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7:00 pm
ABC2 (you need a set top box)
Wildness (60 mins, Rated: G)
Genre: Documentary
The fascinating story of Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis. As Australia's greatest wilderness photographers, their work has become synonymous with campaigns to protect Tasmania's natural heritage.

On again at 9.30 PM for anyone that can't catch the 7pm show.

Or in my position, can't catch either due to a TAFE course.
Anyone got a set top box with hard disk and a DVD burner??
I will cover the cost of disk + postage. Or is that illegal...

On the subject of TV shows, last night on ABC, I witnessed possibly the most amazing nature show ever!
It is called Planet Earth. It is on again next week - don't know how long it runs for, last night was the 1st episode.
It was called Pole to Pole and featured some pretty amazing stuff.
The cinematography was excellent! (Can't beat a still though )
I will be buying the DVD series when it comes out, my purchase based on the first show alone!
That scene when the Great White shark jumps clean out of the water and catches the seal (yes, poor seal), and the footage was slowed down 40X. Who'd swim there??
Or what about those Birds of Paradise in New Guinea doing their fancy displays... Made me laugh!
Some of the delay photography stuff, panning at the same time. The little mushrooms, the flowers etc. Great. The changing of colours due to season - I was wondering whether most of that was done on the computer. Either that or they left their tripod in the same place for like 6 months or something...
And for filming down on the foreses from just above the treeline, looking straight down on the trees... How?? Too stable for chopper, must have been a heck of a boom and scaffolding?

7:30 pm
ABC TAS
Planet Earth - Mountains (55 mins)
Genre: Documentary
Planet Earth takes a tour of the mightiest mountain ranges on the planet, beginning with the birth of a mountain at one of the lowest places on Earth and ending on the summit of Everest.

Of course, that's off the Tassie ABC link, so check local guides.

and when the elephants were walking along and the one in the front stopped and the others kept on going hehehe

I'll definitely be getting this on DVD.

What an amazing doco that was. I hate seeing "animals eating other animals" (as Billy Connolly put it), but I was absolutely gobsmacked by the shark coming almost completely out of the water to get the seal. It cost the Beeb $40 million and I am sure they will get their money back! I think its in a series of six shows. Not to be missed.

Cheers
Sheila

Adam

I'll set up my Toppy & send you the DVD

Thanks for the heads up Adam. I'll be watching for sure.
Cheers
John

Thanks, I'll be watching.

I managed to catch the documentary last night. Simply stunning on a large HD TV. How they got some of the shots boggles the mind.
I'll be holding off on the purchase of the DVD's until they are released in HD. Until then our current DVD's don't have the capacity. We will have to wait till later in the year when Blue Ray and the new HD format is released. The quality difference is amazing.

Murray1006 wrote:We will have to wait till later in the year when Blue Ray and the new HD format is released. The quality difference is amazing.

Murray - this line interested me and please don't get me wrong since it could appear I'm having a go at you for your comment whereas I'm just really curious about it.

How do you know the quality difference is amazing? Have you seen this in real world action, or is this based on what we are being told by the manufacturers/marketers.

My current cynical view is that BlueRay and HDVD (or whatever it's called) isn't just being sold to us for its increased capacity or the potential this offers for richer data (which is undoubtedly the case), but also because of the greater copy protection and sales it offers as well (I'm sure all the media companies fondly remember just how successful they were selling old material on CD to owners of the same on vinyl or DVDs to owners of the VHS tape of a movie).

If a marketer tells me something is great I'm less likely to believe it than if I'm told so by someone with less of a stake in me buying the product. Greater capacity and quality on high def DVD means nothing if I can't discern the difference even if it IS measurable by a machine. So if someone has experience and can perceive a difference I'd like to know about it. I'm hoping you may somehow be in this latter category.

Adam, that show was fantastic with many extraordinary shots. But I have to agree, that great white coming out of the water (and what would it weigh? Lots!) - and I do believe it was completely out of the water - while munching on a tasty penguinburger, was truly brilliant. Oh yeah, the polar bears were great too, and the swimming elephants, and the disco bird from New Guinea and, and, and,....

Great show.

One of the great things with Bluray and the other one will be DVDs holding 25+ gig of data. Why, that's over 10 D2X NEFs

Planet Earth is already available on the bit torrent sites...

stubbsy wrote:

Murray1006 wrote:We will have to wait till later in the year when Blue Ray and the new HD format is released. The quality difference is amazing.

Murray - this line interested me and please don't get me wrong since it could appear I'm having a go at you for your comment whereas I'm just really curious about it.

How do you know the quality difference is amazing? Have you seen this in real world action, or is this based on what we are being told by the manufacturers/marketers.

My current cynical view is that BlueRay and HDVD (or whatever it's called) isn't just being sold to us for its increased capacity or the potential this offers for richer data (which is undoubtedly the case), but also because of the greater copy protection and sales it offers as well (I'm sure all the media companies fondly remember just how successful they were selling old material on CD to owners of the same on vinyl or DVDs to owners of the VHS tape of a movie).

If a marketer tells me something is great I'm less likely to believe it than if I'm told so by someone with less of a stake in me buying the product. Greater capacity and quality on high def DVD means nothing if I can't discern the difference even if it IS measurable by a machine. So if someone has experience and can perceive a difference I'd like to know about it. I'm hoping you may somehow be in this latter category.

