Topic: Apollo 11: NASA releases restored moonwalk video
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-13-2009 12:18 PM
NASA release
NASA to Release Restored Apollo 11 Moonwalk Video
NASA will hold a media briefing at 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, July 16, at the Newseum in Washington to release greatly improved video imagery from the July 1969 live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk.
The release will feature 15 key moments from Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's historic moonwalk using what is believed to be the best available broadcast-format copies of the lunar excursion, some of which had been locked away for nearly 40 years. The initial video to be released Thursday is part of a comprehensive Apollo 11 moonwalk restoration project expected to be completed by the fall.
The Newseum is located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. The news conference will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's Internet homepage.
Participants in the briefing will be:
Richard Nafzger, team lead and Goddard engineer
Stan Lebar, former Westinghouse Electric program manager
Mike Inchalik, president of Lowry Digital, Burbank, Calif.
collectSPACE will be represented at this press conference and plans are in place to share the restored footage on this site.
Dwight Member
Posts: 577 From: Germany Registered: Dec 2003
posted 07-13-2009 05:30 PM
This footage promises to be amazing. This is very exciting indeed.
ilbasso Member
Posts: 1522 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Feb 2006
posted 07-14-2009 05:40 PM
Fox News is broadly hinting today that this is the missing tapes from Australia. If it's on Fox News, it MUST be correct!
spacecraft films Member
Posts: 802 From: Columbus, OH USA Registered: Jun 2002
posted 07-14-2009 06:12 PM
Well, Fox is wrong. The report is false. There were no tapes found in Australia that had Apollo 11 telemetry and slow-scan television. This footage is derived from post-scan-converted material.
And Fox is no less accurate than any of the rest of them. They all have tremendous difficulty getting anything correct.
If you don't believe me, refer to this key phrase from the press release:
...using what is believed to be the best available broadcast-format copies of the lunar excursion...
spacecraft films Member
Posts: 802 From: Columbus, OH USA Registered: Jun 2002
posted 07-14-2009 06:13 PM
I hope I'm not committing an internet faux pas by posting this... Robert Jacobs of NASA's status from about 3 hours ago:
Be careful of what others think they know. Words like "missing" or "lost" aren't used here. The keyword is "restored" (reference to the release above).
jimsz Member
Posts: 618 From: Registered: Aug 2006
posted 07-14-2009 07:51 PM
quote:Originally posted by spacecraft films: Well, they're wrong. That report is false. There were no tapes found in Australia that had Apollo 11 telemetry and slow-scan television. This footage is derived from post-scan-converted material.
The article does not say it WAS the lost footage, stating that it will be an improvement.
Unless you work for NASA how can you state 100% on what was found or not? If you are working for NASA and you are under a NDA, you're best not saying anything one way or the other.
Everytime you jump on a story or post about some improved footage you come across very biased in how strong you oppose a message as in protecting your business interests.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-14-2009 08:27 PM
You don't need to work for NASA or be under an NDA to know that the release was not describing the "lost tapes".
The "lost tapes", as they were, were not of "broadcast quality", nor -- were they to be found -- would their utilization be correctly referred to as a restoration.
While the Fox News article does not state that the footage was from the lost tapes, it was written such to suggest that it could be, which in my opinion, is misleading.
spacecraft films Member
Posts: 802 From: Columbus, OH USA Registered: Jun 2002
posted 07-14-2009 08:59 PM
quote:Originally posted by jimsz: Unless you work for NASA how can you state 100% on what was found or not?
I wasn't referring to the release. I was referring to the report from Fox. The release from NASA is right on target.
You don't have to believe me. Just wait and see.
It is simply outstanding that this project finally came to fruition, and the result is an improved television record.
But the story that this is from slow-scan "lost tapes" found in Australia is not accurate.
ilbasso Member
Posts: 1522 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Feb 2006
posted 07-14-2009 10:30 PM
The joint NASA and Newseum press release on this subject does, I think, encourage some of the speculation, particularly in this sentence: "the best available broadcast-format copies of the lunar excursion, some of which had been locked away for nearly 40 years."
I can see where people would make the jump to thinking that in having been "locked away for nearly 40 years," these must be the lost tapes.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-14-2009 10:38 PM
But the slow-scan format "lost tapes" are not "broadcast format". Granted, that's a technical distinction that the public might not easily differentiate, but reporters should be able to research and learn the difference quite easily given the resources released over the past three years.
Obviousman Member
Posts: 438 From: NSW, Australia Registered: May 2005
posted 07-15-2009 02:32 AM
But Robert: reporters -> research? Surely you jest!
spacecraft films Member
Posts: 802 From: Columbus, OH USA Registered: Jun 2002
posted 07-15-2009 08:52 AM
quote:Originally posted by Obviousman: reporters -> research? Surely you jest!
