Do you think (if it's all right) somebody could do some screengrabs so we can get a gander at the quality?

tks

Just to recap for everyone out there, there are now three accepted releases of the Star Wars Trilogy out there. I own the first two sets, but not the third so I am merely reposting the info mentioned previously in the thread.

First Release

SE Trilogy
DD 5.1 Sound
Chinese Subtitles Burned In
No Extras

Almost all copies have audio sync problems with ESB. These were grabbed from the SE Laserdiscs released in 97, which had true 5.1 sound on them.


Second Release

Original Trilogy
Dolby Pro Logic or Matrixed 5.1
Subtitles removable
Added Extras from the Definitive Collection LD

There is still an audio sync problem with ESB, but it doesn't manifest until Cloud City-ish. The extras are nice, but not overwhelming.


Third Release

SE Trilogy
Subtitles Removable

They finally fixed the ESB sync in this release supposedly. Other than that, I don't know much else.

I have all 3. To help the person who was looking for the UN-SE ones, good luck.

If you watch certian aucton sites, you can find the SE all over the place. I am content with 5 and 6 SE and there isn't much change.

The only one I wanted of Ep 4 was the un-SE one, and I finally got it. But it's expensive ($40) and it took me a few weeks to find one.

To add to that...

The release of the original trilogy has the Empire sound delay and there is also a slight one at the beginning of ROTJ. Apparently these occurred when there was a side change from the laserdisc. PLUS, the sound is a horrible Pro Logic mix. Very bad in comparison to the laserdiscs. Not a lot of surround activity going on.

As far as the SE releases, no sound delay problems. DD5.1 but is really a pro-logic mix...the only mix that sounds really good...but is not perfect. There is also a DTS track on it but not sure if this is actual 5.1 because I don't have a DTS receiver. The only sound problem is with the Return of the Jedi trailer. It has a huge echo and sounds like it was recorded in a tin can. Also, I'm almost positive that Jedi has menu screens from SW on it by accident. Not positive about that one tho.

Frank or anyone else with a HDTV. Could you please let me know as well how these newest dvds look on an HDTV? I own the Toshiba 50h81 and also own the Star Wars Special Edition Boxset on LD. I want to know how these newest versions compare in the video department. I also have scaling ability on my Toshiba SD4700 dvd player and am interested in these dvds for this reason as well.

So, anyone with an HDTV and these dvds please let us know. Thanks...

I have yet to see these DVD's on a larger HDTV (I haven't seen them period) so I can't comment and am anxious myself to see their quality up against the SE LD's!

FYI, I split out a fairly long and involved discussion about the ethics of buying bootlegs.

PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE THIS DISCUSSION HERE. At least, not for a week or two, and even then, let's try not to argue too much. Just let people have their say, we don't need to get into the nitty gritty details everytime.

Here's the link to the prior discussion: Star Wars Bootlegs, ethics discussion

For the record, El-Kabong's point was that he thinks there is no excuse for supporting bootlegs for any reason, that by buying bootlegs, you are committing a crime, and that he is personally very upset about this kind of activity because he is an artist who has had his work stolen by others before.

All very good points in my opinion. There were refutations as well as discussion of the relative degree of the crime, and the special circumstances that some feel surround the Star Wars DVDs. Please read the thread I linked to above if you're interested, but, as I said earlier, PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE THIS DISCUSSION HERE. At least, not for a week or two.

Two last things:

1. I will be deleting any posted discussion of ethics for the next few days. E-Mail me if you think this is unfair, or want to discuss it more, or think a special exception should be made for you.

2. milo bloom, sorry I had to delete your post. Email me if you want a copy of what you wrote.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

Thread is now reopenned.

Here's a link to screengrabs from the first release (as mentioned in my post above)

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...ots/index.html

Actually, does anybody else who has the Ep 4 NON-SE notice anything funny with the top line of the screen? I noticed mine flickered, or jumped a little bit. The bottom line was fine.

