# Discovery - Planet Earth Premier Sunday March 25



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Official Site: http://www.planet-earth.com

Sunday March 25, 2007 at 8PM E/P

Some DVR Notes:
DirecTV HR10/HR20 - It appears the HD data for Channel 76, is "quirky". Best results are to set a single record for the 8PM episode and set your SERIES recording based on the 2nd episode (9PM)


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## hometronix (Sep 8, 2006)

> It appears the HD data for Channel 76, is "quirky".


Comes in great on DISH channel 9421!!!


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

hometronix said:


> Comes in great on DISH channel 9421!!!


It is the "guide" data that is quirky, for the Discovery HD channel... not the actuall "HD" data.


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## hometronix (Sep 8, 2006)

> It is the "guide" data that is quirky, for the Discovery HD channel... not the actuall "HD" data.


Darn it! I was just hoping I could get a "jab" in on D*.  Glad all the D* users get to enjoy the program the way it was intended.


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## cnmsales (Jan 9, 2007)

I can not wait for this series. It is gonna blow me away.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Also, more Planet Earth info & discussion here http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=82469


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## Drewg5 (Dec 15, 2006)

hometronix said:


> Comes in great on DISH channel 9421!!!


Oh look a troll.... now where are the gnomes....


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## Jolliec (Sep 1, 2006)

Now, if I could only schedule this from the web 

I know, I know, get a Slingbox....


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## retexan599 (Aug 1, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Official Site: http://www.planet-earth.com
> 
> Sunday March 25, 2007 at 8PM E/P
> 
> ...


In setting up my DISH ViP622 to record this series, I found that choosing the option to record "New Episode" events does not work because the programming guide shows the first three 'episodes' on tonight (3/25) are "Not New Episodes" and carry an "Original Air Date" of 8/20/2006. I wound up scheduling tonight's three episodes as Manual Timers; also scheduled the two episodes due on 4/1/2007 manually also. A little more work on the front end, but seems to simplify the scheduling (at least in my mind....).


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## Wicker 54 (May 7, 2006)

Wish i had 4 hands....... I would give PLANET EARTH 4 THUMBS UP !!


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## dclaryjr (Mar 11, 2007)

retexan599 said:


> In setting up my DISH ViP622 to record this series, I found that choosing the option to record "New Episode" events does not work .


I logged on intending to post the same thing. Thanks for the 4/1 tip--saved me a little searching.


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## mganga (Dec 4, 2006)

premier? seems like i recorded planet earth's "pole to pole" in january. it was pretty good. was that a sneak preview or something?


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## magellanmtb (Nov 19, 2006)

sneak preview (first episode)


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## Tom in TX (Jan 22, 2004)

Wicker 54 said:


> Wish i had 4 hands....... I would give PLANET EARTH 4 THUMBS UP !!


*This is what HD was created for!!* 
Awesome cinematography!

Tom in TX


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## dclaryjr (Mar 11, 2007)

Tom in TX said:


> *This is what HD was created for!!*
> Awesome cinematography!
> 
> Tom in TX


We need the external hard drive option now!!


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## gregory (Jan 25, 2007)

I can't wait until this comes out in Blu-ray!!


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

AWESOME! Two Thumbs Up! :up: :up:


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## HDTVFanAtic (Jul 23, 2005)

The scenery was nice. The PQ did not snap the way I had expected it to.


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## Chandu (Oct 3, 2005)

I watched them both using DISH HD from a VIP 622 as well as Comcast HD using a cable card.

My first observation was that the picture quality when watching with Comcast blew away the picture quality from DISH. Now it is true that I was watching them on 2 different displays and both of the displays haven't been fully calibrated.

The next experiment I intend to do is switch the display connection around to figure out if it's my specific display that is causing the difference in picture quality, or if Comcast picture quality was in fact that much better.

Whatever it is, I've them all recorded on DVRs from both DISH and Comcast and intend to copy them to my own hard disk before there are any DVR problems.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

The PQ from Comcast here was excellent on my two HD displays. This show is
_exactly_ what I got HDTV for.

I was blown away by the program and by the PQ, I recorded all three episodes
on _both_ of my HD DVRs.


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## tucker301 (Feb 11, 2007)

Recorded and watched on DirecTV HR20 / Sony 46 LCD HD.

My wife was doing homework and I asked if she was gonna watch.
She said she'd catch it later.
Two minutes in she was hooked and forgot all about the homework.

8 weeks in a blind to film a bird dancing for five minutes.
3 years to get a snow leopard hunting on film.

These people are seriously devoted to what they're doing!

Extraordinary television experience!!


