Customer Reviews

Stargaze - Hubble's View of the Universe

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

There are simply too many videos available on tape and DVD in which relaxing but shapeless electronic music is being played as the visuals show waves against a beach or some such monotonous albeit beautiful pattern. At first I was afraid that <Star Gaze: Hubble's View of the Universe> on AlphaDVD label (DVD10726) would be one of the same. It is not. Even without the special features, the views of the universe are utterly breathtaking. The music by a group called 2002 is equally utterly negligible, but that turns out to be a virtue.

When I hit the Title button on my remote, I programmed in the narration; and suddenly the item became a wonderful educational tool, actually enhanced by the musical background. For those who wish, there are narration tracks in French, German and Spanish; or you might prefer subtitles in the same linguistic choices. The video is widescreen, the sound superb. This would make the perfect gift for a friend and especially to a student.

+++++

This program presents images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) from 1990 to 1998. All images are accompanied by New Age music.

Before I say anything else, the images presented in this program are magnificent, awe-inspiring, and jaw-dropping. They should be seen by every Earthling so everybody can experience the extraordinary beauty of the universe.

The main menu for this program is as follows:

1. Play
2. Chapters (or Scenes)
3. Special Features
4. Credits (for all images and music presented in this program)
5. Previews (of other programs)

When I got this program, I simply put this disc into my DVD player and chose "Play" from the main menu. What I got was images accompanied by New Age music and nothing else. Personally, I liked the music that I found to be very calming and serene but I had no idea what I was looking at. I reasoned that there must be something I had to activate to explain the images I was seeing.

After being perplexed for a few minutes and wandering around the main menu, I eventually chose "Special Features" from the main menu.

The Special Features had the following selections:

1. audio (available in English, French, German, and Spanish)
2. subtitles (also available in the above languages)
3. language (also available in the above languages)
4. screen saver
5. web DVD

I knew that I wanted the "English language" so I selected it. I also wanted "English subtitles" that I eventually found out were termed "English nomenclature" in this menu. (I was initially confused by the term "nomenclature" because this word means "a system of naming" not "subtitles".) Choosing these, you get the naming of images accompanied by music. This was certainly better than just images and music alone but I still found that this was not enough to get full enjoyment from this program.

This time I selected "audio" from the special features menu. From this I chose "English narration." I also selected "English narration" from the subtitles section. With these selections you get music and narration that explains the images and the words of the narrator are printed under each image. I watched the entire program with "English narration" for both audio and subtitle selections. It was only after I watched the entire program like this that I realized that there may have been a better option for me: keep the "English narration" in the audio but have instead the "English nomenclature" for the subtitles. (With "English narration" subtitles, too many words appear on the screen. I found this to be distracting.)

The reason I explained all the above is that it is easy to see why I think that there should have been a note that explained the options available with respect to audio and subtitles. Instead you have to experiment. Some people may find this frustrating and time-consuming. (In fact, I'm still not sure if other options are available!)

For those who don't like New Age music, there is no way of turning the music off. However, if the narration is turned on, then the music becomes quiet background music.

The fantastic images in this program can be divided into three parts:

(1) This covers chapters or scenes (1 to 3) and lasts about 15.5 minutes. Here we are told everything about the HST. Oddly, there is not one image of the HST in this part. The images instead are deep space images that we're told nothing about.

(2) Covers chapters (4 to 9) and lasts about 32.5 minutes. This is where the mesmerizing images are explained. Here there are visuals of deep space that include nebulae, distant galaxies, galactic clusters, and other exotic objects. These are static images but the camera keeps moving across them giving the illusion of movement.

(3) Covers chapter 10 and lasts about 8.25 minutes. Here, we are shown time-lapse photography of the Solar System's outer planets, namely Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and even Pluto. The images were from the HST and were meticulously put together into a time-lapse sequence for each of the planets mentioned.

The end credits roll and that's the end of the program. Right? Wrong! There is no mention of this anywhere (why??) but we then get a sequential presentation (that lasts for about 4.75 minutes) of nine astronomical paintings of some real galactic images that were shown in the main program. The title of each painting is shown briefly at the bottom of each painting. The paintings were created by Marilynn Flynn who is, and the viewer is not told this, a great space artist.

Finally, I should mention the screen saver selections (that can be accessed through the "Special Features" of the main menu). Here we get a display of most of the images seen in the main program as well as paintings by the above artist. Oddly, some images of the HST are shown. (Recall that there were no images of the HST in the main program.) The images appear sequentially with their titles appearing briefly at the bottom of each image. It is possible to pause an image but you can't go back to a previous image.

