCD using the same box, but component.

Looking again, I see that it is indeed there when fading into the manta scene, after that it looks more like "rays" of light.

I don't see it in the sub scenes.

Well in their promo DVD that they sent out in mags they said 200 locations, 2000 days of shooting and 5 years in the making. Now Disc HD channel prides themselves on actual shots of real nature unless it is dinosaur or alien planet stuff. Some of their shots in the initial Sunday 3 parts were incredible- It is a very understandable question- parts looked so good underwater one would AND should wonder. Apparently one of their employees has come on this thread and said, no, they did not. Now as to you questioning why anyone would ask this leads me to believe you want to halt questions on this board. Is questioning things abhorrent to your intellect? God help you if so. However back to your premise - if they used CGI for a series of Planet Earth and all that it is supposed to mean, CGI would be ridiculous for HD Discovery on this series- Plain and simple- But one has to ask- do you understand questioning? Maybe you are a gamer who is use to imagining and watching fake stuff. I am not. I want the real thing on video when doing a Planet Earth series as this is proclaimed. Now if this does not answer your question I suggest you go back to your video games. You have not even watched this premiere series yet. Admit it.

You seem to be the one who doesn't understand questioning. The questioner was trying to understand what it was in the program that you thought looked like it was cgi. I am also curious.

This is a bit off topic (is there a better thread to post this in?)...

During "Ocean Deep" the posterization on my Vizio GV47LF was pretty distracting during some of the underwater scenes. For example:

11 minute mark - with light from the top left and the manta rays swimming
16-18 minute mark - When sub was facing the camera with its lights illuminating the surrounding water

There might be more, but I haven't finished watching it yet :)

FWIW, I'm watching via a recording on a Comcast Motorola DCT-3416 outputing 1080i via HDMI. How does it look on other panels (LCD or Plasma)? I guess I'm wondering if it's the content, delivery, DVR, TV (panel or processor) or a combination of all of them.

Was this scene a saturated blue graduated shot? If so - this is the worst kind of scene for 8 bit YCrCb 4:2:0 MPEG2 to carry, as there is almost no detail in the luminance channel (0->100% blue is carried across just 16 luminance values - or 4 bits of resolution in the luminance channel) and the detail has to be reconstructed mainly from the 1/4 resolution chroma channel, meaning far lower resolution for the blue detail...

Now if this does not answer your question I suggest you go back to your video games. You have not even watched this premiere series yet. Admit it.

I'd thought you hit rock bottom on many of your previous posts. I was wrong. I don't even have any sympathy for your ignorance.

Discovery,
This was by far one of the best "nature" shows I have ever seen. Especially the "Pole to Pole" premiere here in the States.

Some of my favorite sequences so far?

1) The hyena strategized hunt



that was a pack of african wild dogs... not hyenas.