In '97 they updated the cast credit roll with the voice work by James Earl Jones in addition to his earlier credit in Star Wars and for some reason they also removed Lord from Darth Vader.
top: GOUT bottom: 2004 DVD
Originally, James Earl Jones didn't get a credit until Return of the Jedi, I think '83 was also the first time they got Denis Lawson's name spelled correctly (he's still credited as Dennis in the Special Editions). Oddly enough they never did add a credit for James Earl Jones in the SE of ESB. A different font was also used for the titles for all three films.
"The Special Edition cuts to Luke's fighter a frame before the original does." (1997 Change)*
^ The 2004 transfer actually lost two frames around the reel change here, I checked my '97 transfer and those frames are present there. 1 frame omitted at the end of reel 2 and 1 frame omitted at the beginning of reel 3. Reel 3 begins with the matte-shot. (The 2004 transfer also lost one solid black frame at the end of reel 4) Why these got omitted on such a modern transfer, I don't understand.
"This shot begins one frame earlier in the Special Edition." (1997 Change)*
^ The reason for them not being in sync on the splitscreen you watched, is that this recomped shot below is 1 frame shorter than the original.
