On Wednesday, the first live high definition broadcast from space was featured on Discovery HD. Michael Lopez-Alegria gave a 20-minute tour of the space station for Space Station Live. I don’t get that channel, so I couldn’t Tivo it (oh Tivo, can’t you go beyond the limits of my cable package?), but JSC kindly replayed it today in the auditorium for anyone interested.
The HD video is stunning, as was to be expected. But to me the more surprising thing was the audio. In addition to the HD video signal, they were broadcasting very high quality audio as well. It was unlike anything I’ve ever heard from space. I’m used to hearing the astronauts come through with static, gaps, and some garbles, not to mention the ever-present beeping of the UHF comm system: *beep* “Roger that.” *beep*
This audio was completely clear. Soooo clear. Almost too clear — you could hear every bump and click. It was like Lopez-Alegria was standing right in the room with you.
Very cool.
The sound was so clear because it was filmed at a sound studio next door.
….
I’m TOTALLY kidding of course. I couldn’t resist. 😛
Very cool! Um, my hubby would probably make the same comment that laanba did above.