@ SilverWook & ww12345

Thanks guys! To quote another hotshot ... "sometimes I amaze even myself". :) But don't count-out those faded prints. They have much more in them that we just don't see. ;)

My "select samples" were carefully grabbed. The clips have not yet been brightness stabilized. Therefore, the color correction keeps drifting in and out of the optimum settings of the work frame, from where came the video processing numbers. Once stabilized, the clips should play uniformly well corrected.

There also is the non-uniformity of frame illumination. It grows darker towards center-frame. I'm thinking if an inverted, blank title frame is used as a luminance offset, that should correct the intensity across the picture area. (I'm looking into it now.)

[Just a mention about eBay links. To prevent eBay tracking (for whatever their nefarious purpose), remove everything from the "?" onward. The first half of the link, alone, will bring up the item-page just fine -- but without the original reference hash-info.]

The US VHS (pre US laserdisc release by about 8 years and pre JP laserdisc by only 3) has "©1983" for "package design and summary" and no extended SEN shots (edited out by GL as per my aforementioned versions theory). I thought this was the first release of Lucas' new cut, after his Star Wars success.
The eBay seller's picture of the Betamax box (inside flap) shows "©1982" for it's packaging -- a year before the VHS one. Would this still be Lucas' 2nd director's cut (without those extra SEN shots)?