Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Weirded Wonder]

I Wish I could just wish away my feelings.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by svenge

The audio is uncompressed digital Dolby Surround on all the UOT LDs from 1989 onwards. The 2006 UOT LDs are Dolby 2.0 @ 192kbps. Also, the 2006 UOT DVDs were single-layer only, so the video bitrate was constrained from that standpoint as well.

What is the bitrate for the audio on the LD? Is it PCM? I can understand that, but the picture quality from what I understand is as good or better on the DVD version.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

What is the bitrate for the audio on the LD? Is it PCM? I can understand that, but the picture quality from what I understand is as good or better on the DVD version.

LD's digital audio is 16-bit PCM @ 44.1kHz, which is the same specs as a CD. As for the video quality, since LD is an analog video format the PQ is highly dependent on the quality of the model of player used.

[vidjunkie]

Originally Posted by svenge

The audio is uncompressed digital Dolby Surround on all the UOT LDs from 1989 onwards. The 2006 UOT LDs are Dolby 2.0 @ 192kbps. Also, the 2006 UOT DVDs were single-layer only, so the video bitrate was constrained from that standpoint as well. To call them half-assed would be a severe understatement.

No they were not, they were dual layer DVD's.

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Cost. Seriously this is what it boils down to folks. Lucas does not want to invest the money that it would take to do a proper restoration of the UOT and put it on blu ray. He doesn't have the confidence that it would sell well enough to make back what he would have to invest in doing it.

Wrong. You could slap a Star Wars logo on a line of Jenga blocks and they would sell record numbers.

He just doesn't want those films to be remembered with bad special FX and puppets for all of eternity.

Honestly, I don't want the completely unaltered OT either... I want all the added scenes scrapped, but I want to keep the new FX scenes like the improved explosions, better-looking landspeeders, etc.

That's what I would consider the best of both worlds. No added scenes, just the true "fixes" that I never had a problem with in 1997.

[Hatter]

According to the IGN reviews the 2006 UOT editions are also 4:3 letterboxed only

[BozQ]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

What is the bitrate for the audio on the LD? Is it PCM? I can understand that, but the picture quality from what I understand is as good or better on the DVD version.

When it comes to uncompressed LPCM, the audio bitrate is not quite relevant. The resolution and sample rate is more important to know. In LD's case, it's 16-bit, 44100KHz. Which is the same as CD.
The 2006 UOT DVDs looked good to me. According to Lucasfilms, it was taken by a LD Master Source. So to compress it to DVD will pretty much end up with similar quality than LDs.. Buy the PAL version and you get extra lines of video resolution over NTSC.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[svenge]

Originally Posted by vidjunkie

No they were not, they were dual layer DVD's.

Just pulled out one of them (ROTJ) and I stand corrected. It had 7.5GB of A/V data on the disc.

Originally Posted by BozQ

Buy the PAL version and you get extra lines of video resolution over NTSC.

I don't think the PAL speed-up is worth it, especially for a movie with such iconic music.

[Cinescott]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Cost. Seriously this is what it boils down to folks. Lucas does not want to invest the money that it would take to do a proper restoration of the UOT and put it on blu ray. He doesn't have the confidence that it would sell well enough to make back what he would have to invest in doing it.

Here's a pretty technical article on the current state of the Star Wars OT camera negatives:

http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/savingstarwars.html

In summary, the OT could be restored at basically any time at an estimated cost of about a million dollars. Certainly not chump change for any of us, but for George Lucas, it's probably affordable. Compared to the OT restoration cost in the 90s of twenty million, it's pretty cheap. Interestingly, 20th Century Fox foot the bill for that one.

The things that shocked me from this article was the truly bad state the OCN was in prior to about 95 or so. It was almost lost due to bad film stocks, but was caught in time and everything (including all the original scenes) was saved and archived (in the Fox vault in Kansas). While true that special edition scenes were edited in to negative film stock, they could as easily be edited out and replaced with original material. At worst, there would be a loss of 1 or 2 frames surrounding some of the wipes. Note that only the original material that was spliced out in the 90s would need any restoration work and some of that may not need any other than cleaning.

