March 15th 2012 at 08:32:12.004 GMT.

Do you REALLY want another wrong prediction (sorry, Harmy)? Just be satisfied knowing it's getting closer every day. We're all impatient, but we'll have to wait a little longer and nobody can say how long that will be.

Yeah, like I said before, I tried predicting how long it would take and was terribly wrong (I believe I predicted a couple of weeks being left like half a year ago :-D ) And even though it may not seem that way, I do have a life, so it will take as long as other stuff will allow.

But we're getting there, I now have all the materials I need, so there will be no more waiting for anything.

ww12345 said:

I agree. When it is done, it is done - not before.

 I disagree. I think it's done ever so slightly before it's actually done.

jabbo5150 said:

Cobra Kai said:

CatBus said:

Actually I plan on burning the MKV to Blu Ray.  It will be better quality than the AVCHD, and for you video snobs in the room, AVCHDs need to rotate much faster than Blu Rays which makes them relatively noisy even on normally quiet players.

Interesting, i didn't know that about AVCHDs.  I don't have blu-ray burning capabilities (i'm a mac guy) so I was just planning on doing a dvd9, but if the difference will be noticeable I will try to find some way to burn a blu-ray.  I'm sure one of my buddies has a burner.

I am a Mac guy too, but it is my understanding that if you drop a Blu-ray burner into a Mac, you can burn Blu-ray discs using Toast with the HD plug-in

I think you might be right.  Only problem is that it would cost me $100, and I'm pretty poor right now.

Harmy,

I just wanted to drop in here and say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for your fantastic work in preserving the original unaltered versions of these films I love so much. Like many, many others I have been frustrated beyond belief that George has refused to allow the release of the Original Trilogy in DVD or high-def format. I reluctantly bought the Special Edition versions of the DVDs and was disgusted at the low quality of the rush-job release. I resolved not to buy any future versions unless they were the Original Trilogy I loved, and went back to watching my ancient videotapes. Even though they were lower quality, they were at least non-Special Edition without the attendant unnecessary changes!

Now I've discovered your work (and this thread) through a chance posting on Facebook, and located the AVCHD DVD9 versions of each movie. I'm about an hour into ANH now. I know you're working on a version 2.0, but I can't for the life of me see how this could be improved any further. It looks and sounds AMAZING. Not only is it unaltered, but it's got enormously improved sound and picture quality over the Special Edition DVDs! This is what I'd like to be able to buy from Lucasfilm if only they had the sense to listen to their customers.

Again, thanks so very, very much for your efforts. Harmy's Despecialized Editions are, in fact, the movies I grew up with. They're like old friends, and it is SO nice to see them again.

cheers,

Phil

Thanks :-)

And oh it can be improved, I was quite proud of v1.0 but in comparison with v2.0, it is a complete peace of crap, believe me.

^This.

But also this: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=star+wars+despecialized+edition+720p+torrent

that just shows whether you're online or not.  mine is usually lit up because i'm so freaking obsessed with this blasted site and of Harmy's project, lol.

stst415 said:

In all honest, I actually have NO problem at all with Lucas updating his movies to the various special editions.  In some ways, he really did make at least some improvements.  But what I simply want is a choice.  In a perfect world, Lucasfilm would release a box set of the original trilogy that would include the original 1970-80s movies and the special editions.

I've been saying just that for years. These are Lucas's films, after all. He has the right to do what he wants to them, tweak them and fiddle with them and destroy what made them great. In a few (a very few) cases I can even concede that the changes improve the films (mostly visual FX cleanups). But the haphazard way it's all been done (good grief, there are things that have been wrong with the VFX since day one and STILL aren't fixed on the new Blu-rays), and Lucas's inexplicable insistence on adding ridiculous new FX and content, means that I get an unpleasant twitch every time I watch the "special" versions.

Like you, I just want the CHOICE. I'll watch the SEs to see some of the new cool stuff, but I vastly prefer the old originals...mistakes and outdated FX and all. I could never understand Lucas's reasoning on this. Doesn't he realize that he would make bucketloads of money just by offering both versions? Diehards like me would probably buy both, as long as we were given our beloved originals. :)

Anyway, Harmy's hard work has at least ensured that a new generation of viewers can see the films as they were originally released. And for that he deserves a medal or something.

cheers,

Phil

 

Is it September already?

dslartoo said:

I've been saying just that for years. These are Lucas's films, after all. 

 

Meh. If Lucas wants to at once complain about the rights of directors and the prerogatives associated with auteur theory,  then him messing around with the films of two other directors - both now deceased - is pretty dang hypocritical. Empire and Jedi are Lucas' films insofar as he owns them and wrote the story, yes, but they aren't 'his' by Lucas' own rubric. Kershner in particular was not some shmuck for hire! I'll alert YOUR Star Destroyer, Georgie

bilditup1 said:

dslartoo said:

I've been saying just that for years. These are Lucas's films, after all. 

 

Meh. If Lucas wants to at once complain about the rights of directors and the prerogatives associated with auteur theory,  then him messing around with the films of two other directors - both now deceased - is pretty dang hypocritical. Empire and Jedi are Lucas' films insofar as he owns them and wrote the story, yes, but they aren't 'his' by Lucas' own rubric. Kershner in particular was not some shmuck for hire! I'll alert YOUR Star Destroyer, Georgie

Do you know, I never even considered that Kershner and Marquand might have objected to all these fiddlings if they had still been around. I guess it really is true that we tend to forget about people very quickly after they've died. That's inexcusable. You're right: these AREN'T just Lucas's films. The prequel trilogy and "Star Wars" may be, but ESB and ROTJ are not.

Good point, sir!

cheers,

Phil

tac2 said:

The first one is from a short scene between Luke and C3PO in the desert and the second where the Millenium Falcon is in the bay of the death star.

The first scene between Luke and Threepio is very blurred and in the second one there's a distinct blur on the right part of the Falcon.

I'm just curious to hear if it's from the original movie or if this is something being worked on in the soon to come version 2 I just heard of?

The first scene was recolored to match the original wrong colors, I believe Luke's head is matted separately or at least the color is. This should have been redone in v2 because of the new HD source.

The second image was blurry due to Harmy having to use a picture of a movie screen in order to get the original matte just right. He has come into better sources for v2.

You hardly need to worry, we've got this. ;-)