Fascinating! It’s long been my suspicion that people who prepare home-video releases often make the same sort of rough edits that fans do. It’s nice to have some corroboration of that.

hairy_hen said:
To be clear, the 1993 laserdisc source does not have this kludgy edit; only the GOUT itself has it.

That hints at an important distinction. The GOUT was always a reference for which frames to include. I don’t recall the AC-3 tracks being used very much (if at all) as a sync reference. In other words, the damage that the GOUT’s poor audio had on past audio work was probably minimal (and less than one might first imagine). But you’re undoubtedly right that your findings are good reason to establish a new standard.

The main thing to start with is exactly what frame the main title music should begin on, and I have not figured this out yet. The precise timing of everything else can be established once this is known.

Send me a PM when you are ready, and we can work some things out. I’d like to keep this thread for the old standard and start another for the new – that should minimize confusion.