Star Wars coming to Blu Ray (UPDATE: August 30 2011, No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!) — Page 32

You're right that a 4k or 8k scan would be an ideal basis for future releases. However, Ep. 2-3 for originally shot in 1080p, so even a 2k scan is out of the question, let alone 4k or 8k. Moreover, while a 4k or 8k scan of Ep. 4-6 would theoretically be possible, the SE enhancements were scanned in at 1080p, so again 4k or 8k scans are precluded since the quality difference between the original footage and the new enhancements would be jarringly noticeable.

One wonders, when faced with this data, why George seems so hell-bent on sabotaging his own movies...even the ones he apparently likes.

Also:

1) 35mm is not the best resolution (70mm and 65mm are).

2) 1080p remaster can be perfectly good if done right (the 2004 one wasn't).

3) There is absolutely no way they could make a real 4K transfer of Ep II & III, because those were both shot digitally with 1080p resolution, so there will never be any natively higher resolution of those two films and of episode I neither, because while shot on 35mm, most of the film has got some CG in and for that they scanned the film at 2K, so all the CG shots in ep I have a maximum of 2K resolution...

EDIT: Akwat Kbrana beat me to it...

And yeah, the SE footage was also scanned digitally (although I'm pretty sure it was 2K, not 1080p) so none of the films in their current state could be scanned at 4K.

The only SW movies which it would be possible to give a proper 4K preservation are the original unaltered trilogy films. Ironic :-)

Yeah, I meant the 97 SE with the 2K think, I didn't even take the 04 SE into cosideration when speaking about scanning the film.

I would actually expect the prequels to be shot 1920x1080 anamorphic but who knows...

Sorry, should've specified I meant that the 2004 enhancements were done at 1080p. I didn't have a figure on the 1997 enhancements, but I'll take your word that they were 2k, Harmy.

At any rate, kenkraly, your optimistic "let's wait and see what happens" attitude is pretty fruitless as regards hope for a new 4k or 8k scan. The maximum possible resolution that can be squeezed out of these films is as follows:

Ep 1: 2k

Ep 2-3: 1080p

Ep 4-6: 1080p (if they use the 2004 version) or 2k (if they use the 1997 version, which seems unlikely)

As ChainsawAsh pointed out, the only Star Wars films that are capable of being scanned in at 4k or 8k are the OUT, which George has made abundantly clear he has no intention of restoring and preserving.

Depending on how much they actually saved, there might be a chance of TPM being scanned at 4K or even 8K. That is if they kept all the FX data and all the o-neg elements before the FX were added, they could scan those at 4K or 8K and re-render the FX. This would of course be really expensive and complicated and I wouldn't expect Lucas to show this much respect even to a prequel.

The same could be done with the SEs, (even the 2004) again, provided they kept the digital FX files and it would be much easier because it is much less footage. And it would of course require scanning all the OOT first, which would be great - all the 3 films would be preserved in OOT and SE at 4K.

zombie84 said:

 No one would be able to tell the difference anyway, since we would be watching it in 1920x1080 at home anyway.

 

Yeah, sure, I meant as a preservation for future cinematic releases. Although even for normal sized cinema 1080p is a fine resolution. I remember, when they first showed AotC here in the Czech Republic, one of the biggest cinemas in Prague showed it digitally (it was the 1st digital projection here ever) and the projector had a resolution of 1280x1024 anamorphic and everybody thought it looked stunning.

I completely agree, I said 1080p is fine, that is not to say it can't be better :-) A movie scanned and handled at 4K and then downscaled to 1080p will probably look a bit better than scanned directly at 1080p. But when scanned at 1080p with a hi-def release in mind, it can be really good - like old versions of Blade-Runner: I watched the original version of BR, which was scanned from a good IP at 1080p on my grandpa's 50" and checked it against the Final Cut, which was scaned from o-neg at 4K and the difference was very minor. I actually liked the slightly grainier look of the original a bit better than the Final Cut (although that may be because I generally prefer the original version).

Yeah but blu ray releases usually stuck at a old 1080p master don't get spectacular reviews.  This won't be demonstration quality. it will be lazy lucas quality. Kind of like the gout.  This will be better than the HD bootlegs just enough to sale.

Yeah, old, sure, like I said a 1080p transfer made with an HD release in mind, which the 2004 SW wasn't.

Sorry, man, you keep trying to convince us that this might be a quality release but we were made sceptical by previous experience and though I know there is a slight possibility that it may be a quality release, I just don't believe/hope that it will...