I'm betting on NHK doing a BBC- or Discovery-style documentary...so they'll run the camera for quite some time to acquire enough footage, with an emphasis on "wow" shots. Don't expect anything for a year or so.

Maybe it's a business deal. Maybe they're saving the good high-res stuff for a Lipovitan D commercial (including a deal with the company producing the drink as well). In exchange NHK and the company would provide JAXA with a lifetime supply of the said drink. All sides profit this way.

Yes, but... can you imagine the following scenario?

ARMSTRONG: OK, I'm gonna step off the LM, now. That's one...

CRONKITE: Thanks for watching. A full video of the rest of this Moonwalk will be available for purchase sometime in November. Please tune in to the CBS Evening News for another twenty seconds of this amazing scene. Until then, I'm Walter Cronkite, looking forward to a huge bonus in my paycheck. Good night.



-the other Doug

Capitalism is what makes the world go 'round, right?

Our local baseball and hockey teams used to play in the Thunderdome and
Ice Palace (great names!) respectively. Now, due to corporate sponsorship,
it's Tropicana Field and the St. Petersburg Times Forum.

On the bright side, it should make for fewer public mission-naming contests,
the results of which I've seen criticized here.

If this were a solely privately funded launch and probe, I'd have no objections to your reasoning, centsworth_II. This is a JAXA launch which most likely means that japanese tax payers paid for the largest majority of the mission, including the launch vehicle. What, then, gives NHK the right to claim the footage as theirs only? It is riding after all on the taxpayers' money, not suspended in the blackness of space all by itself.

On the other hand, capitalism corrupts. Reading the "no MARDI images from Phoenix"
thread I wonder, what if MARDI were sponsored? What effect would that have on the
decision making process? What a tangled web we weave!

We are getting a lot of discussion out of little information. It's
just that my first reaction to hearing of possible corporate sponsorship
for a space mission was one of excitement. Of course there will be
give and take involved, but I hope the trend in this direction is good
for all: Scientists, enthusiasts, and the general public.

Mmm...I'm not optimistic. I see where you're coming from, centsworth, but not releasing at least the raw HDTV imagery seems excessive. If NHK wants to make a slick product later on & market it, then fine; I'm sure it would knock everyone's socks off & be far superior to anything even the UMSF imagesmiths could construct, being restricted to the REALLY small screen as they are.

As is, cutting all releases off until some date to be determined defeats what I'd been assuming was the real purpose of the instrument: public outreach.

For my 2 cents worth,
We have seen more data from the Kaguya then from Mars express
In order to do certain things I think other businesses will pitch in "free" stuff if they can get some control of the results. I'm not sure if the idea is right or wrong but it will probably happen more often. But I doubt a HD camera would have been installed if it wasn't for the conditions presently being used...
only a humble opinion

Agreed this is much discussion without a lot of info on the commercial contract (if there was such). In the absence of more info, I look at what has been released so far as the "coming attractions" preview. If complete image sets were available at near HDTV quality, I imagine with the talent seen just in this forum that there would be knock-off videos available for download way before the actual studio release such that the commercial value of the studio release is reduced.

Another analogy may be to consider the scientific value of raw data that comes from missions like Cassini and the scientific value of the corrected and calibrated images release in the PDS after 6 months. Compare that with the commerical value of HD images we have seen from Kaguya and the commerical value of the full HD video "studio" release at some later date.

Music for Kaguya

Earth Rise

Earth Set

I know also my English is very poor, but this translation is too bad ... I feel ashamed ...

BTW, I read your interesting discussion on restrict of HDTV image distribution.
I'm a participant in some Japanese BBS about space probes, and there have also been many disapprovals.
Our oponion is almost same as yours; JAXA/NHK should distribute full-res movies.

Some of you may know S. Matsuura, a free journalist specializing space development, known for reports of press conferences on Kaguya and Hayabusa.
He is strongly protesting the NHK for its policy. (written in Japanese. If you have any questions, tell me and then I'll try partial translation )
http://www.nikkeibp.co.jp/style/biz/featur...ace/071122_nhk/
According to his article, JAXA would rather distribute HDTV movies for outreach and promotion, but NHK denied it.
NHK is insisting that all contents should be provided via broadcast, not via internet. Matsuura speculates that NHK is afraid that web distribution might disturb NHK's business using obtained movies. As some of you already pointed out, such policy will end up in circulation of degraded pirate movies.

Anyway, if you have complaint, how about sending an e-mail to NHK?

Nop, do you think e-mails from non-Japanese citizens would carry any weight with NHK? (Honest question; not sure if they're trying to cultivate a foreign audience or not with the HDTV products. I haven't seen an equivalent to "BBC America" here in the US from NHK, for example, though would love to.) If true, then they might care about our opinion.

TV networks in the US do indeed respond to letter-writing campaigns, BTW.

I would swear that I had seen somewhere that NHK not only sponsored the HDTV cameras but also did the development work. IMO that makes them the PI and as such they would certainly have the right to release results when they were ready.

Hmmm... difficult question.
Indeed I think the possibility that voices from non-Japanese people can actually move NHK is quite low, unfortunately.
I guess it is unlikely that NHK would venture into overseas.
NHK may be planning to sell DVDs of moon videos later, but I'm not sure if they wil be sold in other countries.
(note that I know very little about NHK, and information from Matsuura is fragmentary. It's just my guess)
Particularly, this issue involves very subtle problems about copyright, so NHK won't change their policy easily even if Japanese people strongly ask them
But I think it is at least significant to tell them that there are *very large demands* for HDTV images from around the world.
NHK seems to underestimate or be unaware of the value of the moon HDTV movies.
I hear some Japanese citizen have already sent e-mails to NHK for wider distribution of HDTV moon movies.
Sorry for my shallow agitation, nprev; the effectiveness of e-mails from overseas is indeed doubtful, but not zero, I believe