Bingowings said:
The footage in it's raw state does match up much more than I expected it to.
It does feel like much of it is there just for the sake of it though.
The story is about our heroes and villains so concentrating suddenly on these new characters is jarring.
Maybe if the Tydirium sequences were linked to some shots of Mon Mothma listening to transmissions from Home One, when we see the briefing the footage will plug in more to the stories of Luke, Leia and Han.
Apologies, but I'm not sure what footage you're referring to. Do you mean the opening scene of those two people getting away from Coruscant? If so, that scene has since been cut from the edit. You're right - starting with two complete strangers was very jarring.
If you mean the brief shots of Tydirium landing on Endor, that's still there, but it's only a few seconds, and IMO it adds some atmosphere to the scene.