In conclusion, barring some of the problems hinted at above, this is an incredible visual, audio, and educational delight, demonstrating just an infinitesimally small number of cosmic wonders that are in our vast universe!!

**** 1/2

(1998; 1 hr; widescreen; 10 chapters)

+++++

At bottom, astronomy is the study of light. It is a discipline which seeks & sorts out information from light all the way across the spectrum, some of which can be seen with the naked eye, and some of which cannot. Scientists use this information, gathered from deep space, to determine the size, composition and temperature of stars, the expansion rate of the universe, and much more.

While watching this DVD, it becomes readily apparent that the light which is observable in the universe is nothing short of exquisite. The film is endowed with the garish luminescence of the entire universe; dazzling colors and brilliant contrasts fill the screen. We get to see various stars, starclusters, supernovae, nebulae galaxies, pulsars and interstellar star nurseries. I have seen plenty of other space documentaries in my time, but nothing comes close to the spectacular images bestowed by this one.

All of the photographs surveyed in this DVD originated in the lens of the Hubble telescope. Named for the famous early 20th century astronomer, Edwin Hubble, it is the first space-based telescope. The idea of a space-based astronomical tool dates back to the 1950s, but did not come into fruition until the late 1980s.

There are 3 ways in which one may view this DVD. The first is with just the images. The second is with subtitles which point out what feature / locale of the universe is being shown in each frame. The third option is to watch the photographs whilst reading elaborate subtitles which detail the various observations, the history and accomplishments of the Hubble telescope, as well as plans in the works to launch the next space telescope (Hubble's replacement). There are also several languages to choose from on the main menu.

I cannot fathom how anyone who is interested in astronomy could possibly be dis-satisfied with this effort. It is very, very well done & is broken up into roughly 10 segments. The music is listenable & pleasant as well, so the whole format does a great job of showing off the prowess your DVD / HDTV / stereo system.

I recently purchased this DVD. I popped it in my DVD disk drive, and I was not dissapointed. The image quality is astonishingly crisp, and sharp. The colors are wonderful, and even the music (all by "2002") is a good match for images. I originally thought that the image quality would not be great because of all the pictures I have seen on the inernet, but none of them compare to the clarity of the images on this DVD. This dvd is also wired to the Internet somehow, although I have not tried this feature yet (supposedly you can go to www.stargazedvd.com and the dvd is interactive, to a certain degree). It also includes a screen saver, which I have not tried either, but I am assuming it uses images from the DVD.

Don't want to have music? Need more information? Just switch to any of the narration audio modes, and you get descriptions of what all the images you are looking at are.

The DVD also has a lot of different demos on it which are fun to watch.

If you like observing stars, nebulae, etc., then this is a good buy for you. If you are not into that type of stuff, well, it might put you to sleep...

Come to think of it, it is VERY relaxing, very serene, hmm.. I may go watch it right now!

If you're looking for another way to sample the fantastic photos from the Hubble this will fit the bill. If you want to learn what those photos show this will fall seriously short. None-the-less, I'd recommend it and I'd buy it again.

I agree with nearly everything included in the other reviews here. Quick points:

Positive:
-- excellent selection of images and arranged well
-- on-screen image quality is excellent
-- first rate sound track to accompany

Negative:
-- "camera" work less than ideal, many shots are zoomed in too much and leave you with little appreciation for the context of the detailed views
-- the narrative is actually a very limited amount of on screen text which just whetted my appetite for some real explanation

In my opinion, this DVD should have included the option to have far more extensive explanations either in voice or text form. With that it would get 5 stars.

This video gave me a lot of great pictures from Hubble. It was just what I expected--picture-wise. However, the first half (about) of the spoken narrative is mind-bogglingly out of place and inappropriate. When the DVD opens, we see a fantastic presentation of the universe in a series of truly wondrous hubble shots and we are longing to understand what we are seeing--hopefully expressed with just a bit of poetic language fitting the visions. What we get as a narrative accompanying this magical vista is a dull, technical and totally inappropriate treatise on Hubble history. This video isn't about Hubble, Dummy, it's about the stars!! Later on in the video the narrator finally turns his attention to what we're seeing on the screen and it's very fine from there on.

