Which set of bootlegs are you referring to. The orginial trilogy or the special edition. None of mine (the original series) have any of the issues you guys speak of.

the original ones w/ the all english covers (the same covers all the images that have been posted here are from).

Gee, I was worried about the sound delays before I ordered, but 1/4 second doesn't sound too awfully bad. I got the impression it was off by several seconds in places.

Not that I wouldn't prefer it to be perfect, but I'm glad I went ahead and ordered these. $11 each. Price is coming down :)

Got links to the various places one could possibly place an order for these disc's?

yeah, the delay at the end of ESB is very short, but even a short delay is noticable. The only real point you notice anything weird is when Leia talks, or when Luke screams 'NOOO!!!!' when he learns DV is his daddy (oops, spoilers :) ). It is actually really funny when Luke screams, because his acting is so terrible to begin with & with the sound out of sync it really brought hysterical laughter from all of us last night.

I don't have the equipment to time it, but i have worked w/ sound a lot & it sounds about 1/4 second, perhaps even shorter.

I re-watched ESB last night w/ friends and have to say, i really didn't notice any of the minor delays i mentioned in my previous post. I don't know why it would be different, as digital sound & video can't go out of sync (can they?) but i did rearrange my equipment & furniture, so maybe that did it.

http://www.no.com

is that better Kennywood?

[Edited by Bust on 06-13-01 at 07:01 PM]

This bit has always been somewhat cringe-worthy - not so much because of bad acting, but because of bad looping. It's never matched up right. I was very happy to get my letterboxed tapes years ago because it becomes less noticeable.

Hey Bust....remember you have NEVER been rude and were asking for me to point out a thread where you were rude to another DVDTalk member.....here's one :D :p


Also bumping for a member the other day asking about Star Wars VCD's.

Finally got mine...
 

Not much to add about audio/video quality... certainly passable, though doesn't look real great on my 53" screen. Much better on the 27". I have the laserdiscs and they're somewhat better but you can't beat the convenience of the DVDs.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned - the discs have no time code. In other words, they don't display how many minutes in you are or how many minutes you have left. This is a major pet peeve of mine.

They are also authored "stangely". I don't know what's wrong with them technically, but on my older player (Pioneer DV525) there is a fairly lengthy pause after each laserdisc side switch. There is mechanical noise as well, indicating that there is some kind of searching going on. This is not noticable on my newer player (also a Pioneer, can't remember the model).

But they play just fine (excluding the sound delays already mentioned, which do seem to be on both Empire and Jedi). All three have fairly severe scratches on them, as well.

Some new covers (with the original edition artwork) have been uploaded to the Reality Crash site:

http://www.realitycrash.com/dvdcovers.htm

These are damn nice. Thanks for the heads-up. And thanks
to whomever created (and shared) them.

Thx for all the good info!

a

Just resurrecting a great older thread to ask a newer question.

Originally all of the SE versions had non-removable subtitles. However, there now appear to be versions available of the SE trilogy with removable subtitles. I was curious if anybody has seen these and if they could give us a little review of those discs, the quality and the included extras.

Thanks

Yup...this is true. Mine are on the way!! :) From what I've heard, they FINALLY got it right...or at least the best they've been. They ARE the special edition versions and they are made by the same people that did the "original" versions on DVD. The only extras contained on them are a trailer each. A friend has already received his and he said that the only problems he encountered were that Empire sounded a little tinny (whereas last time there was too much bass, go figure) and that the Jedi trailer only has a left channel. Who knows. I'll report my reviews when i get mine. Thus far i haven't encountered a bootleg of these movies that had TRUE 5.1 sound. The original versions sounded worse than regular dolby surround with very little surround usage and the original 5.1 discs were not in the original 5.1 mix either. Neither was my Phantom Menace bootleg.

I'm hoping they get it right this time...but somehow methinks this won't be the last bootleg version of the films released before the "official" versions.

Of course not... remember the rules. :)

Yeah, I heard about this new batch and have been holding off ordering but I may have to break down and take the plunge.

I usually jump head first into this stuff but with the Holiday season coming around I am trying to hold back.

I'd love to see a review though.

As I said, I will post a review as soon as I get mine. If I knew how to post pictures, I would put the pics of them up. Star Wars has a picture of Vader and looks VERY similar to the original Star Wars edition. The Empire DVD has the "romance" poster (which i REALLY prefer). Jedi doesn't have any of the main posters on it but it does have a lesser poster that looks almost comic book-ish.

