Product Description

Eight hours of music all on one Blu-Ray High Definition disc, . . . the greatest classical music ever recorded, in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, provides the heavenly soundtrack to this spectacular view of our planet captured in stunning High Definition clarity by the international crew of the space shuttle Endeavour. The Earth, as never seen before, accompanied by the timeless music of Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Pachelbel, Strauss, Grieg, Bizet, Debussy, Rossini and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55448 in DVD
• Brand: WEA DVD
• Released on: 2006-07-18
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, HiFi Sound, Surround Sound, THX, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 59 minutes

Features

• Eight hours of music all on one Blu-Ray High Definition disc, . . . the greatestical music ever recorded, in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, provides the heavenly soundtrack to this spectacular view of our planet captured in stunning High Definition clarity by the international crew of the space shuttle Endeavour. The Earth, as never seen before, accompanied by the timeless music of Vivaldi, Bac

Amazon.com
If you want to show off your new widescreen HDTV for party guests, A View from Space with Heavenly Music will do the job just fine. While this one-hour program's high-definition images from low Earth orbit are certainly impressive, it's the "heavenly music" that is emphasized here, with eight different soundtracks to choose from, consisting of excerpts from nearly every classical composition in the popular canon. You have your choice of a public-domain "greatest hits" mix of great composers (on soundtracks 1, 3, and 7) while Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach, and Tchaikovsky are all given exclusive showcases on the remaining five tracks. This variety of listening options provides satisfying compensation for the high-def footage, filmed from low Earth orbit by astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor. It's amazing footage (despite occasional smudges, dirt flecks, and other anomalies caused by shooting through the shuttle's windows), offering viewers the next best thing to actually flying on the shuttle. Stunning vistas pass below, with vivid coastlines, filigrees of cloud cover, and bodies of water reflecting sunlight with breathtaking clarity. In addition to the spectacular opening sequence (a single, unbroken shot of the shuttle from launch to troposphere), the images serve as a colorful, dynamic reminder of the Earth's delicate beauty. Unfortunately, the DVD offers these impressive sights and sounds but nothing else, so A View from Space qualifies at least partially as a missed opportunity. The images eventually grow redundant as we return, orbit by orbit, to the same locations, and there's no bonus features or onscreen options to inform us about what exactly we're seeing. That makes this the HD equivalent of Muzak--soothing and pleasant, but that's about it. It's basically a classical music disc with space footage as a bonus, and if you expect nothing more, it's guaranteed to please. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Deceiving, indeed!
Although the Classical pieces are some of the best, the fact that the short video footage has been looped for what feels like 3 dozen times makes the whole package a visual rip-off. I didn't buy it for the Classical Music. I bought it for HD Space-to-Earth footage. At the end of the video, there's a message that claims this is all the footage that exists from the Shuttle program. I saw a lot more of it on one of the HD channels on Comcast. Actually, I thought this BluRay would give me the rest of that footage (not covered on Comcast) My disappointment was proportional to my excitement! Don't buy!

Major disappointment
Buyer beware. I expected an hour of HD images from space. Instead, a viewer gets a blast off sequence and a 10-15-minute loop of images from space repeated four times. I also wanted "a view from space"--not long, hand-held shots of the shuttle's empty cargo bay with a shaky moon in the background. Also, there are distracting blobs, spots, and smears on the camera lens and on the viewing portals. The fourth time you watch the Sahara (or whatever desert it is) through what looks a big bug splat on a windshield, one really wishes that the video was a rental instead of a purchase.

Deceiving movie
Images and videos are, that's true, breathtaking. High-definition from there is gorgeous but it's not 60 minutes of unseen footage, but only 10 minutes in a loop, sometimes with different color filters, so you're buying 10 minutes of space views, amongst which 3' are the liftoff part. Pictures quality is great (taking in account where and how it has been shot) but it's not worth that price.