This is a four-disc set mastered from The Definitive Collection laserdiscs. They are single layered DVD-Rs that feature:
-NTSC Anamorphic widescreen (movies only)
-Dolby 2.0 Surround Sound OR intermittent audio commentary by George Lucas, Frank Oz, Ralph McQuarrie, Dennis Muren, and Ken Ralston. It seems the audio was taken from various interviews and then spliced in at appropriate moments during the films. Not truly scene-specific, but very close.
-Alien language subtitled in English over the bottom of the film image
-Menus with chapter and audio selections (all the original LD markers)
-Production notes
-Easter eggs
-SW and TESB contain a Death Star trench-like THX trailer
The fourth DVD features ALL of the supplementary material from The Definitive Collection laserdisc set.
Also included was a CD-R containing covers (more than one version), inserts, and disc art.
The video and audio quality of SW and TESB is awesome. Compared to TR47’s discs, they look almost exactly the same except that these discs are anamorphic and have a slightly higher color level. ROTJ looks a little softer in places compared to TR47’s. This might be due to the video compression as this film sports the longest running time of the trilogy. But it still looked great on a 48 + inch widescreen TV.
The supplementary disc I received was exactly like TR47’s in format and content. I don’t know who had or produced it first, though.
Which set to choose? In that regard, I’m still up in the air. I think TR47’s discs show the truest overall audio and video quality of the films only from The Definitive Collection. They contain the original PCM audio and are non-anamorphic widescreen that is representative of those laserdiscs.
On the other hand, I think this new set best depicts the overall content of The Definitive Collection because of the production notes and the selectable audio commentary. The names of the commentators even appear on the screen when the commentary audio is selected - just like on the original laserdiscs. The bonus THX trailer and musical easter eggs were nice touches, too.
So if you want the best representation of the audio and video quality from The Definitive Collection films, pick TR47’s. If you want anamorphic widescreen and all of the bells and whistles of The Definitive Collection set with only a slight difference in video quality, then these other DVDs are the way to go. Personally, I’ll be keeping both sets as each are top-notch efforts in preserving the original theatrical versions of the trilogy on DVD.