Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by kenkraly2004

Adywan we don't know yet if they will be the same transfers as 2004 your just assuming they will be ok. And furthermore when they do blu-ray transfers for other films they don't use 7 year old dvd transfers to make a blu-ray.

We also don't know that they WON'T be the same transfers, or that the same color timing 'mistakes' won't carrey over to this new set (Lucas "approved" the previous DVD transfers, afterall). And we can't really compare how other older films are handled when put on Blu-Ray as a precident here. Lucas doesn't exactly "follow the norm" when it comes to these things. He does things HIS way, for better or worse.

Adywan is just trying to not set himself up for disapointment. That's all.

The star wars saga on blu-ray will sell well and be the biggest blu-ray box set release of all time.

I'm sure it will sell well (whether or not it is the biggest Blu-Ray release of all time remains to be seen, though). But that the set selling well doesn't mean that the problems were necessarily resolved.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by partridge

I can't wait for my complete set to arrive, I'm already planning a mini marathon of all six films with a friend of mine and I fully expect to be blown away by the image and audio quality.

I just can't believe how many people are sneering at this set without seeing even a second of footage from it!

I just can't believe how many people are fully expecting to be blown away by the image and audio quality without seeing even a second of footage from it!

[dcowboy7]

Some will love it, some will hate it, some will say its what was expected.

Isnt it the same ole story every time.

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

We also don't know that they WON'T be the same transfers, or that the same color timing 'mistakes' won't carrey over to this new set (Lucas "approved" the previous DVD transfers, afterall). And we can't really compare how other older films are handled when put on Blu-Ray as a precident here. Lucas doesn't exactly "follow the norm" when it comes to these things. He does things HIS way, for better or worse.

Adywan is just trying to not set himself up for disapointment. That's all.



I'm sure it will sell well (whether or not it is the biggest Blu-Ray release of all time remains to be seen, though). But that the set selling well doesn't mean that the problems were necessarily resolved.

I agree with being cautious and guarded in my optimism, because we've seen on numerous occasions that even high-profile, eagerly-anticipated titles can turn up with subpar transfers and have been lacking in TLC.

One thing with Lucas, though, is that he does tend to make broad, sweeping changes to his movies, for better or for worse, so the likelihood of him merely re-releasing the same transfers without tinkering with the movies until the last possible second is less than it is for most filmmakers.

If he sees an opportunity to "fix" anything, even if it isn't broken, he is likely to take advantage of that.

One thing I expect/hope to see is corrected color timing on the lightsabres. He "approved" it for the previous release, but somehow I expect that the internet's opinion that pink lightsabres suck has gotten into his head over the years.

[kenkraly2004]

Originally Posted by adywan

They are not "7 year old DVD transfers" as you put them, they are 7 year old 1080p HD scan transfers that were used to make the 2004 DVD's and for TV station broadcasts.

My mistake sorry Adywan.

[vidjunkie]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

I just can't believe how many people are fully expecting to be blown away by the image and audio quality without seeing even a second of footage from it!

LMAO! same can be said to ALL the pessimistic people here thinking the opposite correct? both sides are more than a little annoying at the moment in this thread, all is just speculation right now on both sides of the argument, what is wrong with giving the benefit of the doubt, and hoping for the better? instead we constantly read, Great, Sux, Great, Sux, Great, Sux, and so on.

It will be nice when Sept. finally gets here and we can all see for ourselves what it is, and what it is not.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

I agree with being cautious and guarded in my optimism, because we've seen on numerous occasions that even high-profile, eagerly-anticipated titles can turn up with subpar transfers and have been lacking in TLC.

One thing with Lucas, though, is that he does tend to make broad, sweeping changes to his movies, for better or for worse, so the likelihood of him merely re-releasing the same transfers without tinkering with the movies until the last possible second is less than it is for most filmmakers.

If he sees an opportunity to "fix" anything, even if it isn't broken, he is likely to take advantage of that.

One thing I expect/hope to see is corrected color timing on the lightsabres. He "approved" it for the previous release, but somehow I expect that the internet's opinion that pink lightsabres suck has gotten into his head over the years.

