I’m working on a massive project. Only as I’ve started to have some success has the shape of it solidified so that I can describe what I intend.
What I imagine for my library (and those I know personally that I can burn discs for) is a set of 6 50 GB Blu-rays. Each film contained on a single disc. The main feature on each is a restored and color corrected version of the Blu-ray. The additional features that fill the other half of the blu-ray will vary, but will include the theatrical version(s) of the film.
Star Wars is the challenge. While it is the shortest of the 6 films, it features the most variety in versions. It will probably dictate the bitrate of the rest of the set. I want to include the original theatrical version, the 1981 rerelease, and the 1997 SE. If I was leaving those in SD, it would be simple, but I’ve been able to enhance them and in doing so they really are best seen at 720p (downscaling them to DVD widescreen sd diminishes the quality. So that will be a total of 4 version of the video of the film, the mono soundtrack, and stereo and surround versions of each of the audio edits. The main feature will technically be a hybrid of the DVD and Blu-ray version (Blu-ray audio and run time with a reversion of the edits to the DVD version while keeping many of the fixes) while restoring the color and as many of the issue that I have the ability to address.
Disc 1
A New Hope
Restored with 2011 audio track (5.1 mix and 2 channel Dolby Surround matrix downmix)
1977 Premier version - Dolby Stereo and 4.1 surround mix
1981 rerelease version - mono mix, 1977 Dolby Stereo and 4.1 Surround mix, 1985 Dolby Stereo and X.1 Surround mix, 1993 Stereo and 5.1 Surround mix
(edit: now leaning toward including all 4 visual edits using angles, the 77 premier, the 77 general, the 80’s home video, and the 81/93 rerelease version)
1997 SE - Dolby Stereo, 5.1 Surround mix
Disc 2
The Empire Strikes Back
Restored with 2011 audio track (5.1 mix and 2 channel Dolby Surround matrix downmix)
1980 theatrical version - 1980 Mono, Dolby Stereo and 4.1 surround mix, 1993 Dolby Stereo and 5.1 surround mix
1997 SE - Dolby Stereo, 5.1 Surround mix
The Making of Star Wars
The Star Wars Holiday Special
FX of The Empire Strikes Back
Disc 3
Return of the Jedi
Restored with 2011 audio track (5.1 mix and 2 channel Dolby Surround matrix downmix)
1983 theatrical version - 1983 Dolby Stereo and 4.1 surround mix, 1993 Dolby Stereo and 5.1 surround mix
1997 SE - Dolby Stereo, 5.1 Surround mix
Classic Creatures: Making Return of the Jedi
From Star Wars to Jedi, the Making of a Saga
Empire of Dreams
Disc 4
The Phantom Menace
Restored with 2011 audio track (5.1 mix and 2 channel Dolby Surround matrix downmix)
1999 theatrical version - Dolby Stereo and 5.1 surround mix
unknown extras
Disc 5
Attack of the Clones
Restored with 2011 audio track (5.1 mix and 2 channel Dolby Surround matrix downmix)
2002 theatrical version - Dolby Stereo and 5.1 surround mix
unknown extras
Disc 6
Revenge of the Sith
Restored with 2011 audio track (5.1 mix and 2 channel Dolby Surround matrix downmix)
2005 Theatrical version - Dolby Stereo and 5.1 surround mix (likely restored to match the leaked version with the leaked version as an additional bonus)
unknown extras
Disc 7
The Force Awakens
Color corrected with 5.1 audio mix and 2 channel Dolby Surround downmix
Add Fox logo with fanfare.
Disc 8
The Last Jedi
5.1 audio mix and 2 channel Dolby Surround downmix
Add Fox logo with fanfare.
Sources:
2006 UK GOUT (not missing frames like the US GOUT is)
recreation of the 77 end credits based on Moth3r’s bootleg and Puggo Grand
recreation/remaster of the 1981 opening crawl sequence
Audio from LD and GOUT with 4.1 and 5.1 extracted from Dolby matrix encoding
SE from Gkar and TB with audio from DTS
TPM theatrical from TB and ORF with audio from DTS
AOTC Camera print (for speeder elements and Anakin’s hand) with audio from DTS
ROTS leaked theatrical version at 640x288 (no end credits) with audio from DTS
HD broadcast of DVD versions
Blu-ray discs
DVDs of 2011 blu-ray version (for 5.1 mix)
other sources as needed
For my own viewing I detest dubs so outside of one unique language version, there will be subtitles, no dubs (Also no room). I might include isolated scores if there is room.
Update: GOUT color corrected. Working on some fixes to some bad DNR scenes in ANH (1st draft done, working on improving the end result). TESB and ROTJ SE are color corrected. ANH is full of issues but is nearing completion. DTS audio for SE and PT complete along with a Dolby Stereo mixdown. 93 OT audio from faces set complete. Still working on original theatrical and ANH 85 mixes (finding lots of cuts in the audio that need to be patched so using a Dolby ProLogic decoder could result in some momentary dual surround channels, but shouldn’t be noticable). DTS audio is 5.0, as are the surround extracts of the Dolby Stereo tracks. LFE channel calculated from surround channels per Dolby theatrical decoding standards. Some people have expressed concerned on the quality of the 2011 mixes so I might patch/restore those if I think it is necessary. If so, I will have to figure out which audio sources to use (obviously I prefer the 2011 mix due to the issues in the 2004 mix so the 2004 mix wouldn’t even be considered, but there are multiple versions of the 2011 mix and I would source any replacements from the 97 SE DTS audio).