It's difficult to turn them down when they're 11.99 each :)

No links or info on where to buy bootlegs. Sorry, but I like this thread and wanna' keep it open. If I had a link to a review, then I'd post it, but if I had such a link, I wouldn't have needed to post here in the first place :)

Looking forward to the reviews!

OK, one last try:

If anyone finds a non-auction, not-for-profit, non-selling, non-where-can-I-buy-this pure review link, please post it.

I had these for a while now. The echo is heard on the rear speakers in some scenes. I recently just ordered the newest versions of the series. SW, ESB and RJ in DTS sound!!!! I have not received them yet, so I do not know if they are really in DTS format, but they were cheap!

OK...CLEARLY someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. As for the version with the "echo", who knows which you're referring to. Both the original and SE versions out there aren't properly made so both have messed up surrounds. As for the new versions....no...they're not in DTS. The movies have never been released in DTS for the home. These are the new versions...they SAY DTS...but no DTS.

Who cares?? It sure sounds like 5.1 and I was told by the same person who sold me the first set that the newer ones were infact DTS sound. I bought them mostly for the nolvelty effect. Considering that Lucas may decide to NEVER release them makes me want to own these bootlegs. I personally thought the movies were not that good to begin with, but at the prices I paid for them, I can use them for coasters!!! They could be in prologic for all I care!!!! And if my Rotel does say there is a DTS signal then all the better.

for what it's worth, the set i got that proclaimed dts audio, did in fact, play a dts audio stream--at least, my receiver detected it as a dts signal. i was satisfied with the audio.
YMMV.

REVIEW!!!!!

For those of you who are looking for a complete review of all 3 discs...this ain't it. All 3 discs were shipped to me at the same time...with SW and ESB in one shipment and ROTJ in the other. Well...guess which one I got? Jedi, of course...but I'm still waiting on the others.

Let me tell you, if Jedi is ANY indication of the quality of these discs, I'd say everyone who purchases them will be VERY happy. Now let's get one thing straight...these releases are NOT perfect...they are not created from any other master than the laserdisc...they can only look and sound SO good...but this is the BEST release that they have seen on DVD thus far. I have both the other releases: the original with the Japanese subtitles and the "original" version that was recently released in the past 6 months and neither one can touch this release. A friend of mine who has all 3 says that they are all on par with Jedi and if this is true, we should all be VERY happy.

The disc has no extras...save a trailer and the Dolby Digital trailer at the beginning of the disc (which you cannot skip). The menu doesn't have any music...just photos. You can choose between Dolby Digital and DTS signals and there are SEVERAL options of subtitles (if you care). The chapter stops are there...HOWEVER, if you go to that part of the menu, you're going to be greeted with still frames from the original Star Wars. Whatever. The trailer has something wrong with it sonically. I'm not sure what the problem is but the announcers voice is greatly reduced on it...almost as if you're only listening to the surrounds from all 5 speakers. Wierd but this is the most of your problems.

My receiver doesn't have a DTS decoder but does have a DD one...and this release is NOT in Dolby Digital. True...a DD stream does show up...but if you watch and listen to the actual film, you're only going to get regular Dolby Surround. Now although i would MUCH rather have the original DD soundtrack, i'm finally happy to get these babies in surround sound at all. Neither one of the earlier releases ever played proper 5.1 sound for me. If anyone can debate with me on this, i'd love to hear it. The original releases just had a lot of echo on them...but no real surrounds. The Japanese SE was not impressive either. There are also NO sound delays (that i could detect) on this release either. I'd be VERY interested to see what results someone gets with a DTS decoder. Who knows? The films have never been released on home video in DTS.

The video is something I'm not very picky about but looks much better than the other two releases. No annoying subtitles. Just the films. Again..is it perfect? Nope. But this is amazingly watchable and VERY enjoyable.

The packaging is the same as the other "original" editions which makes sense since I bought them from the same place. The only difference is the DTS banner across the top of the packaging.

Anyway...that's my review for now. I'm praying that the other two didn't get lost in my mail and it's just NYC that's messing up my delivery. I'll post more once i receive the others.

Bottom line...if you can get em...DO IT.

May the force be with you! :)

Thanks for the review digitalfreaknyc!

Did you ever get the other two dvd's?


These versions sound great...I really want versions with no burned in subtitles...

And these latest versions....the special Editions...are the only ones right?

I also want the original versions (with no sub burn ins)...


So I will be picking up the Special Editions shortly...