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Post #1314781

Author
CatBus
Parent topic
Info Wanted: Which version of the Original Trilogy preservations to watch?
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1314781/action/topic#1314781
Date created
27-Dec-2019, 1:56 PM

I’d say 4K77 and 4K83 are your best way to re-create what it would have looked like in the theatre, aside from color issues. 4K77 is a bit of a rough ride, but 4K83 looks very good.

Despecialized is more like what a respectful official Blu-ray release would have looked like. Because it’s based on scans of negatives rather than projection prints, it’s a little cleaner, has better contrast, and has a lot more fine detail (yes, the 720p DeEd has more fine detail than a 4K print scan – it’s all due to the sources). It also has much better colors IMO, although that could change as more color adjustments to 4Kxx come out. The downside is that DeEd is based on multiple sources, including special editions. However, I’d be hard-pressed to identify any “seams” in ROTJ DeEd, I’d have to look very carefully to see them in ESB, and Star Wars is, well, simply not as good as the other two.

I still personally prefer DeEd for all three films, mostly because what I’m looking for is something like a Blu-ray that I’d buy in a store, not what I’d see sitting in a movie theatre in the 80’s.

I’d categorize all the rest as “special interest”. I love me some Puggo, but I can’t say I’d recommend it very broadly without reservations.