Hooked: Monster Fish of the Amazon
In his quest to save the world's big fish, conservation biologist Zeb Hogan has wrangled what may be the biggest freshwater species in the world, the Mekong giant catfish. But is it really the biggest there is? We join Zeb in his quest to find out as he hunts down South America's leading contenders. He spends three weeks in the Amazon searching for two of the world's most unique Megafish - the piraba and the pirarucu. Along the way, we'll discover unique facts about the Amazon that make it an ideal place to search for Megafish. We explore the mysterious world of these monsters-their awesome physical features, strange behavior, and the astounding cycles of life that transform tiny eggs into 440-pound beasts . During this expedition, Zeb uncovers the important roles these Megafish bring to the Amazon ecology and culture, all while trying to catch these beasts and discover why their numbers are diminishing and what he can do to save them.
Child Mummy Sacrifice , Child Mummy Discovery , A team of climbers and archaeologists ascend a 22,000-foot volcano in search of evidence of Inca child sacrifice.
Child Mummy Sacrifice , A Mummy's Story , Working under a tight deadline, scientists extract samples that will help describe their young mummy's life.
Fear of Dogs , Overcoming a Fear of Dogs , Through immersion with a pack of calm submissive dogs, Cesar helps a father overcome his fear of dogs.
Giant Crystal Cave , Unlocking the Secrets , NASA scientist Chris McKay uses a Raman spectrometer to scan the crystals for clues to life on distant planets.
Giant Crystal Cave , A Dangerous Beauty , For scientists seeking to unlock the secrets of the crystal cave, the beauty of their subject is matched only by its danger.
Lives Changed , Whole New Dog's Life , These dog owners credit Cesar's help with turning their lives around.
Lockup Down Under , Aborigines in Prison , For many aborigines, the trip to prison is their first experience outside the bush.
Lost Cities of the Amazon , The Search for El Dorado , In 1542, a Spanish expedition turns to an epic journey across South America; the writings of a priest survive to share the story.
Lost Cities of the Amazon , Unearthing the Lost City , To the untrained eye, it was a trench - but to this archaeologist, it was the discovery of a lifetime.
Lost Cities of the Amazon , Ancient Urban Amazon , Deforestation and unsustainable agricultural practices threaten the survival of Amazonian inhabitants.
![Monster Fish of Thailand , Giant Stingray , Zeb has finally caught a giant stingray, but time is running out to get her weighed for the record books.]()
Monster Fish of Thailand , Giant Stingray , Zeb has finally caught a giant stingray, but time is running out to get her weighed for the record books.
![Monster Fish of Thailand , Swimming with Stingrays , Zeb's getting in the pool with a giant hungry stingray. Now that's dedication.]()
Monster Fish of Thailand , Swimming with Stingrays , Zeb's getting in the pool with a giant hungry stingray. Now that's dedication.
![Monster Fish of Thailand , Giant Food for Giant Fish , Zeb is in Thailand to find a giant stingray -- and by the looks of the local shrimp, he's in the right place.]()
Monster Fish of Thailand , Giant Food for Giant Fish , Zeb is in Thailand to find a giant stingray -- and by the looks of the local shrimp, he's in the right place.
Monster Fish of the Amazon , Monster Fish of the Amazon , Join conservation biologist Zeb Hogan in his quest to find and help the biggest freshwater fish in Brazil.
Monster Fish of the Congo , African Tiger Fish , It's huge, it's powerful -- and this fish has teeth like you wouldn't believe.
Monster Fish of the Congo , Raging Congo Creatures , The mighty Congo River is home to only the most uniquely adapted fish, like the African Tiger Fish.
Secret History of Gold , The True Cost of Gold , The dream of gold can cost the ultimate price to pursue.
Secret History of Gold , Rarest of the Rare , All the gold in the world still isn't very much.
Shadow, Jake & Riley and Norton , Working with a Wolf , Shadow is a fully dominant dog who comes at Cesar like a wolf.
