Shuttle Discovery’s Historic Mission (Blu-ray/HDNet World Report)
Picture:
B Sound: B- Extras: D Main Program: B-
Strange
as this is, but for all the news and documentary DVDs we have covered to date,
none have involved the U.S. Space Shuttle.
Why, we just finally reviewed the James Bond film Moonraker! Well, to finally
correct that injustice, we get to look at a fun new Blu-ray from Magnolia
Pictures from their sister company HDNet that features a recent launch of the
Discovery.
Early on in
home video, there were special interest and gimmick releases, which could be
fun. When the 12” LaserDisc format first
surfaced and had a slow start, some very interesting titles were issued (3-D
for instance) that were also special interest and showed off the then-superior
picture and sound that cable, satellite and tape could not match. Though it has been over half a year since the
first HD disc hit the market, it is only now that this practically time-honored
tradition is back and The Shuttle
Discovery’s Historic Mission is such a fun disc.
Showing
off HD and HDNet in particular, Mark Cuban made this into an event as he was
determined that this be captured in HD to show yet another way of looking at
the spacecraft in action. What makes
this historic is that this was the first time since the second horrible
explosion (this time from foam insulation troubles) that the Shuttle would
return to action. Launching July 26,
2006, this was going to be very important indeed and things fortunately worked
out.
In HD,
especially at this time when most people still do not have HDTVs and with HD
materials playing, even after all the analog NTSC and film footage of the
various shuttles in action, HD gives the experience a fresh new perspective and
that makes it a fun Blu-ray to get. No,
there is nothing extraordinary outside of the shoot that separates this from
other programs on the subject, but it is nicely done and the only thing holding
it back is its 50 minutes length.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image has its moments, shot entirely in HD,
but still has limits in detail here and there.
Video Black is not bad, but has some minor issues like nothing I have
seen in either format. Because this
program is not sharing room with too much other content, it has the freedom to
look better than most programs in either HD format to date. The sound is here in Dolby Digital 2.0 and
DTS mixes, with the DTS better if limited versus the kind of multi-channel
sound you get from the better such feature film productions. There are no major extras despite the room,
but if you like technology and space-related items, The Shuttle Discovery’s Historic Mission is a nice change of pace
early on in HD and one HD fans will also want to catch.
- Nicholas Sheffo
