PS78: Pre-ANH Star Wars Bootleg VHS from 1978 ***"RAW" DVD RELEASED***

A coworker of mine lent me a bootleg VHS of Star Wars purchased by his father in 1978 from a porn store. The colors are vibrant and the picture quality is excellent (for a VHS, that is). It's very well preserved and is on a RCA VK250 Premium Quality Video Cassette, which was popular in the late '70s.

The following images don't do it justice, as they're of a 10" CRT TV and taken with a mobile phone.

Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3

The following two images are of the RCA VK250.

Sample 4 Sample 5

I purchased a high-end VHS-to-DVD converter today to get this out to OTers ASAP. Is anyone interested?

Everyone: Thanks for the motivation and information!

I'm staying up late tonight to do the VHS->DVD conversion. I took a small one-minute sample and I've to say: it looks great! My samples really don't do it justice.

The following's a screenshot from the aforementioned one-minute DVD sample: Sample 6

none: I think I may need more help with identifying the source. I do think you're right in saying it's widescreen, as it looks like it was horizontally-compressed into fullscreen. I plan to have this up somewhere by tomorrow evening, so let's work on it together, OK?

SilverWook: It definitely is weird. I think it may've been a Smut+Illegal(x) store.

If it this turns out to be something of interest, I have a Panasonic AG-1980 which is well-known as one of the very best decks ever made for extracting detail from old VHS tapes.  Not that I'm in need of yet another project...

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

If it this turns out to be something of interest, I have a Panasonic AG-1980 which is well-known as one of the very best decks ever made for extracting detail from old VHS tapes.  Not that I'm in need of yet another project...

Puggo, I'd love your help! PM me, please.

It's not the same source as the widescreen bootleg I shared. That source was horizontally compressed like this one, but also had black bars top and bottom.

What is the "high-end VHS-to-DVD converter" you've bought?

Moth3r said:

It's not the same source as the widescreen bootleg I shared. That source was horizontally compressed like this one, but also had black bars top and bottom.

What is the "high-end VHS-to-DVD converter" you've bought?

Forgive me for a poor choice of words on my part :-( By high-end I meant that it was on the upper-end of my budget ($200) with pretty good reviews. I now plan to work with Puggo to get access to the really high-end stuff!

Do you think that this PornShopBoot may have originated from a hitherto unknown source?

frank678 said:

Awesome find!

The colours look like they could be really nice and intact on this.

However if this is going to be a real great preservation can I make a plea for it picking up a classier nickname to PornShopBoot before that sticks !!! I suppose PSB would work but perhaps you could come up with a name AntcuFaalb

I really like PornShopBoot, but I think I'll go with PSB (PornShopBoot, PornStrikesBack, PuggoStrikesBack :-).

frank678 said:

That's fair enough but protect this tape with your life until its safely transferred!

I've been and will continue to be incredibly careful with it.

OK, my emergency-backup normal/SP quality capture is done. It looks great, but the flicker is annoying.

I plan to work on a high/XP quality capture tonight. It'll require 2 DVD-Rs, as the recorder fills a 4.7GB DVD-R with only 1 hour of footage in XP Mode.

Do you know if it's the mono mix on the tape?

Work at a pace where you'll make less mistakes.  The tape has been sitting for decades.

I tend to work better at night. Computer Programming as a career and a hobby does that to you, I guess.

Agree this is something new to this community.  You mentioned your budget but what is the specific machine?  That'll clue in the tech minds around here on the limitations of your capture and what may improve enlisting outside assistance.

The machine's a Toshiba DVR620. It's hardly high-end. I think my wallet may've influenced my wording :-)

As this is new, yup you get to name it.  (there already is a PSB in the works)  But before you do let's attempt to get some more information on it's background.  As there's the porn store story behind it, maybe the tape owner has another story about it's origin or their remembrances of the tape.  Would be interested to where geographically the tape was purchased.  (town or state)  A recently emerged 77 audio recording was named after the person who recorded it.  Naming is not always that easy.  Maybe the original tape owner can ask their dad about the buying of it.  How much did he pay?  100-250 dollars?  We're other dads doing the same?

I can't get much information out of him. We both work for the Federal Government, so he gets understandably uneasy whenever I bring it up, but I'll continue to try.

Personally, I like pictures of the tape (connection to the past), if you can scan them or take a photo, would be nice as part of the final preservation.

I'll be sure to take some nice pictures of it with my digital camera.

Since this is cropped differently in the vertical, there is a chance this is a 16mm preservation. (similar to Puggo Grande, Krig and Catnap)  This version is cropped more vertically then the 16mm.

It may be, but do keep in mind that my mobile phone camera clipped a good amount off of the top of Samples 2 and 3.

How long is the recording?  If this is a theater boot from 78 there's a chance pieces could be missing.  From what you've watched are there any signs of it being a well worn print, with some wear and tear?

It's 2 hours and 1 minute long, including some static at the beginning and end. I don't see any signs of it being a well-worn print. Excluding the aforementioned flicker and some shakiness, it looks very well preserved.

Please don't call it PSB, as there is a "Puggo Strikes Back" project that is almost done already called PSB (a 16mm capture of ESB).

How about ASW (Adult Star Wars) ?

My suggestion is to finish your initial capture, make it available to some of the knowledgeable folks on the forum (not me - I really don't know all that much about the various versions).  Then when it is determined what this is a capture of, decide if is worth making a real high-end capture of it.  If it is an in-theater capture, or 35mm capture, that would be of great interest.  A 16mm, not so much.  It all depends on the content, video and audio.  If Luke misses with the grappling hook, for example, there would be some interest :)

The Panasonic would blow your transfer system out of the water.  But for evaluation purposes, yours should work perfectly adequately.  Just be very careful with the tape and don't rush with the tape deck controls - would be a shame if the deck ate the tape.

Please don't call it PSB, as there is a "Puggo Strikes Back" project that is almost done already called PSB (a 16mm capture of ESB).

How about ASW (Adult Star Wars) ?

OK, I'll come up with a different name.

My suggestion is to finish your initial capture, make it available to some of the knowledgeable folks on the forum (not me - I really don't know all that much about the various versions).  Then when it is determined what this is a capture of, decide if is worth making a real high-end capture of it.  If it is an in-theater capture, or 35mm capture, that would be of great interest.  A 16mm, not so much.  It all depends on the content, video and audio.  If Luke misses with the grappling hook, for example, there would be some interest :)

I'll try to get my second recording done tonight or tomorrow (for evaluation purposes only, of course). Everyone: PM me if you'd like a copy.

The Panasonic would blow your transfer system out of the water.  But for evaluation purposes, yours should work perfectly adequately.  Just be very careful with the tape and don't rush with the tape deck controls - would be a shame if the deck ate the tape.

I hope it's unique! I'd love to see what the Panasonic can do.

I tend to be an overly-cautious person...