I’ve had a few drinks, and now it’s time to bump an ancient thread :p

I think my preferred way to watch the OT these days is on laserdisc. I’ve manage to collect all of the various American releases along with the Japanese Special Collection editions, and I seem to gravitate to a bit of a mix & match approach.

For Star Wars, I definitely prefer the widescreen U.S. Technidisc pressing. I adore the colors… and the lack of any aspect ratio problems or DVNR issues is also a plus.

For Empire, I really like the JSC. Now, don’t get me wrong, Star Wars and Jedi also look great on the JSC releases, but the lack of english subtitles when the aliens speak is a bit of a deal-breaker. Fortunately there isn’t any alien-speak in Empire, so there’s no issues with that one. Basically this just looks like a slightly sharper version of the CBS/FOX Video release.

And finally for Jedi, I actually prefer the Faces / Definitive Collection versions (blasphemy!) The DVNR issues that really plague the first two films of these releases aren’t nearly as evident in Jedi… at least to my eyes. Perhaps there was less video noise to be reduced in the first place?

There’s also the original P&S CAV editions of Star Wars and Empire that I’ll watch from time to time (along with the original P&S CLV version of Jedi, since they never made a CAV version of that).

And of course, I do enjoy and appreciate the various preservations and restorations, like Harmy’s versions and 4K77 (still gotta check the D+/OTD versions)… but I seem to always end up falling back to the old laserdiscs when I’m in the mood to just watch the movies. They just feel right to me.