Also, it's interesting to note that George Lucas loaned YCM Labs his own personal 1977 Technicolor print of Star Wars in the 90s for color comparison during the restoration, since Technicolor does not fade with time. Quoting YCM, George said, "that's the Star Wars I made." Make of that what you will.

The point is that for any flaws in the Blu-rays (and apart from the changes, they look pretty good IMO), the finger should be pointed at George Lucas, not Lowry, since GL approved every second of these transfers. John Lowry is on record saying he expected Lucas to be back for new high definition transfers after 2004, but it never happened. Most likely, given the new effects in the special editions were rendered at ~2k (which was fine for theatrical prints), George Lucas saw no reason to render any of the films higher than that for HD, since it would only bring out gaping flaws. Once again, Blu-ray shows itself to be often better than the medium it is trying to emulate (film).

[Shaft Windu]

Originally Posted by AltaDef

There is nothing in the OT as awful as this:

Anakin Skywalker: You are so... beautiful.
Padmé: It's only because I'm so in love.
Anakin Skywalker: No, it's because I'm so in love with you.
Padmé: So love has blinded you?
Anakin Skywalker: [laughs] Well, that's not exactly what I meant.
Padmé: But it's probably true.

This dialogue is a good example! It's in the same style and rythm like f.e. this:

[Show spoiler]Leia: You make it so difficult sometimes.
Han Solo: I do, I really do. You could be a little nicer, though. Come on, admit it. Sometimes you think I'm all right.
Leia: Occasionally, maybe... when you aren't acting like a scoundrel.
Han Solo: Scoundrel? Scoundrel? I like the sound of that.
Leia: Stop that.
Han Solo: Stop what?
Leia: Stop that. My hands are dirty.
Han Solo: My hands are dirty, too. What are you afraid of?
Leia: Afraid?
Han Solo: You're trembling.
Leia: I'm not trembling.
Han Solo: You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life.
Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm nice men.

It's just the same in style, just on the opposite side of the spectrum. The Han/Leia dynamic (Rhett & Scarlett) is riffing on the classic tragic love-story of Anakin/Padme (Romeo & Julia) that preceded it in the story. Just as Luke is a variation of the Anakin-character...

[Beast]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

I think I paid 157.50 plus about 15.00 for shipping. It is a beast to ship for sure. I would put the link from the sell but I think that is forbidden on this site.

Man. They're going for that much? Maybe I should sell my set. Since I have the LD encodes on DVD.

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by Shaft Windu

This dialogue is a good example! It's in the same style and rythm like f.e. this:

[Show spoiler]Leia: You make it so difficult sometimes.
Han Solo: I do, I really do. You could be a little nicer, though. Come on, admit it. Sometimes you think I'm all right.
Leia: Occasionally, maybe... when you aren't acting like a scoundrel.
Han Solo: Scoundrel? Scoundrel? I like the sound of that.
Leia: Stop that.
Han Solo: Stop what?
Leia: Stop that. My hands are dirty.
Han Solo: My hands are dirty, too. What are you afraid of?
Leia: Afraid?
Han Solo: You're trembling.
Leia: I'm not trembling.
Han Solo: You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life.
Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm nice men.

It's just the same in style, just on the opposite side of the spectrum. The Han/Leia dynamic (Rhett & Scarlett) is riffing on the classic tragic love-story of Anakin/Padme (Romeo & Julia) that preceded it in the story. Just as Luke is a variation of the Anakin-character...

Doesn't sound like the same style to me. The delivery and charm (or lack of in the new one) is completely different as well.

[The Dragon]

Has anyone noticed, that too many people have noticed what was noticeable, while noticing the films, and noticed what was noticed by everyone else who noticed, while they were noticing?

