A New Hope quality glitches/editions?

I was making a Star Wars trailer and noticed some odd glitches in my BluRay version, I was hoping there might be a Star Wars aficionado that knows when these edits/glitches first appeared so I know which editions are “clean”. The issues are in ANH around 4:30-4:40 when Vader enters the hallway.

The minor issue is the stormtrooper’s helmet behind him, when he’s seen through the smoke his helmet looks blocky like bad compression. Odd for BluRay quality.

The more curious and obvious glitch is vader’s cape - if you look carefully there’s a blur on the left side of the frame as it floats around and sometimes it actually distorts the legs/torsos of the stormtroopers as it briefly passes in front of them.

Including this video in hopes it will explain the issue better (scene happens about 22 seconds in), although it’s easier to see on a source that hasn’t been encoded, obviously: https://bestedit.net/trailer/Star.Wars.1999.Trailer.1080p.webm

When I first noticed them I thought I had made an error when encoding it, but I looked at the source disc and the issue was present there too.

I assume this is some kind of edit Lucas made at some point, because the 4k77 no-DNR project doesn’t seem to have either of these issues. The stormtrooper is quite grainy but not blocky/distorted, and the cape doesn’t have the blur halo. Are there any BluRay quality releases that happened before these changes, or is it a result of a remaster before or during the BluRay release?

It might be DNR from 2004. Did you rip a Blu Ray to get this or did you do something like a web rip? Are you using the 2011 versions or the new Disney ones from 2019?

SparkySywer said:

It might be DNR from 2004. Did you rip a Blu Ray to get this or did you do something like a web rip? Are you using the 2011 versions or the new Disney ones from 2019?

Yeah I ripped my 2011 “Complete Saga” Blu Ray set, so I assume it isn’t any third-party interference causing the issues - everything about the box and discs seems legit.

Then it’s probably just DNR, which would have been introduced in 2004. It would be worth checking the new Disney versions from 2019 to see if it’s in there (it shouldn’t be if it’s DNR, or should present itself differently since it’s a new scan). I’d do it but I no longer have Disney+ and I don’t have those Blu Rays.

Thanks Sparky! Anyone have the 2019 version of the ANH BluRay that’s willing to double check this section and see if Vader’s cape has the weird distortion following it like my example footage? I would appreciate it - hate to buy it just to find out the issue is the same in that one too.

SparkySywer said:

Then it’s probably just DNR, which would have been introduced in 2004. It would be worth checking the new Disney versions from 2019 to see if it’s in there (it shouldn’t be if it’s DNR, or should present itself differently since it’s a new scan). I’d do it but I no longer have Disney+ and I don’t have those Blu Rays.

Since no one spoke up I ended up grabbing a 2019 copy to check, and the blurring around the cape and trooper helmet distortion are still there. Maybe the “scan” they went back to was something that Lucas had altered at some point along the way, not sure. I guess it’s possible the 4k is better, I only checked the normal Blu Ray, but I doubt it.