A second lead on an ESB theatrical preservation: (posted in 1999...)
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=17039&threshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=1918727
I remember when some friends had a copy of The Empire Strikes Back (on Beta, no less) that appeared to be from a camcorder from a drive-in movie theater. That may have been before the word camcorder had even been coined!
It wasn't terrible. I mean, what do you expect from video tape, anyway? It's not even as good as broadcast TV! The only really bad part was when they apparently switched tapes (or had to hide the camera for a minute).