Total Control , Inside Alexander Correctional Facility , Get an intimate look at Alexander Correctional Facility from inmates and guards.
Tsunami From Outer Space , Conflicting Theories , Clues from aboriginal mythology leads to different opinions on prehistoric geological phenomena.
Tsunami From Outer Space , Extraterrestrial Tsunami , Talk about hanging ten: imagine the wave a meteor could create. Say, 100 feet tall. Ready to ride?
Tsunami From Outer Space , Mega-Tsunami , Tsunamis are some of the most powerful and devastating events on earth.
World's Toughest Prisons , Where Inmates Rule , With 1 guard for every 100 inmates, this prison relies on inmate hierarchy to maintain peace.
World's Toughest Prisons , Constant Danger , Every step in this Mexican prison is fraught with danger from all sides.
Solar Power Plant 6-SEG,Kelly Phipps and host Sean Riley celebrate.
Solar Power Plant 6-SEG,The thermal receiver sits on the ground awaiting the arrival of the crane.
Solar Power Plant 6-SEG,After preparations for the thermal receiver have concluded, the crew must wait for sunrise the next morning to lift the boilers.
Child Mummy Sacrifice,Reenactment of the journey of the ceremonial procession.
Child Mummy Sacrifice,Shamans conduct the ritual of earth blessing.
Child Mummy Sacrifice,A shaman and his daughter observe the ritual.
Fear of Dogs,Ernesto walks a pack of dogs in his neighborhood.
Fear of Dogs,Sebastian Robles handles Louis.
Fear of Dogs,Sid lies at the Center as Cesar greets Ernesto.
Giant Crystal Cave,Main street in Chihuahua, Mexico where the Naica Mines are located.
Giant Crystal Cave,Giovani Badino, Associate Professor in the Dipartimento di Fisica Generale of the Torino University, collects topographic information from "The Valley" in the Crystal Cave.
Giant Crystal Cave,Chris McKay, a planetary scientist with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames Research Center, uses his spectrometer to search for life inside the rock.
Lives Changed,Wendell and Ted wait for the command to walk.
Lives Changed,Tyler and Patricia walk the dogs together.
Lives Changed,Maureen watches as her friend walks her dog.
Lockup Down Under,Prisoner hands through an iron bar door.
Lockup Down Under,Prisoner at Australian jail.
Lockup Down Under,Prison guards during weapon practice.
Lost Cities of the Amazon,Kuikuro warriors.
Lost Cities of the Amazon,Kelly Hearn (middle) with Indian Amazon Sateré Mawé Tribe on the Amazon River.
Lost Cities of the Amazon,Women of Sateré Mawé.
Monster Fish of Thailand,Zeb Hogan with the recaptured giant freshwater stingray.
Monster Fish of Thailand,Stingray and crew in pool.
Monster Fish of Thailand,Giant freshwater shrimp are the giant stingray's favorite food.
Monster Fish of the Amazon,Scientist with arapaima.
Monster Fish of the Amazon,Fishermen with paraiba.
Monster Fish of the Amazon,Scientist with large arapaima.
Monster Fish of the Congo,Child watches as the kayaking team departs from Kinsuka.
Monster Fish of the Congo,A mormyrid or elephant fish typical of the Congo.
Monster Fish of the Congo,A 20 pound goliath tiger fish.
Secret History of Gold,Johnson Matthey Refinery produces about a ton of gold every day, worth roughly thirty million dollars. Each bar of gold is stamped with an identifying serial number.
Secret History of Gold,Miners work in the rainforests and rivers in an illegal search for gold in the Madre de Dios region of southeast Peru. Here, real names are never used and prospectors are known only by their nicknames.
Secret History of Gold,Johnson Matthey Refinery produces about a ton of gold every day, worth roughly thirty million dollars. Each bar of gold is stamped with an identifying serial number.
Shadow, Jake & Riley and Norton,Cesar kneeling next to Shadow.
Shadow, Jake & Riley and Norton,Cesar taming Shadow.
Shadow, Jake & Riley and Norton,Cesar sits next to Junior at the dog park.