And there's the problem, precisely stated...
Obviousman Member
Posts: 438 From: NSW, Australia Registered: May 2005
posted 07-16-2009 03:21 AM
I was being a little facetious, but it is quite true amongst many reporters. Some are very good and research their subject matter, but I suspect - by the number of factual errors I read on many subjects - that many don't.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
An exhaustive, three-year search for some tapes that contained the original footage of the Apollo 11 moonwalk has concluded that they were probably destroyed during a period when NASA was erasing old magnetic tapes and reusing them to record satellite data.
"We're all saddened that they're not there. We all wish we had 20-20 hindsight," says Dick Nafzger, a TV specialist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, who helped lead the search team.
"I don't think anyone in the NASA organization did anything wrong," Nafzger says. "I think it slipped through the cracks, and nobody's happy about it."
NASA has, however, offered up a consolation prize for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission -- the agency has taken the best available broadcast television footage and contracted with a digital restoration firm to enhance it, so that the public can see the first moonwalk in more detail than ever before.
Lasv3 Member
Posts: 422 From: Bratislava, Slovakia Registered: Apr 2009
posted 07-16-2009 07:56 AM
Well, it starts to be clear now after a longer period of cryptical talks and sometimes conflicting and confusing informations and statements. So lost tapes are lost, or better to say erased, and we will have the restored and enhanced footage of the historical Apollo 11 EVA from the existing material.
Now - which company would be contracted to do the best job? I hope I'm not far from the truth if I say - Spacecraft Films?
Dwight Member
Posts: 577 From: Germany Registered: Dec 2003
posted 07-16-2009 08:32 AM
If you look at the name of attendees at the conference to occur in a few hours, you'll see which company is doing the enhancement.
Michael Davis Member
Posts: 530 From: Houston, Texas Registered: Aug 2002
posted 07-16-2009 08:53 AM
There was very good story on NPR this morning covering the details of the restored tapes. There was an interview with the Hollywood production company that did the restoration work and the leader of the lost tape search team. Apparently most agree that the original tapes were probably recorded over with other data back in the early 80's.
Lasv3 Member
Posts: 422 From: Bratislava, Slovakia Registered: Apr 2009
posted 07-16-2009 08:54 AM
quote:Originally posted by Dwight: If you look at the name of attendees at the conference to occur in a few hours, you'll see which company is doing the enhancement.
Thanks Dwight, I did now, but I have to say, after all what was said in this forum, that I do not understand what role plays the Spacecraft Films in the enhanced Apollo 11 EVA footage. It seems, at least to me, it can't be an active one after the announcement there are no lost tapes available and digital upgrade of the existing material will be done by another company.
I might be much less bright than the rest of you guys so I stop to speculate and I better wait for the promised e-mail from Mark Gray today with the details of the upcoming release of the linear Apollo 11 with better EVA footage (I ordered back in 2006).
Dwight Member
Posts: 577 From: Germany Registered: Dec 2003
posted 07-16-2009 08:57 AM
Sorry if I'm cryptic, I just don't want to jump the gun or type anything before an official aannouncement is made.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-16-2009 09:28 AM
I am now at the Newseum for the press conference. If you have questions you'd like me to ask, post them to this thread, e-mail me or reply to be on Twitter.
spacecraft films Member
Posts: 802 From: Columbus, OH USA Registered: Jun 2002
posted 07-16-2009 09:30 AM
Lowry Digital did/is doing the enhancement. They are, simply stated, the very best at image enhancement today. When you discuss image enhancement in Hollywood today, there is everyone else, and then there is Lowry.
Lowry digital is represented at the press conference today. John Lowry was one of the original partners of the company that enhanced the Apollo 16 and 17 (and Skylab) footage in real time. The man practically invented image enhancement. We had the honor of interviewing him on "Live From The Moon" where he tells the wonderful story of how they enhanced Apollo 16 and 17.
This project couldn't be in better hands.
Our role has been one of consultation on the best source material and of some consultation on the best company for image enhancement (and patiently watching as this process played out so we could use the material for upcoming sets). The real credit should go to Stan Lebar, Dick Nafzger, Bill Wood, Colin Mackellar, John Sarkissian, along with several folks from NASA and others with a passion for seeing the very best quality available of the Apollo 11 mission.
heng44 Member
Posts: 3413 From: Netherlands Registered: Nov 2001
posted 07-16-2009 09:42 AM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: I am now at the Newseum for the press conference. If you have questions you'd like me to ask, post them to this thread, e-mail me or reply to be on Twitter.