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## Rasputin13 (Oct 24, 2006)

Great pictures, awesome views . . . too bad the narration sort of sucked. I would've preferred more substantive information about what I was seeing, instead of the "never before captured on video" line over and over again.

Also, I've seen that footage on the Okavango River delta in the first episode, mybe pbs (wttw, channel 11) like a month ago or so.

And, how about a full hour show? I mean the technology discussion was interesting, but only the first time through.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Rasputin13 said:


> Great pictures, awesome views . . . too bad the narration sort of sucked. I would've preferred more substantive information about what I was seeing, instead of the "never before captured on video" line over and over again.
> 
> Also, I've seen that footage on the Okavango River delta in the first episode, mybe pbs (wttw, channel 11) like a month ago or so.
> 
> And, how about a full hour show? I mean the technology discussion was interesting, but only the first time through.


Did you only watch Pole To Pole ?

If so... then you have to keep in mind that it was the "pilot", and they did spend some time with the "fluff" ... First Time Ever, the technology, ect.

43ish minutes... Normal length for a show with commercials.
Discovery HD only showed one commercial "during", and the rest are at the end. Typical way their air most of their shows.

Discovery SD was probably more typical (I have it recorded in SD, but haven't watched it)... As you could see in at least Pole To Pole (the only episode I watched), where they had a "Scene" break for another commercial.

Side Note: To a geek like me, that technology behind it was "equally" as fascinating as the actual content of the show.
I was commenting to my wife, I am hoping in the HD-DVD set, that they have and entire disk or more of behind the sceens stuff....


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

Great show and Great PQ! My parents don't get Discovery HD, so I DVR'd these 3 episode so I can show them what they missed.. Can't wait for next week's episodes.


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## Chandu (Oct 3, 2005)

Chandu said:


> The next experiment I intend to do is switch the display connection around to figure out if it's my specific display that is causing the difference in picture quality, or if Comcast picture quality was in fact that much better.


I did a simple test of watching an OTA HD program from PBS-HD (Legends of Jazz with some very cool Jazz flute and African conga drums) on both displays concurrently. Sure enough, for identical source material the picture quality is much better on the display for which Comcast picture quality seemed apparently better. This indicates that the difference has little to do with Comcast vs. DISH per se. Sorry for incorrectly implying that DISH HD picture quality sucked compared to Comcast HD.

I suppose it's time to get my calibration equipment out for that other display.


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## Rasputin13 (Oct 24, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Did you only watch Pole To Pole ?
> 
> If so... then you have to keep in mind that it was the "pilot", and they did spend some time with the "fluff" ... First Time Ever, the technology, ect.
> 
> ...


I watched all three (ok, I fell asleep during the third). Upon reflection, you're right on the lack of commercial breaks, so I guess the early ending for commercials and the like was justified.

And to clarify, I enjoyed the discussion about the technology behind the filming. But I thought, though did not verify b/c I fast-forwarded, that they had the same technology presentation at the end of each of the episodes. Was that not the case?

What I enjoyed far less, however, was the narration during the actual footage repeatedly stressing the fact that certain animals, certain hunts, etc., had never before been captured on film. Maybe I'm just picking on that aspect of the narration, when in fact I did not really care for any aspect of the narration. I am used to (and quite enjoy) the more factually detailed narration in programs like Nature. But, thanks to my wife, I know I'm in the minority on that one, so the narration was probably appropriate for the intended audience.


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## ebaltz (Nov 23, 2004)

I thought it was very good and the political comments were less frequent than I thought there would be, but still there. Still not sure why they need to always throw those in. Just let the photography speak for itself. For me, it actually show just how insignificant man is. All we produce etc... it nothing compared to the size of the earth. Man made things aren't even visable from space. And all that nature millions times more than all the cities in the world combined. All that ocean. All those species. Its truly and amazing creation by the Creator.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

The three shows were indeed awesome here on Time Warner Cable. The only negative comments I have so far about the series:
The use of accelerated playback where it served no useful purpose. (I have no gripe with the high speed filming of the Great White leaping out of the water when it caught the seal -- WOW!). I also have no complaint with the accelerated dawn to dusk, etc.
Some of the sequences were much too short. I suppose this was done in order to cram as much into a single hour program slot (42 or so minutes) as possible. I would have enjoyed it much more if the programs were twice as long.  
Although the narrative was generally good, there was excessive repetition. 

Aside from those petty gripes, kudos to Discovery Networks and the BBC. Great job!