Whoever designed and approved the narrative accompanying the first part of this DVD was not mentally connected to the main thrust of the wondrous video--the glorious and magical cosmos exposed. In spite of this major failure, I'm glad I have this DVD tucked away in my rack. (Suggestion. Turn off the narrative until (about halfway along) it begins to discuss what you're seeing.

Cheers. Don.

This is a beautifully photographed DVD, with an excellent ambient music score that makes it a favorite to leave on the home theater when we have a party. You can just watch the spectacular photographs and listen to the music, or you can listen to the narration or watch it closed-captioned. The music is beautiful and well-suited to the magnificent photographs chosen. However, I wish the narrative would have covered a little more astronomical detail about the pictures. For example, we are looking at many objects that amateur astonomers will never see, but they are behind or near familiar stellar objects. Providing such context and a little more hard-science, a la Nova, would have made this one of the greatest DVDs in my collection. Even so, watching it is relaxing and inspirational. A DVD similar to this, except based on more familiar objects in the night sky would make a great astronomy teaching tool.

The DVD is fine for exactly what it is. The music is a matter of taste (just like, amazingly enough, all other music ever created) which I happened to quite enjoy. It is also apparent that several reviewers cannot be bothered to admit that they neither understand the word 'Nomenclature' nor do they grasp the concept of a dictionary. Finally (if you'll pardon the negativism, but it is necessary to refute several blatantly wrong reviews) it's obvious that they don't understand DVD defualts (hint, ALL movies default to the base audio/video track and you have to go manually change your options).

The DVD is a straight slideshow of many of the best Hubble images set to music. The format, narration, and options are exactly what I expected after reading the exterior of the DVD. The narration wanders in and out of the slides (it wanders out either to introduce new concepts or to expound on something that could use it) but overall is quite good.

What this DVD is NOT is a movie or in-depth educational tool. It is meant strictly as background entertainment or as a kibitzer's toy. It fills this niche extremely well and is an excellent introduction to space science for the uninitiated. Approach it the same way you do any functional art and you won't be dissapointed.

I can see where the negative reviews are coming in from this title, but the negative reviewers obviously thought this was supposed to be some sort of computer generated movie of the universe. If they had any knowledge of Hubble or Space, they should realize that there is no movie footage of the cosmos they are speaking of...only pictures.

No where did the DVD state that you should sit back and enjoy a wild ride, expect to get your learn on, or fail to communicate what this was. It's HUBBLE's VIEW of our Universe set to music and motion. If you want to be extremely educated then goto the NASA website and print out the pages and read along.

For the commentary comments..what were you expecting? Sunday Sunday Sunday...at the Nebula this Sunday, Monster STARS!!! Again this isn't some Hollywood title with one of the actors doing the commentary, it's a voice over person explaining what is on screen. If you don't like it, switch back to the music track (you are NOT forced to listen to anything and they have multiple audio tracks with just music, music and narration, just narration, and so on. As for the subtitles, it shows what you are looking at on the screen. Could there have been more information, of course, but this is a DVD, it's for viewing, not reading.

The title shows us the beautiful images that the Hubble space telescope has taken up to the year 2000. Just staring at the images and what is out there is mind blowing and when you set it to a music track, it even gives it more of an ghostly or erie feeling (if you don't like new age, then what did you suggest? Rock? Rap? New age is what fits with space, if you don't like it, turn it down and put on your favorite music track).

There is a StarGaze 2 coming out this Summer and according to their website, they have addressed the positive suggestions of the reviewers on here and have made the zooms show more of the images, it is progressive scan (can't wait to see the new images look even more amazing!) and they have informational pages on every object shown on the title.

I for one like my StarGaze. Is it something I throw on at a get together...not really, maybe to show some astronomy fans, or a friend (in fact, the non-astronomy people seem to be more sucked in then the space geeks). I watch it when I want to relax or when I am in a deep mood it makes me realize how small we are compared to what is out there.

I would take the negative reviews with a few grains of salt and also the positive ones. It's more then just a screen saver, but it's not a movie. It's a special interest title. If you have any appreciation of titles like this, and don't go in thinking you are getting Hollywood special space effects from George Lucas or Star Trek, then I think you'll enjoy it.

Ok, I admit that you will not learn very much from this disc. However, the photography is stunning, especially on a widescreen TV. The narration is OK, but I prefer to turn it off(an option). The background music works very well with the images (note: the music on its own is nothing special).If you want high resolution pictures from space, this is the disc for you. Turn off the lights and enjoy.
Highly recomended!