Also for anybody who is really looking on getting Ep 4 NON-SE,...this is NON-SE! The picture is drab, grainy, a few spots, and the orange cloud under the speedster is so obvious! Just the way I like it!!!

there is some other stuff going on, at the end when Han and Luke are honored, some of the soliders on the far left and right side appear ...added in. And in one shot when Vader's tie fighters decend down to the Death Star, there are like circles around them. This dosen't look like it would have been done from 1977, so I'm not sure how this got there.

Anybody find this on their copy as well?

Dammit! The Covers that were up are down now. I knew I should have downloaded them when I saw them...

Anyone care to share the "black" cover set?

I found this in the Replacement Cover thread: http://www.realitycrash.com/mdstarwars.htm

Is that what you're looking for?

-David

Yes those are it. Also, sorry to look stupid, which I don't do too often, as I TOTALLY missed those on the reality crash site...I have no clue how either.

and dvdcoverart.com is down right now I think.

BadAsh, I have a question. I have the THX Definitive Collection LD Box Set of the originals, as well as the 1997 THX Special Edition LD Box Set. I consider the video transfer on these LDs to be exceptional. And the surround track on the Definitive Collection is the original, but souped up. Still very good. The Special Editions have newly remixed DD soundtracks and are exceptional. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the LD box sets, but are these DVDs really better in terms of picture and audio compared to these two box sets?

By the way, has anyone thought of starting a petition to send to Lucas to ask that the originals be placed on DVD as well? Most people seem to frown on petitions, but if there ever was a case that demanded a petition, it's this one.

John-

I purchased a set of those without the DTS logo, but it was indicated that they were the original trilogy. I haven't received them yet... is the non-dts version the ORIGINAL trilogy?

And How bad in the audio synch problem on ESB? Is it just for a portion of the movie? Is it less than half a second, ect?

Maybe. I've got th non-dts original set, a non-dts SE set and a dts SE set.

Quote:

And How bad in the audio synch problem on ESB? Is it just for a portion of the movie? Is it less than half a second, ect?

The sync problem is pretty annoying. I'm not sure of how off it is, but when I see it, it bugs me. The interesting thing is that there's reallynot that much sync-dialogue during the out-of-sync part. There are more little effects that are out of sync and I find that less annoying. And of course, when Vader speaks, the sync problem is less noticeable as well

Well I just got the Star Wars: Special Edition DVD's (with the DTS Surround on it) and did a comparison with the Star Wars Special Edition Laserdiscs. First let me mention that my setup includes a 58" Pioneer HDTV and a Panasonic RP91 that has an internal scaler that scales non-Anamorphic DVD's to their correct aspect ratio (done entirely in the Digital Domain). I Sync'ed up the DVD and the LD and flip back and forth to compare. I am quite surprised that the DVD's are noticably better then the Special Edition LD's(which are considered the best video quality for these films out there for home viewing)! There is very little artifacting on the DVD yet the Laserdisc has quite a bit of it! Note that when viewing the laserdiscs you must use your HDTV's zoom functions to get the correct aspect ratio and when doing so you magnify the video's faults and also introduce the nasty scan lines! With my RP91 I was able to have it scale the video to the correct aspect ratio and leave the HDTV in it's default full mode and doing so meant NO scan lines and very minimal artifacting. Colors were just slightly washed (very very little) but still looked better then the laserdisc did.

I have a DVD/LD combo player and have yet to compare the DVD and LD on a Interlaced DVD player and see if the RP91's internal scaler makes as huge a difference as I think it does but when I do compare the two DVD players I will let you know the differences.

As for the audio I found the DD 5.1 to have a better sound with more bass extention then the DTS track and the DD 5.1 had a pretty decent sound overall!

In conclusion I would HIGHLY recommend these DVD's if you own the RP91 because it makes a noticeable difference in video quality compared to even the highly regarded Special Edition laserdiscs!

