R2D2 said:
How can this release be of excellent A/V quality if the video is not a bit different than the 2004 hd master?

Because for most people it will be a bump in video quality...it's the first official release in HD that people can go out and buy. So even though the master is the same, the BD encoding will be noticeably sharper on large screens. We're spoiled here at OT.com because we are used to seeing the OT in hi-def, so to us it's no improvement. That's probably why a lot of people will buy it anyways... they simply don't know there is an HD version floating out there that doesn't have crap in it.