I've been doing some very extensive comparing every time a new transfer comes out, and I've come to realize you really get better at it every time. The first couple of times it's very hard: you don't really know what to focus on, and as a result I've also had TR47 and EditDroid on #1 in the past. I've since discovered more weaknesses in all of them. Anyway, this is my top 8, I've always tried to be as objective as possible. It's purely about picture quality (menu's, extra's etc. don't have anything to do with the quality of the transfer). The sound is good on all transfers so I'll omit discussing that, the differences don't weigh up to the differences in picture quality in my opinion. The color/contrast/brightness being a bit off also is no argument, as long as it can be adjusted on your TV.
What I play my DVD's on: a high-end Philips DVD-player (DVDR-70) and a high-end Philips 32" widescreen TV (32PW9520).
7 - Farsight
In principle decent picture quality, although it isn't very sharp. It also has too much noise, and the image is distorted in a real peculiar way: the forming of horizontal lines. Especially visible in segments with things like smoke. But the big minus with this transfer is that the whites are totally clipped. Meaning: everything that's bright has lost all detail and was turned into plain white, beyond the point of possible recovery by adjusting your TV. It looks bad and it hurts the eyes.
6 - ISOMIX
I agree with Rikter on it being a straight transfer, very little or no filtering has been applied. It is one of the sharpest ones around. But it has the most noise and compression artifacts of all 8, not a good combination. Although not taken into account, it has one unique feature: English subtitles, and one close-to-unique feature: isolated score.
5 - Dark Jedi
Straight transfer aswell. I really can't say whether it should be above or below TR47, therefore they share the fifth place. It has a little bit more noise, but has been compressed better, it doesn't "wipe" as much during motion and doesn't have color banding. It's a bit too dark so boost the brightness a bit.
5 - TR47 (Cowclops V.1)
A sharp one, but a bit too much noise which leads to compression artifacts, a good example is the smoke with laser in it, when the stormtroopers come rushing into the Tantive. I know this is a painful subject, but it definitely is there (I don't care about Q numbers, just watch it on a big enough screen). It also has color banding and "wipes" (becomes unsharp) during motion.
4 - Cowclops (V.2)
Nice clear, smooth (virtually no noise) and sharp image (although TR47 was a tiny bit sharper). But it suffers from green shades throughout the entire movie (for example to the right of Luke after Obi-Wan sais "I was once a Jedi knight, same as your father"). And I was really surprised to see it have some pretty bad color banding: worse than V.1. A real shame, without the green shades and the color banding it would have been the best NTSC transfer yet. On a 4:3 TV it may have double black bars, but that's just an indication your brightness is set to high, probably the reason why Cowclops did that.
3 - EditDroid
Sharpest NTSC transfer around, nice and clear, also virtually free of noise. It would have been perfect if it wasn't for one: the extreme moire/dot crawl. And two: the filtering that's responsible for some weird (and pretty bad) noise creation: most pronounced in some of the ep IV Tatooine footage. Take a look at the first 10 seconds of chapter 11 and you'll see what I mean. If you plan on watching it entirely DO add some brightness and a huge amount of color.
2 - Dr. Gonzo
Very clear, smooth image. And although it isn't the sharpest one around, its clarity really gives it a sharp appearance (that may sound illogical, but when you see it you'll know what I mean). It also is 99% free of noise, the least noisiest one by far.
1 - Moth3r
First and only PAL LD transfer available. The difference with NTSC LD is astounding. The increased vertical resolution results in much more detail. It has a few drawbacks such as noise, surfaces having colored spots, the occasional line drop-out or the two color shifts, but the NTSC transfers so far are no match for this one. Just don't forget to boost the color on your TV, same as with EditDroid.