Product Details

• Actors: View from Space With Heavenly Music
• Directors: Steve Devick
• Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD, Surround Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Concert Hot Spot
• DVD Release Date: June 6, 2006
• Run Time: 56 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000FIHNIO
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #26,714 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #49 in	Movies & TV > Musicals & Performing Arts > Classical > Symphonies
  #72 in	Movies & TV > Special Interests > Home & Garden

Editorial Reviews

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

Product Description
As viewed and filmed by astronauts on the space shuttle, this is the Planet Earth a few have seen before. One hour of visual space scenery, coupled with eight separate one hour soundtacks of the world's most treasured classical music. Choose your favorite classics for this trip around the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice images, good music, January 16, 2007

By	Christian Guers "cg" (Beaverton, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have been looking for a DVD with images from space and fantastic music that I saw on TV while on vacation in France about two years ago. I thought this was the DVD, but it was not. Nonetheless, this is a good DVD with nice images and good music. You get to choose the music collection you want to listen to (ie choose from one of the different audio tracks) while the video is the same for all.

2.0 out of 5 stars Huge Disappointment, November 26, 2006

By	David Wessman (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The reviews for the Blu-Ray and HD versions had me convinced to give this a try, but I'm sorry I did. The imagery is very impressive, but incoherently edited. It's also all too brief and repetitive. As another negative reviewer notes, there is little an ordinary person with a decent grasp of geography can identify. It would have been very simple to add subtitles to tell you what you're looking at, (subtitles that could be turned off in the set up menu...if there was a set up menu...there isn't!)

The smudges and spots that mar the footage are actually pretty annoying. Especially when you consider that with a little effort they could have been skillfully edited out.

Given that there's 8 hours of "heavenly" classical music, another nice option would have been to allow you to set it up to repeat play using each different soundtrack in sequence. Also, none of the music seems like it was consciously chosen to actually fit the imagery. And needless to say, if you're not a fan of classical music you'll end up putting something else on while you watch.

I got this on sale for $12, but I think $5 would be paying too much.