One question that comes to mind is: will other missions get the same treatment?
heng44 Member
Posts: 3413 From: Netherlands Registered: Nov 2001
posted 07-16-2009 11:12 AM
Robert, don't know if that was my question or if you had also thought of that, but thanks for asking it.
Dwight Member
Posts: 577 From: Germany Registered: Dec 2003
posted 07-16-2009 11:33 AM
OK so now I can add some info:
The first step is a tape made at Sydney video of the Honeysuckle Creek downlink. This has the correct scan converter settings. As Dick pointed out at the conference, more detail is able to be seen. TCN-9 Australia also had kinescopes of their telecast which also used the HSK feed, albeit a 16mm version. The Sydney video tape was video and therefore one generation closer to source.
The CBS tapes were the best possible videotape source and therefore were used for all the feeds after the official switch to HSK and later Parkes. (these points can be seen on the archive whenever the screen looses sync.
The Lowry treatment is very painstaking. Ideally the best method would be to pick the highest quality frame made from each SSTV frame and recreate the 30-frame-per-second feed based upon that process. As you can well imagine such a process is very time consuming. Whether it would be feasible for the entire EVA remains to be seen.
Regardless, there is much better footage of the EVA which was demonstrated at the conference. Ed I would LOVE to see restoration made on all the later missions.
Dwight Member
Posts: 577 From: Germany Registered: Dec 2003
posted 07-16-2009 11:44 AM
And for those who want to inspect the video further.
astroborg Member
Posts: 203 From: Woodbridge, VA, USA Registered: Nov 2000
posted 07-16-2009 11:45 AM
I was wondering:
Will the Lowry processed video be on the upcoming Spacecraft films 3 DVD Apollo 11: To on the Moon set?
Can I assume the Lowry video process is also covered on the "Live from the Moon" DVD/Blue Ray product? (Or this was already completed before the release of the restoration work?)
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 07-16-2009 12:14 PM
The process used for Apollo 15, 16 and 17 is covered in "Live From the Moon". The Apollo 11 stuff is not in the documentary that was screened at Spacefest. Mark will have to say the rest when he is ready.
Space Cadet Carl Member
Posts: 225 From: Lake Orion, Michigan Registered: Feb 2006
posted 07-16-2009 06:03 PM
Is Spacecraft Films going to wait to use John Lowry's new computer enhanced version of the Apollo 11 moonwalk on their "Live From The Moon" DVD? It makes sense to patiently wait for it to be included on the disc.
spacecraft films Member
Posts: 802 From: Columbus, OH USA Registered: Jun 2002
posted 07-16-2009 08:23 PM
I'll try to cover all of these bases, and I'm traveling right now in the DC area for some Apollo 11 40th Anniversary events (including showing "Live From The Moon" at the Newseum), but will try to answer the specific questions the best I can.
We are using the Lowry restoration for the "Apollo 11: To The Moon" 4 DVD set. We are also using this material for the next reprint of the Apollo 11 3 DVD set, as well as future Apollo 11 material.
Since "Live From The Moon" features only parts of the Apollo 11 EVA transmissions, we are dropping in this new material in those shots that feature Apollo 11 EVA TV transmissions. Therefore on the Bluray and DVD release of "Live From The Moon," we will replace those Apollo 11 shots with the Lowry restoration. Since these shots reside within the 15 initial shots processed by Lowry, it should not affect the timeline of the "Live From The Moon" release.
For info on our involvement in this project see the above post. Thanks to Dwight for posting further information on the source footage. When is your Apollo TV book slated to be out?
Later I will post more about this process and how it relates to "Live From the Moon" and our interview with John Lowry. Primarily we were interested in covering Apollo 16 and 17 enhancement. The final work on the restoration has been done quite recently, in fact the final decision to proceed was made quite recently, so at the time of our discussions with Mr. Lowry this project was not a topic either of us was aware might occur. Nevertheless the topic of the slow-scan search (and result) is covered in "Live From The Moon" and we'll address the restoration in an extra feature in some way.
Dwight Member
Posts: 577 From: Germany Registered: Dec 2003
posted 07-17-2009 08:13 AM
quote:Originally posted by spacecraft films: When is your Apollo TV book slated to be out?
The tv book is expected towards the end of the year. I too am going to have to add an epilogue dealing with the restoration and no sstv tapes.
I will make an announcement here when an official date is given.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-17-2009 08:22 AM
My article is finally* online...
After a three year agency- and world- wide search for a set of data tapes that promised to offer an improved view of the first moonwalk by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin 40 years ago this month, NASA revealed on Thursday that the tapes were more than likely erased years ago and reused. The agency then debuted the next best thing, restored footage based on their best broadcast quality tapes.
If you missed the press conference, you can watch it now (via YouTube).
* Unfortunately, my schedule was derailed by a touch of food poisoning, hence the lateness of this and other updates.
