Star Wars coming to Blu Ray (UPDATE: August 30 2011, No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!) — Page 97

generalfrevious said:

Well, based on what we have heard from LFL, they will just reuse the master they used for the 04 dvds and upscale it to 1080p. It is not going to transferred from actual film elements like most BDs, just reused masters. The same thing happened with the GOUT- they reused the 93 master. So why bother releasing this if it is going to be a half-assed job? But of course it is SW, its going to make millions in its first day, so of course it will be released. But based on discussion on this thread, its going to be a horrible product.

This isn't 100% accurate - the 2004 masters are already at 1080p, so they wouldn't need to upscale them for the Blu-Ray release.  But it's true that everything we've heard leads to the conclusion that they'll just be the same 2004 masters as seen in the HD broadcasts and on the DVDs.

This doesn't mean that this is what will happen, though - maybe they're working on a new master right now.  But based on LFL's history, I doubt it.

Trailers don't always represent the final colour grading. If they were fixing the colour issues, it's possible, maybe even likely, that the trailer from a year before its release would not feature this. So, personally, I'm not using that trailer as proof of anything, they probably just used whatever footage was onhand.

No doubt, the 2004 master is being used again, as in that particular scan. However, films usually get tweaked visually for BD compared to the same master on DVD--sometimes its just a matter of adding some DNR, sometimes its crushing the blacks a bit more, sometimes they do a better colour pass; depends on the film.

But, based on LFLs history of releasing crappy transfers, being okay with them, and re-releasing them year after year, I'm not betting on any significant new work for the OT transfers, although I do think the hues and levels might be slightly different--not corrected or better, but perhaps slightly different--just because each pressing and broadcast tweaks things ever so slightly. There's no need for DNR, since Lowry basically did that, and Lucas not only personally supervised the transfer but also has seen it screened a number of times since. I have to believe that if he actually noticed Luke had a green lightsaber or all the other issues that he would have pulled the release and issued a correction right there. So, either he's never noticed, or he's never cared, in either case we would be getting the same thing. That's my view, anyway.

It's not an indication though, as far as I am concerned. It's meaningless. People are just latching onto it because its the only thing we have, but IMO it's a red herring that has been blown out of preportion for lack of any other tangible material (that dearth of material is possibly because there is no such final material available to show yet). But having said that, I do agree with the consensus that the problems won't be fixed, I'm just basing it on different criteria.

Yeah apparently they put some effort into ep. I. It's too bad the '77-'83 trilogy is such an unsurmountable task for LFL. (on a totally unrelated note they are completely rebuilding 198 episodes of THAT '70s SHOW for hd)

Alexrd said:

I have to give the trailer a small amount of credibility because it somehow has the "treated" TPM footage.

 That's a good point, however the "corrected" TPM footage has been seen for years now, case in point it was used in the SW Concert tour of 2010.

My theory? TPM was never "corrected", rather the previous transfers were simply "uncorrected". In other words, this is from the actual DI. It's been there since 1999--this is how it looked in theatres, and it came from a DI. The video transfer from this was messed up from the beginning, possibly because it came from a print or some non-negative source (it certainly looks a bit on the rough side). So, a couple years ago they finally made an HD transfer from the DI itself, seen in SW Concert in 2010 and debuting on home video in the BD in 2011.

This would be consistent with the theory that the trailer guys are just using whatever video material had been floating around for a couple years on-site, and that if the OT was being worked on it probably wouldn't have been in any shape to show by winter 2010. However, this is also consistent with the theory that there is no work being done period, because the only "new" correction--to TPM--was actually already done long ago. Incidentally, while SW Concert featured the authentic TPM colouring, the OT still contained the same basic colouring of the 2004 masters.

But why are we giving a shit about correct colours for the SE in the first place? I hope the SE gets correct colouring the day the OOT gets a correct transfer, so at least some of the SE gushers can understand what it's like to have to watch a crappy version of a film you love when it's very easy to do it right. Maybe if SE lovers and OOT lovers could unite against the LFL quality control they'll wake up and realize what happens when you screw over your supporters and your customers.

Wouldn't they have to be working from a film negative of some kind with Ep. I? (I thought there were no DIs before O Brother Where art thou.)

Every shot except one was treated inside the computer for Ep1. So, even so it wasn't a DI in the traditional sense, it was still a digital finish, they just didn't have the technology to output it at the time. They probably had to do some mild colour timing, but whatever the case, this has existed since at least last year according to reports.

I'm still hung up on the "no comment" thing re: the original versions. Any thoughts?

If they are bigging up special features and not mentioning the original versions I imagine that's for a good reason.

If you are trying to get people to buy something you set out a full menu (and only try to hide unpleasant surprises), you only keep pleasant surprises if you are giving something away for free and somehow I just can't see that happening.

I'm just wondering if perhaps there is a planned release in 2012 for the 35th anniversary. Of course they won't say anthing about it cause they want people to buy the box set. Then they will release the original the following year on the hype of the 3d release and anniversary. Maybe I'm just thinking a little to positive.