So I got Disney+ today and I scrolled through the prequels and they don’t look too much different to my eyes at first. TPM would still be the best looking prequel if it wasn’t for the heavy DNR. AOTC still seems to have that DNR like the blu-ray which scrubs detail away too although the colors do look somewhere between the theatrical and blu-ray. ROTS is still really the only one that looks correct to it’s theatrical presentation. Either way all these films need heavy regrading to look as good as the newer ST movies, not to mention image enhancement techniques to resolve issues related to older digital equipment.

I was watching in 1080p on my Macbook Pro. I’ll have to go back later to see what it looks like in 4K HDR to see if the upscales and HDR grading are decent.

Honestly tho in terms of fine detail research, I’ll be waiting for the UHD Blu-rays.

I also scrolled through ANH, and while the grade is much better than the blu-ray, it still doesn’t look right to my eyes. Too dark and dull. The color pallete is mostly pleasing. I still think Adywan’s regrade of the blu-ray for ANH:R HD looks the best, albeit with the noise and banding issues of the old transfer. The new transfer definitely has smoother gradients and less noise, as well as more fine detail. I’m hoping Ady considers using these as the basis for Revisited, as they have the superior color resolution similar to 4K77 but the fine detail of being sourced from the negative. Mike Verta’s work tho is still my favorite when it comes to restoring the original colors, tho I’d rather the film look it’s best than be pure to the theatrical experience. (although ideally we should have both)

I’ll take a look at ESB and ROTJ hopefully tomorrow.