Dietrich Member
Posts: 68 From: Registered: Jul 2009
posted 07-18-2009 07:22 PM
quote:Originally posted by Dwight: And for those who want to inspect the video further.
I have watched all the presenteed enhanced videofrom the NASA website. Surely, this is a real progress. But is the aspect ratio width to height correct? The video should be not 16:9 (from 1280/720) but rather 4:3 like on the Spacecraftfilm DVDs. In the introduction video the Apollo 11 emblem is not round when viewed in 1280 x 720 sqare pixel. Beside, what is the use in upscaling a NTSC video at 525 lines to 720 lines, when the NTSC is already upscaled from an 320 lines slow scan source?
spacecraft films Member
Posts: 802 From: Columbus, OH USA Registered: Jun 2002
posted 07-19-2009 10:27 AM
The aspect ratio of the footage is still 4:3, with black bars on the sides.
Lowry uprezed to HD in order to apply their process which looks 100 frames in each direction of a target frame in order to search for additional image information to increase the resolution of the target frame.
The biggest problem with this material is the small amount of image data that is actually there, especially as the contrast is so crushed. Also the projected resolution on post-scan converted material is closer to between 150 - 200 lines of resolution, one of the reasons finding the slow-scan would have been better (for close to the full resolution capability).
Matt T Member
Posts: 1369 From: Chester, Cheshire, UK Registered: May 2001
posted 07-19-2009 05:28 PM
There's clearly a huge improvement in 'visibility' (for want of a better word), but if I were to characterize the restored footage I'd also have to add 'softer'. On the infrequent occasion where the original image provided something approaching sharp definition it seems to me that some of that visual information is being very slightly smoothed away by the processing. Anyone else seeing this?
Interestingly I think the example HD material showing the two versions side-by-side goes some way towards making the case for presenting this material in just such a multi-window 'comparison format'; being able to switch your focus quickly from one image to the other is the best of both worlds.
heng44 Member
Posts: 3413 From: Netherlands Registered: Nov 2001
posted 07-20-2009 11:33 AM
Please Matt (and Mark!), no multi-window format. Maybe the original footage can be presented on a different DVD angle.
But I think you have a point, Matt. It looks like the same effect when you use the noise reduction when processing a photo in PhotoShop.
mjanovec Member
Posts: 3811 From: Midwest, USA Registered: Jul 2005
posted 07-20-2009 12:34 PM
I agree. I don't like multi-window views at all. You end up having to view everything as a smaller image. For those of us who still don't have the mega-sized TVs, it makes the footage difficult to watch.
As for noise reduction, it seems like the case is similar for noise reduction in music as well. In order to remove the noise, you end up removing (or reducing) certain frequencies in the music. In the late 80s, when noise reduction was used heavily to produce the first compact disc issues of certain classic albums, the end result was a muffled-sounding recording.
Bill Hunt Member
Posts: 401 From: Irvine, CA Registered: Oct 2002
posted 07-20-2009 11:10 PM
Wow. It seems to me here, that the key information in this press conference is two-fold: 1) the original NASA slow-scan tapes are believed to have been erased and recycled, but that 2) there are believed to be two slow-scan recordings that were made as a test at Parkes at the time that MAY still survive somewhere - two tapes with an hour of footage each. The search continues!
ilbasso Member
Posts: 1522 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Feb 2006
posted 08-23-2009 03:12 PM
Taking my last opportunity to beat a dead horse here...
Apollo 11 carried, but did not deploy, an tripod-mounted S-band antenna like the ones used on Apollos 12 and 14. Would it have improved the TV quality any if that antenna had been deployed?
Obviousman Member
Posts: 438 From: NSW, Australia Registered: May 2005
posted 08-24-2009 02:21 AM
I don't believe so. It was a conversion to broadcast issue that caused the problems. The SSTV was still limited to 320 lines / 10 frames per second because of bandwidth restrictions. The original SSTV pictures were better, but still not that great (to our modern way of thinking).
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3160 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 08-24-2009 12:25 PM
Anyone who wants a glimpse of "what might have been" should check the VERY beginning of the Apollo 11 EVA transmission. For about half a second, the picture very clearly shows Armstrong on the ladder, the camera perfectly compensating for the limited light in the shadow of the LM. Then the picture darkens (automatic exposure control?) and remains dark and indistinct until the Parkes (or was it Honeysuckle creek?) picture takes over and gives us a reasonable clear view of Armstrong on the footpad.
If only the picture had stayed the way it was for that first half second, we wouldn't be debating about enhanced versions all these years later.
This being collectSPACE, I expect some kind soul will post a captured frame showing what I mean. Anyone?
posted 07-13-2009 12:18 PM
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