http://www.starwars.com/hyperspace/member/kessel/f20051017/index.html

The 1982 rental tape was the first domestic home video release, on vhs. I own it is noteworthy considering the later re-issues from 1985 contained the new 85 digital stereo remix for Episode IV, star wars.

The 1982 vhs, and 1985 CAV laserdisc are also noteworthy because they would be the first and last time the original 35mm stereo mix would be made available from the 1977 theatrical run, the mono and six track never got an official release period.

I've bought star wars so many times on video, that i have contributed in a small way to making Lucas a richer man, i'm somewhat ashamed to admit the amount of copies i have on vhs, ced,betamax, laserdisc, vcd, and dvd.

No i have never owned the movies in super8mm, 16mm or 35mm, though i do have trailers for empire and jedi in 35mm.

I have never gotten into fringe formats like the vhd releases only in japan, or pal releases on laserdisc or vhs except for the first issue uk releases in pan and scan, and the first issue french laserdiscs non thx. Then i have the japan special collection for all three original films and both the us and japan release for the definitive collection,lol. Also owning virtually every us pressing on laserdisc.

The first issue laserdiscs where slighly sped up due to time compression, had no digital sound, and to this day many have succumbed to laser rot. Were in pan and scan 4:3. Had a lot of noise in the picture, even worse on the widesreen letterbox. Which is why they were color corrected under the thx program and put through a process of digital video noise reduction, which caused other side effects and artifacts noticeable on the gout.