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## spunkyvision (Oct 12, 2006)

Any idea if these will re-air? I missed it


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

Some of the footage from this series has been shown before. The footage of the heyenas (sp?) chasing the impalas, I'd seen before, as well as the animals in Africa heading for water. Still a great show, though.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

spunkyvision said:


> Any idea if these will re-air? I missed it


They will be repeated. Check discovery.com for the schedule.


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## diospyros (Nov 14, 2005)

I am not getting any narration, just image and music for the full 40-50 minutes of the show. Am I doing something different? The alternate audio on my Dish 622 is set to "Japanese." (I subscribe to TV Japan and the TV Japan English language audio strangely requires the selection of "Japanese," meaning "not Japanese.")

It's kind of interesting to speculate that the narration for Planet Earth could be carried as an alternate audio channel, as if it were a special feature. I wonder if other shows are like that on Discovery HD. I DVR'd it so I'll have to try playing around and see if the DVR recorded the narration or if I have lost the narration for good for those particular copies. If I'm just not totally confused here, I'll report back when I find out.

It's wonderous though, like Sunrise Earth to the nth power: forces me (well, allows me) to think about what I'm looking at. (Though I do understand the average viewer is probably not going to have the knowledge to understand a lot of it without narration.)


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## Chandu (Oct 3, 2005)

diospyros said:


> I DVR'd it so I'll have to try playing around and see if the DVR recorded the narration or if I have lost the narration for good for those particular copies. If I'm just not totally confused here, I'll report back when I find out.


When you record with ViP 622, it records the entire binary stream. In entirety, meaning all alternate audio byte-streams get recorded. So if you set your primary audio to English (or Original/Primary or whatever that other choice is called), you will hear English narration when playing back recorded event on DVR.

Taking your cue, I plan to play back my recordings with language set to Japanese, just so I can experience only the image and music. (Not that I'm bothered by the narration unlike many posters posting in this thread. But I just want to feel the interesting experience you had.)


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## AreBee (Jan 17, 2005)

I recorded all three and only watched about half of "Pole to Pole". It certainly was beautiful. I got lost in the filming and after a while I didn't even notice the narration. Was that Sigourney Weaver BTW?

When watching the wolf chase the baby caribou, I found that my heart was blasting through my chest. An incredible piece right there. The Birds of Paradise skit in my mind justified my upgrade to DLP projection from my old CRT RPTV. The colors and blacks were just gorgeous.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

gregory said:


> I can't wait until this comes out in Blu-ray!!


April 24th.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=280991601&pf_rd_i=B000MR9D5E

Also will be available on DVD and HD-DVD.


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## ebaltz (Nov 23, 2004)

Herdfan said:


> April 24th.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=280991601&pf_rd_i=B000MR9D5E
> 
> Also will be available on DVD and HD-DVD.


Yes this will definately be one to have on Blu-ray! I'll want to watch it on a 1080p TV.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Interesting Customer Review on AMAZON.com

"*Shame on you Discovery... *"


> March 26, 2007 *******
> 
> Reviewer: Trotski "trotski" (Springfield, VA USA)
> 
> ...


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## PlanetBill (May 8, 2006)

don't like the narration, turn down the center channel. found this out by accident.


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## Chandu (Oct 3, 2005)

Nick said:


> > Do the execs at Discovery Channel think that Americans are so stupid...


Sadly, this is very true. It's not only true for Discovery Channel, but also for any other "brand name" channel such as ESPN or CNN etc. It's all about the stupidification of the audience, across the board these days.

After reading this, I wish PBS-HD somehow had the money to show these. They would have definitely kept the original narration.


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## diospyros (Nov 14, 2005)

Chandu said:


> When you record with ViP 622, it records the entire binary stream. In entirety, meaning all alternate audio byte-streams get recorded. So if you set your primary audio to English (or Original/Primary or whatever that other choice is called), you will hear English narration when playing back recorded event on DVR.
> 
> Taking your cue, I plan to play back my recordings with language set to Japanese, just so I can experience only the image and music. (Not that I'm bothered by the narration unlike many posters posting in this thread. But I just want to feel the interesting experience you had.)


I actually don't know what is being recorded. I have tried to watch the three recorded episodes with alternate audio set to "English" and I still cannot get
Sigourney turned on. (I really don't want the narration, but I just had to say that...)
So it looks like the narration is not present on the recordings on the 622. I have to assume that was because it was recorded with "Japanese" as the alternate, but that is still just a guess. I don't know of any other show in which English audio gets dropped like that from an English language show, but I'm happy it did in this instance.

Of course, it's possible as another poster has mentioned, that I'm just missing the center channel. I'll check that, but that is unlikely since it isn't
dropping center channel on other shows. (I could just be really really stupid. I hope not...)