Well, Lucas doesn't necessarily have to adjust the color timing just to make more changes to the movies like adding in more CGI elements or anything like that.

Plus, he might "fix" the lightsabers by completely redoing the special effects for them (those effects do tend to look a little dated, and I'm surprised that they weren't redone in 1997 or 2004, regardless of the color timing issues in '04). But if he does that, it won't really address the overall issues that the bad color timing created. He will just be covering up the most glaringly onvious problems that it caused. There are still plenty of other issues with the color timing that will still remain IF he takes this approach to fixing the problem.

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

Well, Lucas doesn't necessarily have to adjust the color timing just to make more changes to the movies like adding in more CGI elements or anything like that.

Plus, he might "fix" the lightsabers by completely redoing the special effects for them (those effects do tend to look a little dated, and I'm surprised that they weren't redone in 1997 or 2004, regardless of the color timing issues in '04). But if he does that, it won't really address the overall issues that the bad color timing created. He will just be covering up the most glaringly onvious problems that it caused. There are still plenty of other issues with the color timing that will still remain IF he takes this approach to fixing the problem.

Well sure, like I said I'm being cautious in my optimism, but one thing we can say for Lucas is that he rarely let's a release of his movies in any format go by unmolested.

Whether his changes will be better or worse, I won't speculate, but somehow I doubt he won't get involved in this transfer in some way and tinker with it to a certain extent.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by vidjunkie

LMAO! same can be said to ALL the pessimistic people here thinking the opposite correct? both sides are more than a little annoying at the moment in this thread, all is just speculation right now on both sides of the argument, what is wrong with giving the benefit of the doubt, and hoping for the better? instead we constantly read, Great, Sux, Great, Sux, Great, Sux, and so on.

The same WAS said for it. Look at the quote that I was replying to, then read what I said again. I basically took almost exactly what the guy said and changed it slightly.

I'm not saying that it will definately suck, and I am hoping for the best.

However, here is what we do know as of right now, which supports the reasons for being concerned about potential possible problems:

*The 2004 transfers were scanned at 1080p HD, which makes them theoretically "good enough" for Blu-Ray, so there is at least an existing potential excuse for them to not put too much more work into this than they absolutely have to.
*No specific announcement or statement has come out of Lucasfilm so far saying that we are definately getting new transfers (if they were doing this, why not mention it?)
*Adywan pointed out the documentary in which footage from what appears to be the updated/correct version of Phantom Menace appears, but the footage of the OT still has the 2004 color timing issues. This is at least eyebrow raising if nothing else.
*Lucas already previously approved the 2004 transfers, they have been screened for him on at least a few occasions, and (at least to the knowledge of the public) he has never stated any disatisfaction with them. He already approved of what have been well documented as bad transfers. How do we know he won't do this again?


Meanwhile, the counterarguements and expectations of these being as close to flawless as Star Wars has ever been seem to be based on nothing more than blind faith in Star Wars and Lucas. I have yet to see an arguement from the other side of the fence that seems to be based on anything other than that.

I am HOPING for the best, but I am bracing myself for the worst. And there seems to be enough evidence that putting 100% complete faith in Lucas on this is at the very least ill-advised.

[philzilla]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

The same WAS said for it. Look at the quote that I was replying to, then read what I said again. I basically took almost exactly what the guy said and changed it slightly.

I'm not saying that it will definately suck, and I am hoping for the best.

However, here is what we do know as of right now, which supports the reasons for being concerned about potential possible problems:

*The 2004 transfers were scanned at 1080p HD, which makes them theoretically "good enough" for Blu-Ray, so there is at least an existing potential excuse for them to not put too much more work into this than they absolutely have to.
*No specific announcement or statement has come out of Lucasfilm so far saying that we are definately getting new transfers (if they were doing this, why not mention it?)
*Adywan pointed out the documentary in which footage from what appears to be the updated/correct version of Phantom Menace appears, but the footage of the OT still has the 2004 color timing issues. This is at least eyebrow raising if nothing else.
*Lucas already previously approved the 2004 transfers, they have been screened for him on at least a few occasions, and (at least to the knowledge of the public) he has never stated any disatisfaction with them. He already approved of what have been well documented as bad transfers. How do we know he won't do this again?