!!

[ahossein79]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

It is fact that the prequels suck, but it doesn't stop me from watching them. My favorite baseball team is the Mets and I know that they suck, but it doesn't stop me from watching them.

You are a buffoon if you think your opinion is a fact, and a arrogant buffoon at that. Once again if you are looking for simplistic facts and black and white truths than I suggest you do something other than watching movies, because obviously you are not getting the point of interpretation.

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by The Dragon

Has anyone noticed, that too many people have noticed what was noticeable, while noticing the films, and noticed what was noticed by everyone else who noticed, while they were noticing?

!!

Arrrgh! You just blew my mind!

[troysayshi]

Whatever's been said on this extensive thread Lucasfilm have definitely missed a trick by not releasing this in 1:33 format much better than that overrated 2:35.

After all wasn't the original original release on VHS "...In a galaxy far far away" released in such away. I therefore rest my case that 1:33 would be the purest home presentation for "Star Wars."

[Cinescott]

Originally Posted by troysayshi

Whatever's been said on this extensive thread Lucasfilm have definitely missed a trick by not releasing this in 1:33 format much better than that overrated 2:35.

After all wasn't the original original release on VHS "...In a galaxy far far away" released in such away. I therefore rest my case that 1:33 would be the purest home presentation for "Star Wars."

I hate those black bars on the sides of my 16x9 HDTV

[dasWolf]

Originally Posted by rgray_69

i have a Panasonic DMP-BD50 blu-ray player it happened at that spot and also at 1:19:28. I went to the store and tried the disc in another player and it didn't mess up. I tried a different copy in my blu-ray player and it messed up in those 2 spots.

Jeepers - you miss a day and you're a thousand posts behind...

Thanks for the response - I've been using a Panasonic DMP-BD35 and a Denon 3311 so it looks like based on the others who have since posted on the issue it's either a problem with one of those (Panny or Denon) or the two in combination.

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by Shaft Windu

This dialogue is a good example! It's in the same style and rythm like f.e. this:

[Show spoiler]Leia: You make it so difficult sometimes.
Han Solo: I do, I really do. You could be a little nicer, though. Come on, admit it. Sometimes you think I'm all right.
Leia: Occasionally, maybe... when you aren't acting like a scoundrel.
Han Solo: Scoundrel? Scoundrel? I like the sound of that.
Leia: Stop that.
Han Solo: Stop what?
Leia: Stop that. My hands are dirty.
Han Solo: My hands are dirty, too. What are you afraid of?
Leia: Afraid?
Han Solo: You're trembling.
Leia: I'm not trembling.
Han Solo: You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life.
Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm nice men.

It's just the same in style, just on the opposite side of the spectrum. The Han/Leia dynamic (Rhett & Scarlett) is riffing on the classic tragic love-story of Anakin/Padme (Romeo & Julia) that preceded it in the story. Just as Luke is a variation of the Anakin-character...

Those don't even sound close to being on the same level, no matter how much justification and juxtaposition you try and give it.

One is clever and suits their characters, one is totally obvious and devoid of any character.

Even reading it on paper it's obvious, let alone actually seeing the scene play out.

This is where we must agree to disagree, because obviously opinions aren't "wrong" but no amount of justification in the world could convince me those 2 exchanges are even remotely similar in quality.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by svenge

LD's digital audio is 16-bit PCM @ 44.1kHz, which is the same specs as a CD. As for the video quality, since LD is an analog video format the PQ is highly dependent on the quality of the model of player used.

The video quality of the DVDs are better than the LDs. They use the same *source* (a D-2 digital video master), the DVDs did not use LDs as the source. No sparkes, herringbone, dropouts, varying black levels or color noise on the DVDs compared to the LDs.

Sound wise, once the signal is processed there is slight advantage to the PCM of the LDs. Due to Pro-Logic processing, a lot of the advantages are lost due to logic steering and filtering.