You know, maybe Bill Hunt gets too much flack around the web. I liked the comments in his review and thought he was pretty balanced. I also enjoyed this part at the end and felt it was a rational proposal.
Bill Hunt said:
I want to add one last comment here, because it just needs saying: Given the current state of the digital masters, this Blu-ray set is really the best these films can ever look from now on... unless Lucas takes steps ASAP to correct that. Frankly, he should just forget this idea of converting the Star Wars films to 3D, and use the money he would have spent doing that to instead rebuild the digital masters of the Episodes IV-VI and Episode I from the best available negative elements or film sources in higher resolution - at least 4K. It can absolutely be done - film restoration expert Robert Harris has worked miracles with far less that original camera negative sources on such films as The Godfather. Surely the Episode I effects can be re-rendered at a higher resolution if need be. And once the original films have been preserved at a higher resolution, THEN the 3D process might actually be worthwhile. Not to mention which, the films will be better preserved for the future. As for Episodes II and III, it's true that Lucas is stuck with the fact that he shot them natively on video at just HD resolution. But again, the visual effects could all be re-rendered at a higher resolution. And given the advances of computer imaging software, I have little doubt that there will eventually be a software process that allows you to take a lower resolution source, do a deep evaluation/analysis on the image, upconvert it to higher resolution and "estimate and render" the missing detail to create something better. That capability might be 5 years away, it might be 15, but I suspect it will happen one day. In the meantime, the films shot on actual film should be re-scanned and preserved at higher resolution as soon as possible. And when and if that's done, why not also preserve the films in their original theatrical form too, if only out of respect for all those talented artists and technicians who helped Lucas make the films in the first place? Just a thought.