And yet some are PAL, and some are NTSC. Just because the master is the same, doesn't mean something doesn't happen between that point and actually going onto the DVD. Otherwise, the foreign language soundtracks would have the same drop-outs as the English soundtrack - and yet they don't .
Keep in mind that while the Def. Col. and Faces LD sets both come from the same masters, they are not the same transfers - CLV vs. CAV, the Def. Col. has much more "noise reduction" applied. You are discounting many important and rather obvious factors that can have an effect on the visual/audio between mastering and retail.
"I mean, we can rant and rave about Lowry oversaturating the color, but you gotta remember, the point of reference you seem to be using are old, out of date, washed out, overbright home video transfers."
That's rich. Rather than saying the DVD "home video transfer" is capable of being incorrect, your reasoning is that every single "home video transfer" prior to it has been incorrect? Apparently you don't feel that Lucas is capable of messing up the DVD in any extent compared to these other transfers? LOL.
"If they were perfectly fine with cutting anywhere from 15-40 percent of the picture off, why would you think they were completely faithful to the contrast and brightness levels?"
And then have the nerve to call it the "Definitive Collection"? Gee, I dunno. Apparently, it's impossible for LFL to make any mistakes this time... :roll eyes;
Sorry, but this "There's no reason for them not to get it perfect" reasoning discounts a great deal of known information, with no real proof, I might add.
"You're telling me "colors that couldn't exist in the real world" is a BAD thing in a movie consisting of EXPLOSIONS IN SPACE, LASER SWORDS and walking, talking ROBOTS?"
Please. Non-sequitir.
"Maybe the color isn't oversaturated..maybe you're simply too used to a washed out, desaturated picture to recognize brilliant color fidelity when you see it? That seems a lot more plausible."
So the DVD is fine, and these problems are all in our heads? Every DVD screencap I've seen on every forum shows blue push, and now you are telling me that this is because every person who has made a capture has had the blue push on their computer, rather than on the DVD itself? That's rather odd reasoning, considering that the more prevalent scenario of misadjusted tvs/monitors would be being too bright, and an overbright monitor would more likely show a red push...
If you have issues with the statements being made about the DVDs, you might want to post a little more corraborative evidence besides "you aren't really seeing what you are seeing." This is especially ironic considering the fact that the audio is screwed up on the DVDs. Missed that, didya?
"I thought the majority of the color correction was handled by Lowry, turns out a smaller portion of it was."
See what a difference a little research can do?
"trying to judge a DVD image by laserdisc standards is pretty ridiculous. No one stands around looking at Indy Jones and going "There's no way this movie looks like that. Look how COLORFUL it is. Look how GREEN those trees are. Why isn't everything more pale and washed out like my laserdiscs are?"
Perhaps they didn't make the same mistakes on Raiders as they did on ANH? Keep in mind that the lion's share of these comments are being made about ANH - the oldest of the films. The extent of damage and multiple restorations of this film over the years is quite well known. Hell, the SE's were a tremendous visual advantage over the Def. Col. and Faces set, and they don't show this blue push. I suppose you are going to say Lucas always wanted blue push in ANH, but never had the technology to create that until now?
BTW, if you really want to compare the process between ANH and Raiders, then the proof is in the pudding...
Over the years, Lowry Digital's computer algorithms have evolved from automating the removal of hundreds of pieces of dirt in a scene, to handling the 100,000 pieces of dirt in the Indiana Jones trilogy, to taking on the Star Wars trilogy which required automated and manual removal of up to a million pieces of dirt in scenes like R2-D2 and C-3PO's arrival on Tatooine in A New Hope.
Thousands versus millions. Hmmmmm. Mind you, this simply refers to the dirt clean-up. Shall we also get onto the subject of color fading as well? You don't think Paramount gave Lucas far better film to use on Raiders than he was originally given for Star Wars?
"You've got people in here pissing all over a phenomenal restoration because it doesn't look like a early 90's laserdisc transfer, and that's silly as hell. You've got people trying to convince others that a washed out, desaturated image of Chewie looking more GRAY than anything is closer to correct because "There's no way that shade of brown exists on earth.." Which is in and of itself a ludicrous statement."
Ah, so now the kernel of your own reasoning shows itself. Heaven forbid the LDs ultimately have a more faithful color rendition than the DVDs. It's not like LFL can make mistakes, right? Not like all the mistakes you claim they've apparently been making on all these transfers up until now, right?
"You are right, there are instances where different regions get different masters to press off of (DVDbeaver is a great site for showing this off) but in this case, all the discs WERE pressed up off of the exact same masters. Only the region coding and the menus changed."
PPOR, and again, there are many steps between masters and final product. Saying we can't be right because Lucas could never get it wrong is flat-out ridiculous. Back it up.