LeeThorogood said:

Talking of blacks, has anyone else with the PAL '97 SE LD set noticed that ANH seems to be darker then ESB and ROTJ or have I got a duff set?

It's because the 97ANH was timed to match Lucas's Technicolor 3strip print. Plus it is known that the telecine for this version of ANH was messed up in processing (why Mos Eisley and other Tatooine scenes are pinkish).

To A B C I'm not going to let the Blu-Ray release put me off doing this or any other preservation project, mainly because while the video and audio quality in theory should be outstanding assuming LFL can exercise some quality control this time! The actual movies will be based off the 2004 versions which I personally dislike, so unless things change and he at least gives us the OUT on Blu-Ray which I doubt he will this time around, I wont be buying.

Hear, Hear! Fantastic looking caps, and I commend you for attempting this on a Mac. I tried with the NTSC set and ran into so many problems I eventually dropped it in favor of the broadcast versions.