Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD -- 27 DISC Boxed Set -- 3/31/2020 — Page 6

ChainsawAsh said:

Yeah, there really hasn’t been any talk of ohteedee’s D+77/80/83 outside of the 4K77 forums. That is likely to change once the box set comes out and he updates them with rips of the actual 4K discs rather than using streaming rips.

It should also be noted that the project is explicitly NOT a purist reconstruction - plenty of 1997 recomposited effects are left in purposefully, but IIRC anything that was newly created in 1997 or later is replaced. It’s just the redone wipes and effects that were recomposited from original elements or otherwise cleaned up that ohteedee left in.

How much better do you think the 4k discs will be over the streaming rips?

A full bitrate 80GB file on a physical UHD disc beats a limited bitrate 15GB streaming file by a very wide margin 100% of the time.

(Same is true for 1080p, but for that it’s more like 40GB disc vs 8GB streaming.)

FWIW (and this is sort of off-topic) I almost don’t see the point in doing an D+83. I think 4k83 is that good as a base scan. I’m sure if you did an A-B between 4k83 and the D+ version the difference would be clearer but honestly, watching 4k83 (especially the minimal DNR-no chroma noise) on a projector is an almost flawless movie-watching experience, especially as someone who definitely remembers seeing ROTJ theatrically a lot.

D+80 is probably the most “necessary” (as it were) because we’re apparently a pretty long way off from a high-quality 100% film-scan sourced restoration of the best Star Wars movie. (i.e. 4k80) so having a very good blend of the 2012 Lowry re-master and high-quality shots sourced from the 4k80 project should fill that bill almost perfectly. As it is, the version of D+80 right now, using the D+ streaming master, is 95% of the way there, there’s only a few little nits to pick (and the choice to leave a lot of the 1997 optical re-comps in isn’t one of those nits, for me personally).

does anybody know what bonus content in this collection will be?

There isn’t anything specific to this box-set that won’t be duplicated on the individual titles. However, I don’t think anyone knows what each title is going to have so far as bonus content yet, and I’m betting that what IS included on each title won’t be known until either the discs leak, or they sell through on retail, because I don’t get the sense Disney Home Video is going to be servicing review outlets with pre-release copies.

The assumption so far is that it’ll be a collection of already available bonus extras from previous blu-ray releases, with maybe some DVD-only extras from 2004 mixed in? But that’s just an assumption, I don’t think anyone actually knows what’s going on with the release discs yet on that front.

doubleofive said:

TDB has a breakdown of the bonus features.

https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/021820-1330

Thanks!
So nothing really new in the bonuses?

Someone asked JJ Abrams during the TROS press tour and his response was that he asked and was told it wasn’t possible and that he didn’t understand the reasoning they gave him.

SilverWook said:

If JJ can’t get a straight answer out of Lucaafilm, who the heck can?

I mean, there is a decent chance it was too complicated for him to explain in an interview, or he wasn’t allowed to. Regardless, it’s not good.

I don’t even think it’s that complicated. I think “I don’t understand it” means he was told “we don’t wanna.” and he was like “You own it, its yours, and you’re not putting it out because… you just don’t WANT to?”

I really do think that’s all there is to it. That’s all there is behind its not being released, and that’s all there is behind his confusion. Because the simplest answer (they just don’t want to) IS confusing and hard to explain. We still can’t do it and we’ve been dedicated to asking why since 2006.

I think there’s also something to be said for the fact Abrams did ask… and then let it drop. He didn’t push for it, or make any argument for it. He was kind of like “shrug” and then went and got the well-known and easily obtainable fan-restorations that everyone on both sides of the consumer/provider line know about.

The interview he gave where he mentioned it didn’t really get much traction and wasn’t repeated too many places, either.

The original version was screened, theatrically, in 70mm last year and it was barely news.

I think at this point, here in 2020, the reason Lucasfilm doesn’t give a press release or officially address why the original versions aren’t available is because the audience for it has become so niche that it’s no longer a concern they feel is worth addressing. The large majority of their audience doesn’t really care which version they get. This is unfair, of course. It’s short-sighted, and endlessly frustrating - and that reality has been artificially induced and then promoted by the company, and the company’s reticence to make those original versions available has further depressed any potential of that original versions audience ever growing again.

But the end result is the same. Lucasfilm knows what the audience size is for the originals, they know who wants it, and how bad they want it, and they’ve apparently decided that for reasons no amount of petitioning or pleading will change, that audience isn’t going to be served.

But at least they’ve also apparently decided to not get in the way of that audience serving itself. So there’s that, I guess. And that audience has gotten amazingly, shockingly, rewardingly GREAT at servicing itself over the past 15 years, too.

Broom Kid said:

And that audience has gotten amazingly, shockingly, rewardingly GREAT at servicing itself over the past 15 years, too.

hey-ooooooo

As niche a market that wants the OUT has become, if Disney really didn’t want anyone to address the subject I would imagine they would have advised JJ to at least say something like ‘I can’t answer that question’. Ok sure he didn’t FULLY address the issue but frankly him saying that it’s not being done for reasons even he doesnt understand is as full a response that someone on the inside has given.

If he can address it that much than Disney at least can give a statement saying “we’re not doing it because…”. No one’s asking for a fully detailed explanation just a quick sentence saying why. “We’re not doing it because of money” “We’re not doing it out of respect to George” “We’re not doing it because enough of the fans don’t care” Anything along those lines.

Honestly I think Disney/LF may be worse at burying the originals than Lucas was. At least HE acknowledged their existence and was blunt on why he would never release them again.

Looks like Disney just made the digital versions available… now.

Broom Kid said:

Looks like Disney just made the digital versions available… now.

TROS too?

JEDIT: Yeah, looks like it. Listed for $20 on Amazon and Google Play. $24 for UHD.

I typically don’t get digital versions (I’m a physical media man, myself) but I’m curious as to how… robust these files are. I know the streaming versions are compressed down to like, 1/4 to 1/2 the size of a typical blu-ray or UHD presentation (and the quality DOES suffer accordingly) but are the for-sale digital versions to consumers any better than the streaming files, or are they pretty much the exact same files, but now you can directly save them to your hard-drive?