12
$\begingroup$

Here are two cases where links to a specific time code in SpaceX YouTube videos stop showing the intended moment because apparently SpaceX has gone in within hours or perhaps a day and shortened the videos.

In both cases the times are off by roughly ten minutes.

My first guess is that they are lopping off some of the pre-launch because its not interesting, but given the amazing interest the videos have generated and number of people including myself (e.g. What caused this shadow on Falcon 9 stage 2 w/Jason-3 before circularization burn? ) who comb them for educational goodies and "aha!"s, the idea that the videos are changing over time moves them farther from the data category and closer to the infotainment category.

It would be great to know what's gone. I'm not particularly looking for opinions or guesses - is there any factual accounts of what is removed, or are the original broadcasts (raw data) still available somehow?

JCSAT-14 Hosted Webcast Question: Is it normal for thrusters to "ice up"? noted: here. T+ 00:32:58 was at 01:02:50, now at 00:53:58.

SES-9 Technical Webcast Question: What was all of the junk in the SES satellite deployment? noted: here and here. T+ 00:32:08 was at 00:51:23, now at 00:42:11.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
3
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @JamesThorpe Thanks for catching and flagging it! I've transposed them and fixed a typo. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 9:32
  • $\begingroup$ Interesting to note that both a Hosted and Technical one have been edited, so it's not like they're just removing stuff that may have been said by the presenters etc $\endgroup$
    – James Thorpe
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 9:37
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @JamesThorpe I don't know, maybe - let's see if someone managed to record a video right away, or a screen cast, and can make a comparison of a few points in time. Like I told the other commenter, "I'm not particularly looking for opinions or guesses ..." $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 13:20

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
10
$\begingroup$

The SpaceX CRS-9 launch was on July 18, 2016 at 04:45 UTC. I watched live on YouTube. My first successful download of the hosted broadcast was at about 05:12 UTC, 27 minutes after launch, or about 12 minutes after the announcers started going after a Dragon capsule with a CP of 2024 playing Pokemon Go with their cell phones. The recording is 43m 13s long and 128MB. An hour later it seems to be the same.

Two days (46 hours) later, I downloaded it again. The duration is now 31m 38s and the file size is 274MB. It has clearly better resolution consistent with the larger size/duration ratio. The duration is 11m 42s shorter.

Several spot checks show that apart from about 10m 38s removed from the beginning and about 1m 4s removed from the end, the two seem to be the same.

It may be the same/similar case for the technical web cast, I haven't checked.

Conclusion: apart from non-informative content removed from the beginning and end, the broadcast appears to be unchanged based on spot checks, except that a higher resolution format seems to have been posted. The YouTube links that contain video time codes within the url's parameters in the two examples in the question pointed to times beyond the end of the edited and re-uploaded video.

Advice: Always try to work from the launch time clock, not the time in a YouTube video, as that can change. If you can wait a few days until the video seems to be in final format, the video times might be more stable. Don't use urls with start time parameters - e.g. &t=3083s - if you have any reason to think the video might be re-uploaded later edited or modified for length.

Edit (Feb. 2018): as discussed in this answer as well as others to the question Was the side booster footage from the same camera during the Falcon Heavy test flight stream? edits to a live broadcast were made before posting the permanent version to correct the use of an incorrect video feed in one of the channels displayed in an inset.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.