I put in about 15 movies that were non-anamorphic, and was able to compare them with some of the same titles that were anamorphic, and yes there is a difference, but not a huge difference where it is that noticeable, except for someone who really knows his stuff. Now in saying all this, I am not saying the images were great, the fleshtones were a little faded, and the colors didn't jump out at me, but I am dead serious when I mean they were actually not that bad, in fact they were pretty good.
Do I want Anamorphic? Yes. Do I think they would look 10 times better in Anamorphic? Of course. But this is all we have now, and my bootlegs always freeze up, and I am tired of looking on EBAY for new ones, and I just can't stomach Hayden at the end of ROTJ as force ghost, cause I shake my head everytime.
By the way, I have a 50" RCA HDTV (Widescreen). So the fact that is non-anamorphic really affects me.
I still respect someone who isn't buying the DVD's out of pure principle.