Theoretically you could redesign the composite output path but keep it in composite video and get a better image than we get with our redesigned RGB output stage, but in reality composite video doesn't 'travel well'.
The idea is to try and reconstruct it (or extract it if you like) in a better way than the laserdisc player can by itself.
You do lose something in the conversion though, it is inevitable, and we found we would lose some horizontal resolution vs the composite out, but pick up much greater detail and a huge reduction in video noise/crosstalk.
All said though, the image is still not great out the other side, even when we retimed the whole thing. The colour and detail looks a lot better than off the laserdisc, but it still looks awful compared to a reference DVD pressing. We are lucky in that we have a complete 2nd reel of the 1978 theatrical release to compare to.
I'm hoping once we have finished on Stealth that I can get back to my inferno room and start work on my archival project again. Funnily enough we also decided to repaint the starfields by hand, and I redid the credit crawl manually - I didn't realise the other languages had it at the right speed D'oh!
So I am going to leave Ep IV for a while and move onto the Jedi ghosts and work backwards as that is the scene I hate the most
With the work mverta is putting in on IV, I may start on Jedi instead.