Total Control,Handcuffing an inmate.
Total Control,Lieutenant Gribble in front of the shank display.
Total Control,A cell with a bed, window and toilet.
Tsunami From Outer Space,Recreation of Aboriginal dancers at sunset on Morning Island in Australia.
Tsunami From Outer Space,Cathedral Rock in Bombo Headlands, Australia, where scientists believe tsunami evidence lies.
Tsunami From Outer Space,Boulder deposit, which is more evidence of a tsunami.
World's Toughest Prisons,A gatehouse at Lurigancho Prison in Peru.
World's Toughest Prisons,Tito and teammates on prison football team, Lurigancho Prison.
World's Toughest Prisons,Prisoners in courtyard through barred opening in prison wall.
About Best of Nat Geo in HD
Starting Monday, July 6, at 8P et/pt, the National Geographic Channel will feature 15 hours of its top programming over five nights in high definition (HD). Tune-in for premieres of Hooked and Naked Science along with favorite episodes of other great programs.
Monday night at 10P et/pt on Hooked, Dr. Zeb Hogan explores Thailand's rivers and estuaries to find one of the world's largest and deadliest freshwater fish, the giant freshwater stingray. Start watching at 8P et/pt to see other monster fish from the Amazon and the Congo.
The next night, Nat Geo revisits the "Secret History of Gold" on Explorer, revealing the long journeys of gold still in circulation today. Also explore "The Lost Cities of the Amazon" and "Child Mummy Sacrifice" in HD starting at 8P et/pt.
Following the lives of the inmates, Nat Geo brings you inside the world's toughest prisons in Australia, North Carolina, and Mexico on Wednesday night.
The premiere of Naked Science: "Tsunami From Outer Space" will air on Thursday. Watch to find out the correlation between meteor collisions and tsunamis and see just how frequently and recently they have occurred. Tune in at 8P et/pt for a night of Naked Science with "The Deep" and "Giant Crystal Cave."
Best of Nat Geo in HD will conclude with three episodes of Dog Whisperer. At 8P et/pt, watch "Lives Changed," followed by "Shadow, Jake & Riley and Norton" and "Fear of Dogs."
The week will show the channel's best programs in the ultimate viewing format so contact your local cable provider if you do not already experience Nat Geo in HD.
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High-Definition Questions and Answers
I already get the National Geographic Channel. Does that mean I get it in HD?
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Are the programs and schedules the same on both channels?
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What is HDTV?
- High-definition television, or HDTV, is the ultimate home entertainment experience, bringing sound and picture quality to a whole new level. The image quality is 4.5 times greater than that of an ordinary television, creating lifelike images with crisp, high-resolution detail guaranteed to impress its viewers time and time again. With 5.1 separate channels of surround sound engulfing the room, it brings a total theater experience straight into your home. HDTV is 100 percent digital, so there's never any chance of image distortion or disruption.
What is 5.1 surround sound?
- HDTV's capability for Dolby Digital surround sound, coming from every angle, enhances HDTV's cinematic quality. The encoding, decoding and playback system produces an audio experience for HDTV viewers that places them squarely in the on-screen action. At the heart of 5.1 are five separate speakers: front left, right, center, rear left, and right. Digital 5.1 also includes a subwoofer enabling you to feel and hear bass tones. In fact, the "1" in 5.1 refers to the subwoofer. The result is theater quality sound in your home.
What am I seeing now, if it's not in HD?
- If you get the National Geographic Channel, but do not yet receive the National Geographic Channel HD, you are watching either a digital broadcast of standard-definition television (SDTV) or an analog broadcast. To send a digital stream of information to your television set, a TV station takes tiny slices of the video image, assigns a numeric value to describe each slice, and mathematically encodes those values into equations. A traditional analog transmission, in contrast, has a more direct relationship to the pictures you watch. SDTV signals have 480 active scan lines, just like traditional analog signals, so they are not much sharper than analog. The format does have clearer sound and a picture free of interference, however.