Meanwhile, the counterarguements and expectations of these being as close to flawless as Star Wars has ever been seem to be based on nothing more than blind faith in Star Wars and Lucas. I have yet to see an arguement that seems to be based on anything other than that.

I am HOPING for the best, but I am bracing myself for the worst.

If PQ and AQ aren't superb, not perfect, but really, really good, I'm not buying.

[blonde_devil]

they may be using old transfers - others have. i may be wrong but i think that all the star trek blurays used the old transfers(except for khan) and they were all a step up from what the dvds had even though the source transfer was the same. i think they were the same transfers from the original dvd releases so you were looking at least 10 years for those so we could end up with the same transfers that were used for the dvd releases, just with a better quality. depends if lucas feels they are good enough or not. we will know for sure in 2 months.

[vidjunkie]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

The same WAS said for it. Look at the quote that I was replying to, then read what I said again. I basically took almost exactly what the guy said and changed it slightly.

I'm not saying that it will definately suck, and I am hoping for the best.

However, here is what we do know as of right now, which supports the reasons for being concerned about potential possible problems:

*The 2004 transfers were scanned at 1080p HD, which makes them theoretically "good enough" for Blu-Ray
*No specific announcement or statement has come out of Lucasfilm so far saying that we are definately getting new transfers (if they were doing this, why not mention it?)
*Adywan pointed out the documentary in which footage from what appears to be the updated/correct version of Phantom Menace appears, but the footage of the OT still has the 2004 color timing issues. This is at least eyebrow raising if nothing else.
*Lucas already previously approved the 2004 transfers, they have been screened for him on at least a few occasions, and (at least to the knowledge of the public) he has never stated any disatisfaction with them.


Meanwhile, the counterarguements and expectations of these being as close to flawless as Star Wars has ever been seem to be based on nothing more than blind faith in Star Wars and Lucas. I have yet to see an arguement that seems to be based on anything other than that.

I am HOPING for the best, but I am bracing myself for the worst.

I myself am not going to buy into any of those "potential possible problems" I mean this is Star Wars, I just can't believe GL would let his movies get released sub par again, but we don't know do we? none of us will until the day comes, and LOL, Ady is one of the very pessimistic guys here on this release, I mean I know Ady, I am a LONG time member at OT, so we know each other pretty well, we have helped each other with many projects and still do, but some just have this in their heads and keep repeating it several times over, as well as the guys on the other side to.

I am neither "praising" or "damning" this release, I am just really hopeful that GL and Company do the right thing this time, and release something that will BLOW us all away, fingers crossed, and I am pretty sure most, if not all in this thread, are hoping for the same.

OH, except for those few that are demanding the untouched OT

*edit - 1 more thing, Ady when you read this post, and still can't figure out who I am LOL, I will tell you that you just helped me on some "frame" work, now you should know, just don't want you to think I am hiding from you LOL.

[miniroll32]

Seeing as they're releasing '3D' versions of the Star Wars saga, it would be highly unlikely that they would use the 2004 1080p transfer.

For such intricate work, they're going to use the best source material they can get their hands on and that will mean going back to the Special Edition negatives for a 4K scan, and only then once the films are back in the digital realm can they bring them to their '2004 edits'.

Whats more, the '3D' versions of the films are being released in theatres, and they're simply not going to blow up a 1080p transfer.

Lastly, the reason I don't think LucasFilm would openly say in their marketing material "New Transfers" (or however if you wish you dress it) is because Blu-ray speaks for itself; its a Hi-Def format and they're expecting the general public to see that as enough incentive for a better looking film. The 1997 and 2004 releases are different examples, because they signaled dramatic changes/edits to the film that warranted press attention. This time round, all the focus is on the 'Complete Saga' product and its apparent 'wealth' of special features, etc.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by miniroll32

Seeing as they're releasing '3D' versions of the Star Wars saga, it would be highly unlikely that they would use the 2004 1080p transfer.

