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I thought the film was fantastic. I was lucky enough to see it in a small town cinema on wednesday at 5PM, so there were only about six people in the cinema. And four of them were me, my girlfriend, my sister and my father. Because of this the cinema was absolutely silent during most of the film (especially the important bits). This film did really hit hard emotionally, and I was honestly shocked at some of the decisions made (especially killing Snoke, killing Luke, destroying the Jedi texts (but not really), having Rey be nobody special and having Kylo Ren become the main villain). But I didn’t mind them because I thought they were very well done. When the film was over we all had tears in our eyes. I thought the death of Luke was sad, but extremely beautiful, and the first words my girlfriend and I said to each other (after the credits, when we could speak again) were “we are seeing this again.” I see online most people being angry about 1: Luke’s death, 2: Rey’s unimportant parents, 3: Snoke’s death, 4: Luke being in part responsible for the rise of Kylo Ren. But here’s how I see it. 1: The scene was beautiful, and I could think of no better death for this character than using the force with great power to save the people he cares about. 2: I think it’s even better that Rey has no special parents. When Star Wars first came out, Luke Skywalker was just a nobody. People didn’t know about his relation to Darth Vader. He was an everyman, and so is Rey. 3: I didn’t see this coming either, but I like it. Kylo Ren as a character has always been far more interesting than Snoke. I do think it’s sad we didn’t get to see his backstory, but honestly to me it doesn’t matter that much. 4: I think Luke has been greatly romanticized since 1983. So much fan fiction has turned him into an infallible angel. A super-being incapable of error. But in the original trilogy Luke made mistake after mistake. His entire duel with Vader at the end of Empire Strikes Back was a mistake (for the character, not the film, I mean that Luke made a mistake and should have stayed on Dagobah to finish his training), and it was one of the best scenes in all of Star Wars. Luke was never infallible, and I like the fact that in this film he is still human. Capable of error. This is where tragedy and drama come from. I think this may be one of the best films in the franchise.

Could we perhaps get some hashes of the Despecialized Edition 2.7? I know there’s a CRC in the RAR header, but I’d just like to double check.

The riddle isn’t really what the technical reason for the faster playback is, but rather why they haven’t converted the film to PAL properly. Most dvd’s here are at the correct speed. And I have never before seen a Star Wars DVD with this issue. It gives the film an artificial look, and makes it feel unnaturally rushed. It disrupts the whole rhythm of the film.

Okay, so it seems I’m the first person to notice this.
I bought the Force Awakens Blu-Ray+DVD Steelbook from the dutch website bol.com.
The copy of the film on Blu-Ray is perfectly fine, but there is a strange issue with the DVD version.
I don’t know whether this issue is also present in other versions of the DVD, but I haven’t seen any posts about it yet.

The film is sped up more than 4%, changing the runtime from 2:18:06 to 2:12:26.
The movements are faster and all sounds are higher pitched. This is most noticable in the music.
I tested the dvd on several different players, and the speed issue is definitely on the disc.

I made a short video showing the difference.
https://youtu.be/ax0dm43jhP0

REPORT-ROTJ-v2.0-WP
0:04:26:00
1:06:19:00
2:04:47:00
All the 35mm shots are a bit wobbly to some extent, these are examples.

REPORT-ROTJ-v2.0-WP
0:53:45:04
For about two minutes the film is a bit blurry as if it were out of focus, especially next to other footage from the film.

REPORT-ROTJ-v2.0-WP
1:48:35:00
The film grain becomes weirdly static, as if it were a pixely overlay.

I don't think Blu-Ray video format is the best way to keep these reconstructions, anyway. You could just burn these mkv files as files to a blu-ray. Many blu-ray players would support that, and of course all computers with a blu-ray drive, instead of needing proprietary software to play in the first place. I personally was very determined in storing these preservations in a way that will last, so I burned these mkv files on an M-Disc blu-ray, together with eleven different checksums, separate subtitle files and some other related files. I think .mkv files will be readable long after blu-ray video has stopped being the standard. Right now playing a blu-ray video on a computer is already difficult and often requires proprietary software. Also it'll probably be a lot easier to convert mkv files to some future standard years from now, than ripping a blu-ray video. The only disadvantage to this method is that you have to be certain that the blu-ray player you wish to play it on supports mkv files.

Will there also be '97 Respecialized Editions of Empire and Jedi?

Thanks again, Harmy. I love what you've done with the colours. What did you use as a reference for the colours?

I know many people have said this before, but I wish to express the deepest gratitude for the great work Harmy has done on this "Restoration" if you will of the original Star Wars. I hope we will one day be blessed with similar HD releases as the Despecialized edition 2.5 for Empire and Jedi. You really made it possible for fans to enjoy the original Star Wars for years to come. I'm putting a copy on an M-Disc, because the despecialized edition of this masterpiece needs and deserves to be preserved. Thanks, Harmy. YOU DA MAN!!