m_s0 said:
"Given the source" being the key phrase here. If we forget the whole letterboxing issue, that is.
It is going to be letterboxed on DVD no matter what (unless it is a pan & scan version), because it is a ~2.35:1 movie. On a 4:3 NTSC DVD you end up with about 272 lines of picture and 208 lines of letterboxing, and on a 16:9 NTSC DVD you end up with about 366 lines of picture and 114 lines of letterboxing. If your TV was only 480p, those additional ~94 lines of picture resolution would be a big deal (relatively speaking), but most TVs these days are 1080p, which makes the difference less significant (i.e., they both have to be enlarged a lot to fill the screen).
The complaints from widescreen HDTV owners about 4:3 DVDs mostly boil down to a convenience thing. A 16:9 DVD fills the screen as-is (even though it is enlarged a lot in order to do so), while a 4:3 DVD will get "windowboxed", meaning additional enlarging is needed to fill the screen. But either way you have 195,840 pixels of picture (Star Wars 4:3 letterboxed) or 263,520 pixels of picture (Star Wars 16:9 letterboxed) trying to swim in a sea of over two million pixels (1080p TV).
From what I've read people here generally acknowledge that considering the source the GOUT could've ended up worse, and that it's the best LD transfer available, but the reason they complain is that the GOUT should've never been sourced from an ancient LD transfer to begin with.
It wasn't sourced from a LaserDisc transfer, nor is it a LaserDisc transfer itself. It was sourced from the master tapes which were used to make the 1993 and 1995 LaserDisc releases in the first place. Because DVD is a higher quality format than LaserDisc, it can retain more of the information from the master than LaserDisc can.
The D1 master tapes have the same resolution as an NTSC DVD, the technical difference being that the D1 master has 4:2:2 uncompressed video, while a DVD has 4:2:0 compressed (MPEG-2) video. If you watched the D1 master tapes side by side with the GOUT DVDs I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference, because the DVD format is capable of retaining nearly all of the quality of a D1 tape (while a LaserDisc is not).
Not to mention that fan transfers are one thing, but an official release is a different matter altogether. The GOUT would've been great for a fan effort, but as it stands it's quite terrible. And useful for obvious reasons.
It isn't "terrible". It contains enough quality that Harmy was able to make use of it fairly seamlessly in his 720p "Despecialized" versions. Let's see him do that with something that truly is "terrible", such as VCD, VHS, Betamax, or CED. Calling the GOUT "terrible" or "horrible" = hyperbole, considering it exceeds every OUT home video release we've ever had by a significant margin, and in most cases by a huge margin. Only some of the LaserDisc releases come close, and even then, you need a very high-end, expensive LD player for them to come somewhat close.