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Stargaze - Hubble's View Of The Universe

Stargaze - Hubble's View Of The Universe

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $19.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Super Sharp Images leave you awestruck!
Review: 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!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Super Sharp Images leave you awestruck!
Review: 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!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Utterly beautiful! - but not a documentary.
Review: I suppose most science lovers like great, picturesque, documentaries; but this is not one. Sure all those quietly moving, revolving clear and sharp slides from the Hubble telescope are captivating and breathtaking. And the idea of including a new age music track definitely makes this meditative experience unforgettable. BUT I it is my humble opinion that a documentary track would have upgraded this stellar show a great lot, for seeing it the first time, at least! (Of course the reverse is also true: you can watch your favorite documentaries, like "Cosmos" or "Hyperspace" for instance, without sound, with the accompaniment of your favorite new age music...or Pink Floyd!) Try it on this one, fellow Space Travellers!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Beautiful pictures, but not much more...
Review: I wanted to love this DVD, and i had fairly high hopes for it. But upon watching it for the first time i was let down to say the least... I guess I thought it was going to be a little more exciting, instead it's quite boring and slow. The movie is composed entirely of hubble photographs of the universe, no film clips except for a few lousy animations! The photos are quite a sight to behold, the universe is so beautiful, but watching a photo for ten seconds and then another and then another....gets pretty tedious (I mean isn't that what a book is for, so you can look at the photos at your own pace?!) It might work as a background during a party or something, a sort of ambiance i guess, but i'm not even sure about that. There is some very interesting information, but the way it is presented makes it hard to sit through and watch. Maybe a bunch of astronomy geeks could watch the whole thing in one sitting, but i certainly couldn't. It's something an astronomy teacher could show a class, something like that, not something a normal person is going to sit through, too boring. I don't mean to be overly harsh, and i think this DVD has an audience that will appreciate it. But this audience is limited to the most hardcore astronomy crowd, and not for your everyday galaxy watcher like myself. It might work as a party background, but even that is questionable. And although the music isn't bad, it certainly isn't very good. I personally didn't like it (and i do like classical music). So if you're just a casual astronomy fan, and want a cool exciting space DVD, don't get this one! Go for one of the imax space DVDs or something like that... I think a book showing the Hubble photographs makes much more sense than a DVD anyways...that's just my 2 cents.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I'll wait
Review: I would luv this cd just for the picks...but this is a no buy till they come up with a better setup, narration at some points enhances the experience.

Pictures alone aint enough, even as a screensaver.
I only use pics as part of a screensaver that allows me to add any picture I want...

If the pics alone are capturable as pics to view outside of dvd, then it may still be worth it.

Naw, since there is other sources, I'll wait.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Beautiful pictures, too little science
Review: 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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Eye Candy
Review: 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!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The negative reviewers need a clue
Review: 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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful Images
Review: The other reviewers have pretty much got it right - the new age music is definitely over the top and the commentary ain't Nova, but the images themselves are simply flat-out stunning. Buy this DVD simply to wallow in the exquisite beauty of the starscapes -- and put some decent music on the stereo.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful and informative
Review: 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.


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