Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:
There's quite a bit of people talking past each other here. A transfer is a digitized file taken from a film. A release is a digitized file found on a DVD. A lot apparently happened between the transfer and the release in terms of added CGI, color "correction" (lol), soundtrack, etc. I have little doubt that the transfer done for the 2004 discs was probabaly excellent, judging by the detail. But that doesn't mean the release is good, or true to the originals.
It certainly makes sense to use the release with the best clarity to try and reproduce a decent facsimile of the OT. That is because colors are largely correctable, but sharpness is not. Content is also not correctable (obviously), except that people like Harmy and Adywan have managed to take great pains to try and restore those scenes that have been damaged.
We don't have access to the original transfers - nobody does except Lucas. And there doesn't exist a decent modern release. It should be obvious to danny_boy or any other SW fan that just because one would use the 2004 discs on which to base a transfer doesn't mean we think they are accurate, or that they are watchable. To wit, what do you think would turn out better, a 2004-based project that has been color-corrected and despecialized, or a 1993-based project that has been sharpened? The answer should be obvious (2004-based), but that doesn't mean that it has better colors, or is better watching out of the box. Because it clearly has terrible colors, especially ESB, and is full of inane distracting crap. Every indication is that the blu-ray will have even better detail, but it will still be unwatchable because of the crap done to it for release, and will therefore need to be fixed by somebody here in order to make it a reasonably watchable facsimile of the OT.
This is the only movie in the world in which this discussion is taking place. That isn't our fault, it's Lucas' fault.
I agree with your points.
But there is also a certain degree of subjectivity with regards to how one percieves the quality of a video transfer like the 2004 DVD.
The Godfather also came in for some critisism because fans were surprised how vibrant some of the colours were(in what is generally considered to be a dark film) in the Blu Ray transfer----- even though there was no reference because Francis Ford Coppola conceded that he could not even remember how it originally looked!
But he nonetheless approved the restoration performed by Robert Harris.
I, like many here, want a 4k/1080/2k transfer of the OUT in the best quality possible, but it does not mean that I(or any of you) cannot appreciate or enjoy the 2004 DVD exactly for what it is ---- by far and away the best the film has ever looked in an official home video presentation.
Sorry but those 1997 laserdiscs do not hold a candle to it(this does not apply to the audio)----But that is my opinion which of course any one is entitled to disagree with.
