Info Wanted: The GOUT or Laserdisc? (what to buy?)

First of all, I’m aware this isn’t exactly a new discussion here, so I’m sorry if this thread comes across as unneccessary. I’ve tried Googling for this question and searching on these forums, but I haven’t really found anything concrete.

Having bought the Blu-ray box, I’d like to have a good, legit presentation of the OOT. I’ve read a lot about GOUT and its weaknesses, and seen a lot of LD capture screencaps, but I’m still not really sure what to get. In the light of GOUTs sub-par standards, I’m tempted to get a decent Laserdisc player (definitely a Pioneer - I’ve read that much) and a set of OOT LDs. But is blowing a Laserdisc up to 42" even worth it?

Ultimately, my question is simple. Do you guys think I should buy GOUT and deal with the ugliness of that transfer, or will the more difficult and more expensive approach - getting the LD gear and the discs themselves - be more worthwhile? And on the subject, which discs (out of those that are relatively easy to obtain) do you recommend?

Hmm. I thought I'd subscribed to this thread - apparently I haven't, hence my late reply.

I do realise GOUT is the easiest solution. If you think it's also the best legit representation of the OOT available in terms of A/V quality, I may just go with those discs. They'll probably keep me satisfied until the day I choose to cave in to nostalgia and actually get an LD player anyway.

Thanks for your reply, man!

FrederikOlsen said:

... If you think it's also the best legit representation of the OOT available in terms of A/V quality...

No, it isn't.

The colours are completely wrong (desaturated and red-shifted) - check this for example : http://savestarwars.com/goutcorrect.html

The "binary sunset" is blue, instead of orange, the scene where R2 was captured was artificially darkened, etc.  - see this http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-Colortiming-Cinematography-was-What-changes-was-done-to-STAR-WARS-in-93/topic/9805/

The audio used for the GOUT release is NOT the theatrical audio, but a brand new sound mix (well with "new" I mean "created specially for the 1993 release").

The closing credits are different - http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Credits-Leaders-Thread-was-Star-Wars-Pre-Re-release-Credit-Change-June-77/topic/12960/

Also the digital noise reduction produced a lot of "ghosting", but otherwise yes, it's an OK representation of the original theatrical version :)

Anyway try to get DarkJedi's V3 project, it corrects most of GOUT's problems and has the original theatrical audio tracks - http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-Original-Trilogy-Theatrical-Editions-Info-ALL-versions-SEE-FIRST-POST-FOR-INFO-AND-AVAILABILITY/topic/10550/

The Technidisc version of "Episode 4" has very nice colours - http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/STAR-WARS-Special-Widescreen-Edition-Technidisc/topic/13263/ but it's pretty dark.

Also I still like the wonderful EditDroid set, especially for its bonus features

Yeah, I realise the colour timings have seemingly always been off on the home video releases. Those Technicolor caps look fantastic, so I'll be sure to look at getting DarkJedi's V3 project - thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Thing is... I'm looking to own the best possible legal version of the OOT, flawed as they all are. Now, I have actually been a bastard and torrented Harmy's Despecialized versions even though I've never paid Lucasfilm for the OOT (I do have the Blu-rays), but I'd still like to legally own as good home video versions of the OOT as possible. And I can't really tell whether I should get the Laserdiscs (and a decent player, obviously) or the GOUT. Especially since I'm in a PAL territory here, and I've read that the PAL version of GOUT is nothing but a converted NTSC transfer.

So my question still stands. I do get that if I want a 100% accurate representation of the original theatrical versions, there are multiple great restorations here. But if I want the best possible legal home video presentation of the OOT, what should I get?

>> Especially since I'm in a PAL territory here, and I've read that the PAL version of GOUT is nothing but a converted NTSC transfer.

Well if I understood this thread correctly, http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Whats-missing-from-GOUT/topic/6725/ they ARE different - check the screenshots later in the discussion.

But if you want a good representation of the OOT and want an OFFICIAL release, get the 2006 DVDs (if you don't mind its problems)

That's very odd - the savestarwars.com editorial on GOUT states in the afterword that the PAL version is a conversion of the NTSC version, but the thread you linked to indicates that's not the case.

Once again, thanks for your input. I guess I'll be getting the 2006 DVDs sometime soon, imperfect as they might be.