logo Sign In

Post #397564

Author
Harmy
Parent topic
2006 DVD OOT
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/397564/action/topic#397564
Date created
12-Feb-2010, 8:07 PM

For me the GOUT DVDs are quite bad, at first they seemed a good enough replacement of the 2004 shits because although they were lacking some resolution when compared to the 2004 DVDs, they were both still just SD and losing just a little over 20% of resolution was a good enough price for watching the original film. But then I got the 1080p versions and the loss of almost 85% of resolution (oh yes, it's that much, just made the calculations) is enough for me to consider watching the  SEs.

I even tried my own little preservation project, which I never published outside of my university's network, but here's an excerpt of the readme file:

 ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
         
     STAR WARS - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980 720p HDTV&DVD WMV

    ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

     Format       : WMV HD
     Video      : 1280x720 progressive
     Audio      : English STEREO
     Subs         : NONE
     Source       : HDTV & DVD (resp. LaserDisc) 
     IMDB         : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/

    ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

                                    ...and then once, while watching the OTT DVD
     release of the second  movie, which is my favourite of the Star Wars
     films, it occured to me, that especially The Empire Strikes Back
     remained for the most part unchanged and that I could make
     a version that would preserve the original scenes, which were
     changed for either the 1997 Special Editon or the 2004 DVD release
     of the SE, using the 2006 DVD as a source and yet keep the high
     resolution in the unchanged ones. And after long hours of work
     the result is finally here. I didn't try to enhance the quality
     of the DVD sourced materials and I also didn't give a sh*t about
     the different soundmixes, the only thing I changed concerning
     the sound were the changed lines (like Luke's "You're lucky you
     don't taste very good" or lord Vader's line "Bring my shuttle"
     and I of course restored the original Boba Fett's voice, so he
     doesn't sound like an Aborigine any more.)
     I also encoded this only in 720p because converting the laserdisc
     sourced low-res materials to 1080p seemed a little too much.
     I am planning of doing the same with the other two films in the
     future but it may take a while and as the original Star Wars film
     had been changed so much in the SE, I'm not even sure if there's
     a point in doing this with it...

So I did this with TESB and the results weren't perfect. I was very happy to have obtained Adywan's colour corrected 1080p Han shoots 1st STAR WARS and 1080p 1997 SE TESB and those are probably the versions I'll watch until there is a superior (in content as much as in quality) blu-ray release of these films. Can't wait for Adywan to release his 1080p no Hayden ROTJ!

Oops, went a little of topic there but well not entirely, it all concerned my view of the GOUT in some way.

Furthermore the GOUT DVDs were not a response to the fans' demand, it was a response to the bootleg market and the massive e-bay reselling of OUT LDs from which Lucasfilm didn't see a single penny. So basically they released a release that would be just a tiny little bit better than all the other versions availabe to public, making all those who'd buy the laserdiscs or the bootlegs reconsider and put their money in Lucas' pocket instead, buying more 2004 DVDs along with it all over again. Very clever marketing.

I'm glad there's a new petition, OUT deserves an HD transfer!