Good feedback, Frank. I also just got the latest incarnation of the SE trilogy (with the DTS banner across the top of the front cover), and, although I don't own an RP91, I generally concur with your comments.

Displayed on a 65" Toshiba HDTV in zoom mode, the image is quite good on all three discs, although there is the scan line issue (however, the Toshiba does a better job than most in this mode, plus it contains an above-average line doubler, so I really can't complain about the image quality). About the only real complaint I have is that the discs default to the DTS track, which does sound thinner than the DD "5.1".

All things considered, these discs will be more than enough to tide me over until the official, super-special-editions are released (in about 4 years or so).

Yeah, I think the RP91's ability to scale non-Anamorphic DVD's is a huge plus! I do know there are a few other DVD players that scale like the RP91 as well. I luckily don't have to deal with the scan lines as I can keep the HDTV in Full mode and let the RP91 do the scaling. I'm glad to hear that another big DHTV owner sees what I do and is pleased as well! I guess it's time to sell my Star Wars: Special Edition laserdiscs! Any interested parties?

Frank,

So these are better than the laser discs?

The sync prob isn't all that bad really. It;s most definitely less than half a second, and really just off by a hair. It's noticeable, but hell, I'll live with it.

That being said...the newest incarnations of the SE trilogy, as indicated in the few posts above, are indeed the bomb like affleck in phantoms, yo.

For me they are because of the Panasonic RP91's ability to scale the DVD's to the correct aspect ratio without having to use my HDTV's zoom modes. But it seems that even those who don't have the ability to scale their non-Anamorphic DVD's internally on the DVD players are pleased as well (RE: RoboDad's post above). You will have to make the judgement based on your hardware and if you have a HDTV, how well it's line doubler zooms to acheive a correct aspect ratio.

Remember guys that I have a 58" Pioneer HDTV with a higher end DVD player (with special abilities) so I can only speak to my situation not to how it will look on other HT setups! YMMV

Frank makes a valid point here. The capabilities of a good scaler or line doubler (with 2:3 pulldown support), coupled with a high-end display device, can do wonders to make even a marginal disc look good enough to watch.

That said, I can also note that the discs looked quite good when played on my DVD-ROM drive, both in full-screen mode and in a window, displayed on a 17" monitor through a run-of-the-mill GeForce2 display adapter card.

As always YMMV, but to say that I am pleased with these newest discs is somewhat of an understatement. In fact, when I popped the first one in for the first time, my initial reaction was "there's no way the laserdisc could look any better than this". Of course, I also recognize that these discs won't hold a candle to the official, anamorphic discs that we will eventually see. (Heavy emphasis on the eventually).

One word of warning!! DO NOT buy from some called Allen Forsythe (goes by al***********@attbi.com on Yahoo auctions)! This person is selling scratched up DVD's as new and when I tried to get a replacement he responded with rude, fowl mouth responces!

I have these discs as well and I am positive that the DTS track is mearly encoded from the Dolby Digital track. To do this the DD track must be down-sampled to 44.1KHz which may account for the better sound of the DD track. I too am more impressed with the DD track over it's DTS counterpart.

Frank,

While I can certainly sympathize with you, I think the agreed upon rules for maintaining this thread are that no links to sellers be provided. Even though your link is a negative one, it still (I suspect) goes beyond what we agreed to abide by when the thread was started.

Also, I'm curious how badly scratched your discs are. Mine have some very minor scratches on the playing surface (and one even had a blob of some kind of adhesive that I had to remove), but the discs all play fine. I admit I was disappointed that the discs weren't pristine -- my original, non-SE discs are pristine, so my expectations were very high -- but in retrospect, I don't think it is realistic to expect the same quality of discs or "customer service" you would from, say, Fox or Paramount, or even most decent retailers. Bottom line - if the discs play, I wouldn't lose any sleep over minor scratches. BTW, I did not get my discs from the same source as you, so it may very well be that they got that way before they reached his hands.