Just skimmed through ESB. Looks even better than ANH! In ANH there were spots where I was noticing—I don't know what it's called, pixel shifting? itching? boiling? where the digital grain pattern kind of shifts and "pops," which I was guessing is attributable to the source quality of the original broadcast. I think this was mostly in early Tatooine scenes, but I wasn't really taking note of it. I can go back and look for it if you want. But anyway, I wasn't seeing that in my spot check of ESB. Very sharp and clear! The Reconstructed footage integrated decently well. I probably wouldn't have noticed many of them if I wasn't looking for it. In fact, I'm pretty sure there are some edits that I DIDN'T notice. I'm curious though, Harmy, why you didn't replace some of the "windows" and "terrace" shots in Cloud City? Too noticeable? Honestly, the cruddy comping on Lando in the new "outdoor" shot jumped out at me more than the editing-in of the older footage!
It's good to see the RED RED RED of the new Cloud City toned down a bit, though it may be impossible to bring it back completely to its original dusky hues. There was quite a bit of blue in the original Cloud City, even greenish-blue, and I thought this made it both more convincing AND more effectively eerie and threatening. The 2004 colors just look like tomato soup, or something out of a cartoon. Adywan, if you're in here, I'm curious why you didn't restore this shot in particular:
Was the GOUT footage not good enough quality? Or just an oversight? Does anybody have plans for a future edition that cuts in that original shot? I wouldn't have recalled that particular shot until it was brought up in Adywan's thread, but MAN is the original one scarier. Almost wish someone hadn't posted it because now I want it :p
Anyway, damn, I sound like I'm complaining about every little thing, but really, I'm amazed by the work that Adywan and Harmy have done on these editions and I'm champing at the bit to watch them through! Right now Ady's Reconstruction and Harmy's Partly Despecialized Edition stand as my definitive versions.
Oh yeah, and I was able to just stream the m2ts files from my computer to my PS3. So, yeah, if anyone doesn't have a disc they can just do that.