Info Wanted: 1997 SE laserdisc: what's better, NTSC or PAL?

I have both the NTSC US box set(s), and several PAL trilogies, and, as I like to continue my SET (Special Edition Trilogy) project, I should decide if I must use the PAL laserdiscs - that, theoretically, have more vertical resolution - or the NTSC ones - that probably were mastered better.

I noted also that the NTSC image is less cropped at the sides and at the bottom, and, despite the fact that its resolution is 20% less than PAL, it shows more details… on the other hand, more different PAL edition could be used to average/median the captures, removing a lot of analog noise inherent of the laserdisc format itself. The soundtracks used will be of course taken from all the versions available.

Last thought: using the Pioneer HLD-X9 for NTSC capture, final result should be better than using any other PAL laserdisc player for capture, hence I think I will use the NTSC discs for the video part… or not?

Which PAL LD players do you have, Andrea?

Many... CLD-D925, DVL-919, CLD-600, CLD-2950, LD-V4300D, plus a Philips LDP600WS that should be aligned...

Yes, PAL average is fun, but also a lot of work! A funny work, indeed, I must admit, but quite hard to align 3+ copies, if the cropping varies wildly like the OT laserdiscs...

Without detracting from the excellent work althor has done, the Pioneer HLD-X9 is the second best laserdisc in the world; apart its excellent comb filter, it has the red laser that should resolve more details than a non-MUSE laserdisc player; plus, I have two copies of the NTSC US box set that could be used for average.

Althor's capture card, however, is better than mine, so the final result should be tested; a raw capture of, let's say, 1 minute, will be useful to make a direct comparison.

With PAL, you can convert the final product to 23.976 frames because of the speedup.

The NTSC discs, both US and Japan, have a couple spots that are missing frames when compared with the PAL transfers and the 2006 DVDs.  

In ANH, it's after Alderaan explodes.  There are spots in ESB and ROTJ as well, but the exact spots escape me now.  

Don't know if that influences your choice, but it's something to consider.

As I will capture PAL laserdisc as well, because they have soundtracks in other languages than english (french and german), I could always replace the eventual missing frame(s) from the NTSC LDs with the ones from PAL LDs.

Correct speed: of course, the PAL soundtracks will be converted from 25 to 23.976fps, eventually the pitch will be adjusted as well, when it's the case - some PAL LD and VHS have the right pitch, but were rare at the beginning, more common towards the end of the formats, in particular for important movies like Star Wars.