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## Chandu (Oct 3, 2005)

diospyros said:


> ... I still cannot get Sigourney turned on.


Ahem, well, yeah, I can see that you really had to say that.

:grin:


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## diospyros (Nov 14, 2005)

Well, the answer is: I am an idiot. I found a loose wire on the center channel. The 622 did record the narration. [Stupid, Brain! I can't take you anywhere. Just wait until I get you home! I'll show you...]

Anyway, thanks much, PlanetBill!

I guess the narration is necessary for family viewing. But I will probably be watching it without the center channel. With narration it's a pretty documentary, without it it is fine art.


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## NurseDave (Aug 20, 2006)

Makes the HD investment worth while with just a few shows.

Was in a hotel room with my parents as watched one episode in SD, then showed them the same one in HD at home. For not being TV people, they were in awe. I'm still not juming into the HD DVD battle yet, but I'd love to own these shows when the winner is picked.


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## Kapeman (Dec 22, 2003)

Here's another vote for David Attenborough. +1

I wish I had never seen that post, now the series will be diminished for me based on what it _should_ have been!

Boo, Discovery Networks on the narration decision!!!

Leave the BBC stuff alone, they know what they are doing!!!



diospyros said:


> Well, the answer is: I am an idiot. I found a loose wire on the center channel. The 622 did record the narration. [Stupid, Brain! I can't take you anywhere. Just wait until I get you home! I'll show you...]
> 
> Anyway, thanks much, PlanetBill!
> 
> I guess the narration is necessary for family viewing. But I will probably be watching it without the center channel. With narration it's a pretty documentary, without it it is fine art.


FUNNY!!!

I also agree with the art statement!


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## n-spring (Mar 6, 2007)

Kapeman said:


> Here's another vote for David Attenborough. +1
> 
> I wish I had never seen that post, now the series will be diminished for me based on what it _should_ have been!
> 
> ...


I have the series in my Netflix queue for when it gets released on Blu-Ray April 24th. The Netflix description clearly says "Starring: David Attenborough", so I'm hoping the Blu-Ray release is the original BBC production.


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## purtman (Sep 19, 2006)

Sounds like everybody should just turn off the picture and listen to the narration. 
:lol:

Geez, we Americans _must _be stupid. We thought this series was all about watching, _not _listening.


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## Chandu (Oct 3, 2005)

n-spring said:


> I have the series in my Netflix queue for when it gets released on Blu-Ray April 24th. The Netflix description clearly says "Starring: David Attenborough", so I'm hoping the Blu-Ray release is the original BBC production.


Good news. I'll be in this Blu-Ray category myself and when they become available I'll promptly delete my Sigourney DVR recordings.


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## Galley (Apr 3, 2007)

I think it's odd that Planet earth was not featured in any of the circulars this week, with it being Earth Day and all. I was hoping for a better price than what Amazon was offering.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Galley said:


> I think it's odd that Planet earth was not featured in any of the circulars this week, with it being Earth Day and all. I was hoping for a better price than what Amazon was offering.


I pre-ordered four sets of _Planet Earth_ in the original BBC version, three to give as gifts. I think
Amazon's discounted price is a fair deal considering the exceedingly high quality of the series.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Got my Planet Earth from Amazon today. I'd preordered, but received word that there would be a delay in shipping. Watched part of "Pole to Pole" this afternoon after discovering that my Toshiba HD-A2 player doesn't like feeding the signal through an HDMI switch box. (Got black screen and no sound after a few minutes of run time. Switching input selection on the box from DVD to HD TiVo and back would restore picture and sound for a few more minutes and then they'd go away again.) Once I removed the switchbox, all was well. Yep, David Attenborough does a better job of narration than Sigourney Weaver, all right!  And the picture quality is awesome!


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## tomcrown1 (Jan 16, 2006)

Cholly said:


> Got my Planet Earth from Amazon today. I'd preordered, but received word that there would be a delay in shipping. Watched part of "Pole to Pole" this afternoon after discovering that my Toshiba HD-A2 player doesn't like feeding the signal through an HDMI switch box. (Got black screen and no sound after a few minutes of run time. Switching input selection on the box from DVD to HD TiVo and back would restore picture and sound for a few more minutes and then they'd go away again.) Once I removed the switchbox, all was well. Yep, David Attenborough does a better job of narration than Sigourney Weaver, all right!  And the picture quality is awesome!


But Sigourney Weaver is better to look at, even thou we do not see her in Planet Earth. Whenever she speaks I image her in Ghost Busters.


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