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Info Wanted: What is the best preservation version of the Original Trilogy?

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Hello everyone,

It´s been a while since visiting. Yes, it´s very sad the the OT won´t be released in Anamorphic in september, which is the reason for this post.

Image & soundwise and Anamorphically Enhanced, which version are the best of the unaltered Original Trilogy?

Best regards,
RobinHood

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In anamorphic I have Dr Gonzo's Definitive Edition edit and OCPMovie's Classic Edition. OCP's comes as close to DVD quality as we're going to get apparently, since a good percentage of it is from the '04 DVDs with editing and color correction to de-SE it.
There's good in the Original Trilogy, and it's worth fighting for.
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
http://www.myspace.com/harlock415
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However, OCP is a mixture of the 04 DVD with SE elements edited out, sometimes using laserdisc footage to mask the SE elements. It is a neat idea, but unfortunatly the LD footage really sticks out in comparison to the DVD footage. Of course the vast majority of the films are unaltered and original DVD quality.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I rate Anamorphically Enhanced of real high value - as most of you surely must do as well.

I´m sure many fans in here has everything that´s been made so they must be able to confirm whether the Dr. Gonze is the best version available.

Please, feel free to post any comments in this matter.

regards,




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I'm not sure what the point is to anamorphically enhancing letterboxed video from a laserdisc, which is a 400 line format for 4:3 displays. Unless the DVD creator has a scaler that is far superior to the one built into my TV(1), it's just going to look like any other non-anamorphic laserdisc capture blown up to fit the screen. In fact, some of the DVD's bitrate is going to be eaten up encoding the larger picture area, which takes away potential space for alternate audio tracks, extras, etc.

(1) And I readily concede this may be the case....
"It's the stoned movie you don't have to be stoned for." -- Tom Shales on Star Wars
Scruffy's gonna die the way he lived.
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Originally posted by: Scruffy
Unless the DVD creator has a scaler that is far superior to the one built into my TV

Yup, that's exactly why it's done. So to answer your question, RobinHood, all the "anamorphic" preservation DVDs are just scaled up from the letterboxed LDs, which means that if you wait 'til a week or so after they're released, I'm sure you'll be able to get a similarly scaled version of the new DVDs which will likely be better than any of the existing versions.

If you can't wait that long, the best image quality on an anamorphic disc is, IMHO, Moth3r's. The best sound is probably Cowclops v2.
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The Moth3r do seem to be the best one image wise (PAL transfer)

However, I do actually own the Dr. Gonzo version (got it throught Rikter). I ´ve read several reviews - in another thread on the of the seven versions compared - in another thread on the board - and it seem the Dr. Gonzo version still rates among the best ones available.

Just thought that there were a second-to-none version. I guess, it all depends what ones prefference are.

Finally, I seem that it´s impossible to get any sharper image besides the ones available now due to the source material... unless someone has the right equipment.



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Well, Dr.Gonzo did a great set overall, with all the movies, making ofs and Def Col extras very nicely presented. The one downside of his transfer is that the video is a little soft. Moth3r's is considerably sharper. If you weren't insistent on anamorphic, I'd recommend the EditDroid set, but that's letterboxed.
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Any transfer that uses lanczos resizing to upscale the source laserdisc footage to anamorphic will look better on your TV than a real-time upscaler blowing up a letterbox version. Of course there are exceptions to that rule based on the varying quality of the different versions, but that is the general rule of thumb.

Citizen's DL version is my personal favorite, though ROTJ is not completed at present. Moth3r's trilogy is my second choice, though it doesn't come in a DL version.

De-SEing the 2004 DVDs is a great idea in theory, but I haven't seen a version yet that I like. Inserted laserdisc footage sticks out like a sore thumb no matter how good it is. A project that used color-corrected 2004 DVD footage and the upcoming OUT DVDs to fill in the gaps would probably be the best way to do it, but even then I'd still probably not enjoy it because I'd still be able to pick out the OUT footage.

But that's just me.

My Projects:
[Holiday Special Hybrid DVD v2]
[X0 Project]
[Backstroke of the West DVD]
[ROTS Theatrical DVD]

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I've heard much of the Moth3r version and I know I should get it. It's PAL, but that should no b a problem for me. It woud be a proplem if I wanted to show it on anybody else's tv though.
There's good in the Original Trilogy, and it's worth fighting for.
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
http://www.myspace.com/harlock415
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From my experience with PAL formatte discs in the US, it is usually the DVD player that throws the fit, not the TV. If you have a cheapo $25 Wal-Mart DVD player it will play them no problem. However some TVs can't display them, but most (that I have tried them on) can. I moved from Europe to the states, so my DVD collection is an irritating mixture of both formattes. Since I do most of my viewing on the computer it isn't much of a problem for me though.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I just got Moth3r's ANH and it does indeed look great and is a good anamorphic transfer. Unfortunately not many of my friends have DVDplayers that can play PAL. I have yet to get Citizens' versions yet. ANybody who has them please PM me.
There's good in the Original Trilogy, and it's worth fighting for.
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
http://www.myspace.com/harlock415
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Moth3r's original trilogy transfer is the best one I own,

I am still amazed he was able to get such good results with laserdiscs.

I must say the pal laserdiscs put the ntsc ones to shame.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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I've heard nothing but good things about the Dr M versions and I would love to get copies of it either by pif or by torrent.
There's good in the Original Trilogy, and it's worth fighting for.
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
http://www.myspace.com/harlock415
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Okay, after veiwing Dr M's conversion and tweaking of the Moth3r version of ANH I must say that I am very impressed. There were onlly a few scenes where it was grainy but over all very impressive. And it's NTSC.
There's good in the Original Trilogy, and it's worth fighting for.
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
http://www.myspace.com/harlock415
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I bought the Dr M set because I heard LOTS of good stuff about Moth3r's set. So I figured getting the NTSC version of it would be the best choice. They're still in the mail as of right now, but should be in today or tomorrow (assuming it actually arrives in the 4-6 days that Global Priority is supposed to ship in.) Anyhoo, I'll let you know what they're like when I get them (keeping in mind I have no other copies of the OOT on DVD, so I have nothing to compare to except the 2004 DVDs.)
Forever a Star Wars fan!
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You bought them?
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Originally posted by: THX
You bought them?


thats what I thought!!!
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Originally posted by: RobinHood
Hello everyone,

It´s been a while since visiting. What you too?Originally posted by: RobinHood
Yes, it´s very sad the the OT won´t be released in Anamorphic in september, which is the reason for this post.
Is this confirmed?

I guess I'll stick to a PAL release then as at least non-anamorphic PAL isn't that worse then anamorphic NTSC (it's a little lower resolution without the 2:3 jitter, and still higher res then NTSC). Sigh... R1 DVD's are usually among the cheapest as well.
Some were not blessed with brains.
<blockquote>Originally posted by: BadAssKeith

You are passing up on a great opportunity to makes lots of money,
make Lucas lose a lot of his money
and make him look bad to the entire world
and you could be well known and liked

None of us here like Lucas or Lucasfilm.
I have death wishes on Lucas and Macullum.
we could all probably get 10s of thousands of dollars!
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No no...I used the wrong word. I donated the costs of the discs to Rikter who then mailed me a copy (I paid for postage and the discs...that's all I meant). Sorry for the confusion.
Forever a Star Wars fan!