A quote from John Lowry:
Most effects in the original trilogy were achieved, at least in part, with the aid of optical printing -- a process in which one piece of film is passed through a printer multiple times, once for each effects element. With each optical effect layer, grain can be introduced and some of the original clarity reduced. "Every time there was a lightsaber in frame, it was exceedingly grainy due to opticals," Lowry recalls.
The 2004SE of course looks best, since all optical elements have been recomposited in the computer
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The 2006 DVD matches what John Lowry says. Like in the shot mverta posted here, grain is now present due to the optical effects. This image is even worse!
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And now, do the Laserdiscs show the grain, which MUST BE THERE, since this scene was optically processed?
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Nope. For me, this is proof that the Laserdiscs have been processed with heavy grain removal. On ALL Laserdisc transfers, you see NO GRAIN, but a unusual very mushy picture.