For such intricate work, they're going to use the best source material they can get their hands on and that will mean going back to the Special Edition negatives for a 4K scan, and only then once the films are back in the digital realm can they bring them to their '2004 edits'.

Whats more, the '3D' versions of the films are being released in theatres, and they're simply not going to blow up a 1080p transfer.

True enough, but keep in mind that they are going to be releasing the 3D versions 1 per year starting next year, in Episode number order. This means that we won't even see the first of the OT films in the theater until 2015. And that will only happen IF the initial 3D releases make enough money to warrant releasing the rest of the series in 3D.

It's possible and plausible that they haven't even started the process of putting together a new transfer of the OT to be converted to 3D yet.

Episode 1 is likely on it's way (which explains the evidence of the new transfer that has surfaced), so we might be getting a good new transfer of that with this set. But he might not have even so much as touched the OT yet for whatever will be done to it to ready it for 3D. So we just might be getting the same transfers again with a few new CGI elements slapped over it.

For the record, I would LOVE to be proven wrong on this (and for you to be right). I do not want this release to be bad. But there's enough reasoning to be concerned.

[Mavrick]

Didn't I read somwhere that they would only release all 6 films in 3D if the 1st was a huge success?

[adywan]

Originally Posted by miniroll32

Seeing as they're releasing '3D' versions of the Star Wars saga, it would be highly unlikely that they would use the 2004 1080p transfer.

For such intricate work, they're going to use the best source material they can get their hands on and that will mean going back to the Special Edition negatives for a 4K scan, and only then once the films are back in the digital realm can they bring them to their '2004 edits'.

Whats more, the '3D' versions of the films are being released in theatres, and they're simply not going to blow up a 1080p transfer.

But they are going to have to do this with Episodes 2 & 3 for the 3D versions as these were only filmed in 1080p

[El_Jay]

Ugh, I'm tired of retroactive 3D. Film it in 3D or don't bother. Sometimes the results look pretty good (Thor), but overall it's not worth putting every single movie out in 3D just for the sake of it.

It's the gimmick of the moment, though, I don't expect to see it stop any time soon.

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

Ugh, I'm tired of retroactive 3D. Film it in 3D or don't bother. Sometimes the results look pretty good (Thor), but overall it's not worth putting every single movie out in 3D just for the sake of it.

It's the gimmick of the moment, though, I don't expect to see it stop any time soon.

I agree.

But it gives them the perfect excuse to charge more for a ticket. It's no wonder day one sales records get broken on a yearly basis

[DJ_NachoMan]

I will be purchasing this set regardless as I have been Star Wars Saga deprived for nearly 4 years now. Ever since i have upgraded to an HD system and introduced to Bluray i have completely abandoned DVD and have never watched a single once since. Unfortunately, even if the transfer is what i fear it to be, it will be an improvement over the DVD's......

I have to agree with Adywan, an individual who every Star Wars fan should know as the gentlemen who in his own time re-released episode IV to the general public with a new transfer. This transfer was everything a fan could possibly desire, and has addressed every color timing issue frame by frame. My hat is off to you for the hundreds of hours of labour!

In regards to getting the 2011 Blurays with brand spanking new transfers, i myself am also skeptical. I foresee the 2004 transfers being re-used and the only changes made are the digital Yoda being inserted to Episode 1.

I wish nothing more than to see Matte boxes removed from the OT. Color changes fixed (especially on white and pink lightsabers). Black levels fixed as the 2004 release was far too dark and we got a lot of shadow loss. DNR and EE are also something that i fear may plague this release.

I know i have zero proof of this being the case, but as a certain smuggler once said "I have a bad feeling about this"

[chip75]

I think 'new' HD Masters can mean anything. I think there is a good chance that the transfers will be from the ones used to create the 2004 DVD release. My main problem with these is that a lot of detail was lost when they crushed the blacks, causing a lot of uniforms to look like black blobs with no detail. There's no way to retrieve this information. Apart from that I was pretty pleased with the DVD's apart from the colour problems.

PDVD_035.jpg

PDVD_038.jpg

PDVD_039.jpg

And the isn't much you can say about the pink....

PDVD_036.jpg