Hi Peter,

I can see a significant difference going from HD TV compared to SD TV at home. The picture quality is just amazing and noticably better. HD programs broadcast in 1080i resolution have twice the resolution of the SD which is 720p. DVD's currently are only capable of 720p while the new HD discs will be capable of 1080i.
The picture quality of the documentary last night was simply breathtaking. With a wide screen TV capable of HD anybody would be able to see the difference in picture quality.

Regards,
Murray

tasadam wrote:7:00 pm
ABC2 (you need a set top box)
Wildness (60 mins, Rated: G)
Genre: Documentary
The fascinating story of Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis. As Australia's greatest wilderness photographers, their work has become synonymous with campaigns to protect Tasmania's natural heritage.

That was a great show Adam. I found the different styles of Truchanas and Dombrovskis interesting, but the work of both is brilliant. Anyone who didn't see the show, it's worth catching if/when it's repeated.

Cheers
John

Murray1006 wrote:I can see a significant difference going from HD TV compared to SD TV at home. The picture quality is just amazing and noticably better. HD programs broadcast in 1080i resolution have twice the resolution of the SD which is 720p. DVD's currently are only capable of 720p while the new HD discs will be capable of 1080i.
The picture quality of the documentary last night was simply breathtaking. With a wide screen TV capable of HD anybody would be able to see the difference in picture quality.

Regards,
Murray

Murray

Thanks for that. I've never seen a HD image (my STB is SD) and was uncertain if the extra scan lines made an appreciable difference to the perceived quality. I have some friends with a HD STB and they say they can't tell the difference (that said they didn't realise most content wasn't broadcast HD anyway, but rather upscaled, until I told them). I've not been at their place when a true HD program was being broadcast.

Now to get the commercial networks to be serious about HD broadcasting (AND the government)

I am a huge fan of HD 1080i.

The most important thing is to view it on a screen that will do it justice. Currently all the plasma tellys I have seen are not up to the quality of the best CRT HD-TVs. I luckily picked up the 86cm Sony 100kg monster for less than a third of retail price, and it has a beautiful quality image. Some of the latest plasmas can be used as computer monitors - at large resolutions - but have trouble with colour and dynamic range.

Thanks for the heads up about the aforementioned programs. I will be recording them for sure.

I also caught the doco last night and really wish there were more like it! It was mentioned earlier but I found it interesting that they had such different styles - Truchanas seemed (IMO) more of a wide-angled suck in the landscape kind of photog while Dombrovskis would sit back and wait for the light to zing on a small area and capture that. Both have great merit.

I find this talk about HD interesting since most of the footage was pretty old? I noticed some of the interviews were in widescreen but didn't realise they were HD - does ABC 2 broadcast HD?

Anyway, I've seen one of those HD sample packages and must admit on a big arse screen they are super impressive. So sharp you could cut yourself watching TV!

Heath Bennett wrote:I am a huge fan of HD 1080i.

The most important thing is to view it on a screen that will do it justice. Currently all the plasma tellys I have seen are not up to the quality of the best CRT HD-TVs. I luckily picked up the 86cm Sony 100kg monster for less than a third of retail price, and it has a beautiful quality image. Some of the latest plasmas can be used as computer monitors - at large resolutions - but have trouble with colour and dynamic range.

Thanks for the heads up about the aforementioned programs. I will be recording them for sure.

You have good taste in TV's. It is the same one I have and the picture can't be beat.
For picture quality CRT is still the way to go.

beetleboy wrote:I find this talk about HD interesting since most of the footage was pretty old? I noticed some of the interviews were in widescreen but didn't realise they were HD - does ABC 2 broadcast HD?

Yes ABC2 does have some programs that are HD.
All programs on ABC (the main one) go out as analogue and SD, some also go out as HD, usually these have the logo on the screen to tell you that they are HD programs.
It can get really confusing this whole HD SD 4:3 16:9 stuff. And I work for the ABC! Most of the footage that is now shot by ABC crew is shot on either Digital BETACAMs or HDCams in the 16:9 format. However we are always working in what is called the 4:3 safe zone!

Also I loved the program, even though I watched it in the analogue format

Thanks for clearing that up Mal!

tasadam wrote:7:00 pm

Wildness (60 mins, Rated: G)
Genre: Documentary
The fascinating story of Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis. As Australia's greatest wilderness photographers, their work has become synonymous with campaigns to protect Tasmania's natural heritage.


On the subject of TV shows, last night on ABC, I witnessed possibly the most amazing nature show ever!
It is called Planet Earth. It is on again next week - don't know how long it runs for, last night was the 1st episode.
.

Adam,

This is a wonderful documentary from 2 of Australia's most acclaimed landscape and nature photographers. I hope many of you managed to catch it on the tv. Olegas was Peter Dombrovkis' mentor and it was Peter who was responsible for showing Australia and the world the stunning beauty of the Tasmanian Wilderness (and thus create an uproar when the Government proposed to dam the Franklin).


Re. Planet Earth doco. I agree - the first episode was one of the most brilliant pieces of doco work I have ever seen. I have been fortunate to have helped on docos with David Attenborough, IMAX, ABC documentaries and NHK (Japan's largets doco company) and I appreciate the mind-blowing effort into getting some of these shots.

It will eventually be an 11-part series, with the first 5 being shown on tele over the next few weeks.

Cheers

Michael

I think it was the producer of the documentary they interviewed on the radio last week. He said they had a new camera system mounted in a helicopter. With it they can stand off about 600m from the animals and zoom right in without be obtrusive.

Did anyone remember the shot of the poor little lost elephant. They zoomed out giving the effect of him loosing his way in the great expanse of desert. Poor little bugger probably didn't make it as he was following his mother's footsteps in the wrong direction. Some amazing shots.