What is 720p and 1080i?
- In the United States, there are two transmission standards for HDTV: 720p and 1080i. In a 720p display there are 720 individual horizontal lines, each with 1,280 pixels. Likewise, in a 1080i display, there are 1,080 horizontal scan lines in a picture, with 1,920 individual pixels. The letters "p" and "i" refer to how the lines are presented on-screen. The letter "p" stands for progressive scan, meaning the display writes to screen one after another (line No. 1, line No. 2, line No. 3... line No. 720). The letter "i" stands for interlaced scan, meaning the odd-numbered lines are written first (1,3,5,1079), and then the even lines (2,4,6,1080). The process happens so quickly that before the light emanating from the odd-number lines has completely faded, the even-numbered lines have been scanned, and vice versa.
What equipment do I need to see the channel in HD?
- An HD-enabled unit is the only piece of equipment you'll need. Standard television sets do not have the ability to generate the image quality of HD. Depending on your individual needs and specific circumstances, including room layout, budget, and priorities, there are several options to choose from. Flat-panel LCDs and plasmas offer the best space-saving solution; however they tend to be more expensive than other alternatives. Rear-projection systems offer relatively large images at more affordable prices, but they may not fit into certain rooms due to their size. Front projectors offer the biggest HDTV images, but conditions such as room brightness can limit their full potential in certain spaces. At the end of the day, room size, lighting conditions and budget will help you to make your choice.
The Path to High-Definition
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1900 |
Say the Word
World's Fair: The first known use of the word "television" is spoken. |
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1936 |
Making Connections
AT&T lays preliminary coaxial cable lines between New York and Philadelphia. |
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1939 |
Sound Inventions
World's Fair: RCA's David Sarnoff demonstrates audio capabilities with the first speech on television. |
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1946 |
Living Color
CBS's Peter Goldmark demonstrates his color television system to the FCC. |
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1956 |
Power in Your Palm
The first remote control is invented. |
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1960 |
In the Home
85% of U.S. households have a television set. |
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1962 |
Coast to Coast
TELSTAR satellite provides the first transatlantic reception of a television signal. |
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1978 |
Leading the Way
PBS is the first network to switch all of its programming from landlines to satellite. |
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1981 |
National Achievements
The first American demonstration of high-definition television (HDTV) occurs at the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) conference. |
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1985 |
Raising the Bar
An International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) study group elects an HDTV standard for the U.S. |
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1986 |
Behind the Scenes
Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) shoots world's first major HDTV production: a 13-hour mini-series. |
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1987 |
On Air
The first HDTV broadcast on standard TV channels takes place during an FCC public demonstration in Washington. |
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1989 |
Modern Military
The Defense Department offers incentives of up to $30 million to companies experimenting with HDTV screens and video display processors. |
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1993 |
Coming Together
The "Grand Alliance" (GI, Zenith, AT&T and ATRC) forms to develop a single HDTV system. |
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1994 |
In the Home II
99% of U.S. households have at least one television. |
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1995 |
Live From Las Vegas
The Grand Alliance HDTV system is broadcast to receivers on the floor of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas. |
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1996 |
Pioneers of HD
WRAL+HD Raleigh begins transmission on July 23 as the first HDTV station ever to broadcast in the U.S. |
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1996 |
Standard Run Plus 1
The U.S. Congress grants an additional channel to each broadcast TV station so that they could start a digital broadcast channel while also continuing their analog broadcast channel. |
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2004 |
Welcome to a New Age
All network television stations now broadcast the bulk of their primetime schedule in HD. |
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2009 |
The Big Migration
June 12 is the final day that analog broadcasting is permitted in the United States, thus marking the completion of the migration from broadcasting in analog to digital format. Digital Programming allows broadcasters to offer one HD program or multiple "standard definition" (SD) programs simultaneously, also known as "multicasting." |
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Looking Forward
Emerging HD technologies will create higher quality content that can be delivered using less bandwidth. Next generation technology may bring 3-D HD technology that is used in many theaters to the home. |
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