YES! they did have a high quality version that was out on dvd and vhs i had the dvd versions with both original and the new digitally made versions on each disc in the early 2000s and subsiquently then I lost them in storage place oh boy was I angry and now i cant get them back. Does anyone have any copies of those original digital home releases out here?
Are you sure it wasn’t a bootleg? Unless you’re talking about the 2004 Special Editions which have even more changes than the 1997 versions. Because there WERE bootleg DVDs of the 1997 SE’s that existed before Lucasfilm released them officially. The actual 1997 versions were never officially released on DVD.
Yeah the DVD version of the 97 cut I think is known as “Five Star” version bootleg is basically a Laserdisc rip but it’s not a bad transfer.