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Info Wanted: Anyone ever do a Betamax transfer of the Oriignal Trilogy as a preservation?

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I wonder if the quality would be worth it seeing as beta was better than vhs in picture quality.

I know someone asked a similar question about CED transfers.

You know what would be the most expensive to do would be the VHD releases that came out only in japan.

The quality would not be worth it and the burned in subtitles over fullscreen transfers could not be removed.

“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 don't quite get transfering a Betamax copy of Star Wars to DVD. For that matter, I don't get transfering a VHS version either. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of DVD, imho.

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Than LD?

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)

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Beta was originally supposed to be slightly better than VHS, in no way was it better than LD.

The only real value I could see with a Beta transfer is if there was something unique about the print used. Otherwise it would just be another noisy Pan&Scan preservation.

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I watched mine a few years back, and they didn't appear to be any different than the CBS/FOX masters for the LD's.

I keep hoping a Betamax of the first airing on CBS back in 1984 pops up someday. Odds are it would be in better shape than any VHS recording.

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Where were you in '77?

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I have Star Wars (only ANH) on Video2000 here. I bought it in the mid 80ies and when my player broke I bought the movies again on VHS. I'm not really sure anymore but from what I remember the picture quality of Video2000 movies was a littlebit superior compared to the VHS movies.

As I said I didn't watch this one for decades and I'm not sure if it would still be playable.