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How many home video masters are there for the original trilogy?

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I see people will offhandedly reference the fact that multiple video masters for the trilogy exist. Does anybody know how many home video masters exist for each movie of the original trilogy?

The two I can name are:

  1. The original 1982 that sourced first VHS/Betamax/Laserdisc release (Star Wars only)
  2. The frequently-cited master used for the definitive trilogy laserdisc box set, later repurposed for the limited edition DVD.

I’ve seen people suggest that there are more than one pan-and-scan master for certain films (citing bits being reframed). I’m genuinely curious to have all this knowledge pooled together. Thanks!

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I think different masters were used for video releases in other countries but anyways most US video releases, Pan and Scan VHS at least, from 1982-1992 used the same masters. Some had slight variations in audio but visually they were mostly the same. The 1993 LD box set featured the THX remastered prints which were further used for the 1995 VHS/LD releases and later would be known as the GOUT after its release to DVD in 2006. The '97 SEs were released on VHS and LD in 1997. As far as I know those same masters were used for the 2000 VHS release. The 2004 DVDs had new remasters and further changes. The 2011 BDs also had some additional changes and made some corrections to the '04 DVD masters but for the most part the '11 BDs use the same masters as the '04 DVDs.

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crissrudd4554 said:

The '97 SEs were released on VHS and LD in 1997. As far as I know those same masters were used for the 2000 VHS release.

Fun fact I learned recently: the pink-shift from the 97 LD/VHS release was toned way back for the 2000 VHS/Japanese LD/Malaysian VCD release.

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Wazzles said:

crissrudd4554 said:

The '97 SEs were released on VHS and LD in 1997. As far as I know those same masters were used for the 2000 VHS release.

Fun fact I learned recently: the pink-shift from the 97 LD/VHS release was toned way back for the 2000 VHS/Japanese LD/Malaysian VCD release.

Ahh gotcha. The 2000 box set was the only US VHS set I never owned so I had to guess.

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Wazzles said:
Fun fact I learned recently: the pink-shift from the 97 LD/VHS release was toned way back for the 2000 VHS/Japanese LD/Malaysian VCD release.

May I ask you some links that point to that? Because, if it’s true, one of these edition would be a great color reference to regrade the DVB upscales I’m working on!

Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash… 😦 | [Fundamental Collection] thread | blog.spoRv.com | fan preservation forum: fanres.com

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2 of the french laserdisc releases and probably 1 of the german laserdisc releases are sourced from a theatrical print.

Luke threw twice…maybe.

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I think I have all the 1997 THX PAL laserdisc around - German, English, French editions - and, IIRC, they all share this pink tint… as I think you have them in your HDD right now, may you take a look and confirm (or, hopefully deny) what I have written here?

Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash… 😦 | [Fundamental Collection] thread | blog.spoRv.com | fan preservation forum: fanres.com

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I’m currently capturing every pal version that I own. I’m doing original trilogy first though in case my laserdisc player takes a crap on me. I imagine I’ll be on the SE versions by the end of the weekend.

Luke threw twice…maybe.

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Comparing the French THX PAL LD and Flunk right now; indeed, the PAL LD, with adjusted settings to look like the Flunk, seems to have not the pink tint!

Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash… 😦 | [Fundamental Collection] thread | blog.spoRv.com | fan preservation forum: fanres.com

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^…^ said:

Wazzles said:
Fun fact I learned recently: the pink-shift from the 97 LD/VHS release was toned way back for the 2000 VHS/Japanese LD/Malaysian VCD release.

May I ask you some links that point to that? Because, if it’s true, one of these edition would be a great color reference to regrade the DVB upscales I’m working on!

I discovered this with my own copies after hearing about it somewhere online. If I remember when I get home, I can take some shitty pictures of my TV screen and make sure the white balance is equal.

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I think you are right - as you can read into my previous post, the PAL LD (at least the French edition, but probably even the English and German one) has not the pink tint - still don’t know if it has less red, more green, or both…

Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash… 😦 | [Fundamental Collection] thread | blog.spoRv.com | fan preservation forum: fanres.com

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I just ripped the uk laserdisc version of the '97SE and the color timing seems to be on point. A little bit more noisy than the us ntsc version. It’ll be interesting to see what the 2000 release from japan looks like.

Luke threw twice…maybe.

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althor1138 said:

I just ripped the uk laserdisc version of the '97SE and the color timing seems to be on point.

Sorry, I haven’t understand well… is the UK laserdisc color grading the same of the NTSC (pink tint) or like the French PAL (no pink tint)? Because, in theory, all the PAL laserdisc should share the same master…

Sadly my projects are lost due to an HDD crash… 😦 | [Fundamental Collection] thread | blog.spoRv.com | fan preservation forum: fanres.com

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It seems to be better than the US boxset to me. The French boxset that I have seems to be a poor pressing or badly converted to pal or both. Star wars is fine but rotj seems to be interlaced the last half hour or something and quite a bit of laser rot. Anyhow the German and British sets look pretty good to me.

Luke threw twice…maybe.