Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4K UHD (1977-2019)

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Atomic Salad

I watched Empire Strike Back last weekend. Turns out there's an easy fix for those PQ problems.

Step 1: Leave the 4K disc on the shelf (this step can be skipped if you never bought it in the first place).
Step 2: Take the Unaltered Original letterboxed DVD from 2006, play it in an old Blu-ray player from when they still had analog video outputs, over component cable, into a RetroTink scaler, line doubled to 480p, with fake CRT scan lines, output by HDMI, to an OLED TV, zoomed to 16:9, with the brightness limiter turned off.

It looks rad. And the grain issue is completely solved because the grain can't be bad if the grain isn't even there.

To each their own, but my god there are far better options out there than the unaltered original 2006 DVD! Not to mention you're bringing back horrific memories I have from living with visible scan lines on my older 61" 480i CRT RPTV. Hands down the worst display artifact/issue I've ever seen.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Not to mention you're bringing back horrific memories I have from living with visible scan lines on my older 61" 480i CRT RPTV. Hands down the worst display artifact/issue I've ever seen.

For some reason these scan lines are still used in modern films each time a news reel or whatever is shown on full screen

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

For some reason these scan lines are still used in modern films each time a news reel or whatever is shown on full screen

I was able to reduce them quite a bit by reducing the overscan, but ugh. I had to sit further from the screen, as well.

[steel_breeze]

Hmm... I love the 4K discs. Sure they're just about the worst 4K's out there, but to my eyes they're still head and shoulders above every other (official) Star Wars release we've ever gotten. The grain/DNR issues in Empire don't bother me nearly as much as the swimmy Lowry amoeba-grain in the original BDs. And any space shots (Imperial fleet, asteroid chase) look FREAKING PHENOMENAL. Pew pew. Should we have gotten better? Yes! But there's no other (official) release that holds a candle to it. IMHO.

[Mierzwiak]

2006 theatrical DVDs > UHDs

[KarmaNL]

used to believe that I was a huge Star Wars fan, but the more they keep expanding, the more I started to realise I only like the OG trilogy. Absolutely nothing else, not the prequels, the sequels, none of the tv shows..

And that is also fine.

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by KarmaNL

used to believe that I was a huge Star Wars fan, but the more they keep expanding, the more I started to realise I only like the OG trilogy. Absolutely nothing else, not the prequels, the sequels, none of the tv shows..

And that is also fine.

I've experienced this whole "less is more" phenomenon myself with Star Wars, although my "likes" extend to all eleven live-action feature films. Really nothing else, anymore.

I think of all franchises... and even genres... this way: I have finite "buckets" of interest in any given thing, and those buckets definitely get filled. Scarface '32, Godfather I and II and Casino fill up my bucket when it comes to "gangster movies", so I've never gotten into Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire or even Goodfellas. Lord of the Rings completely fills up my bucket of interest in "fantasy / sword and sorcery" so I've never gotten into Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, or even the additional Tolkien filmed entries in theaters or on streaming.

So that's the way it is with me 'n' Star Wars. For a lonnnng time... up through Rise of Skywalker... I didn't think I had a limit on how much Star Wars I craved. But Disney sure drove me to that limit and beyond. I do still love those eleven features, though.

[motorheadache95]

I think of Disney Star Wars like the old expanded universe. There were lots of stories coming out and they sometimes seemed random and all over the timeline. They were also pretty hit and miss— For every Thrawn Trilogy there was a Crystal Star or Courtship of Princess Leia.

I do think they needed to cool it on Star Wars stuff. Like Marvel, Star Wars definitely suffered from the “fill our streaming service with content” mandate.

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by KarmaNL

used to believe that I was a huge Star Wars fan, but the more they keep expanding, the more I started to realise I only like the OG trilogy. Absolutely nothing else, not the prequels, the sequels, none of the tv shows..

And that is also fine.

I feel mostly the same, but I do really enjoy Andor and, to a sightly lesser extent, Rogue One.

[KMFDMvsEnya]

For all the faults, I prefer the 4K (intended for 3D conversion) transfers over the earlier digital transfers.

Those Lowry transfers have gwad awful colors which are riddle with chroma errors.

The 4K transfers are a tad drab and the contrast is a bit flat, especially in comparison to the earlier digitla transfers. I would prefer just a bit more saturation and contrast.

Take this shot for example.
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...143172&i=1&l=0

The reason why R2-D2s blue colored panels are so darn vibrant is because they jacked up the blues in order to make the skies have more color contrast, but rest of image exhibits elevated blues as well.

The white panels exhibits blueish hues and those dark/gray lines are also very blueish.

All the contours in the sand register more blue rather than shades of sand yellow, never mind the sand is also bluish.

All this is perhaps not that obvious in context of watching the overall grading, but in direct comparison without jacked up colors the issues are more apparent.

Highlights are often clipped, although many fan color grades often clip the highlights even more aggressively than that, in the older transfers.

There are shots in the movies in which C3P0 goldish hue registers with greens, again due to the agressive color grading.

[gameguru]

While the UHDs do fall short from being spectacular, claiming any previous home video master as better is just wrong IMO. Keeping it strictly digital, we have GOUT DVDs, 2004 SE DVDs, 2011 Blus and the 2020 UHDs/Blus.

GOUT - Based on the smeary, ghosting, grain obliterated and sharpened THX LaserDisc master. Mosquito noise is prevalent throughout. Best release for original version outside of fan projects, but still poor.

2004 SE - Underlying scan is improved from GOUT. Resolution gains are great in comparison. However it is a contrast boosted, hue pushed, grain blasted and oversharpened mess. Soft looking due to the nature of SD resolution.

2011 Blu - Same master from SE DVDs but in HD. 2.35 aspect ratio instead of 2.39. They look better because of resolution boost but even in 2011 the scan already looked poor and dated. Same issues as 2004 discs.

2020 UHD - Underlying transfer is great. Resolution gains are huge in comparison to the 2004 scan. Colors are finally accurate and are similar to the 97 Special Edition restoration colors. Finally in the correct 2.39 aspect ratio. Grain has been scrubbed to near extinction unfortunately and has been sharpened leading to a swimmy unnatural grain at times.

2020 Blu - Same as UHDs. Some have said the lower resolution hides the faults of the UHDs, but I can't corroborate those claims.

Unfortunately no release is perfect. That being said though the UHDs are the "best" official way to watch the films.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by gameguru

While the UHDs do fall short from being spectacular, claiming any previous home video master as better is just wrong IMO. (...) That being said though the UHDs are the "best" official way to watch the films.

IMO they're the worst.

See how it works?

[Atomic Salad]

Originally Posted by gameguru

While the UHDs do fall short from being spectacular, claiming any previous home video master as better is just wrong IMO. Keeping it strictly digital, we have GOUT DVDs, 2004 SE DVDs, 2011 Blus and the 2020 UHDs/Blus.

GOUT - Based on the smeary, ghosting, grain obliterated and sharpened THX LaserDisc master. Mosquito noise is prevalent throughout. Best release for original version outside of fan projects, but still poor.

2004 SE - Underlying scan is improved from GOUT. Resolution gains are great in comparison. However it is a contrast boosted, hue pushed, grain blasted and oversharpened mess. Soft looking due to the nature of SD resolution.

2011 Blu - Same master from SE DVDs but in HD. 2.35 aspect ratio instead of 2.39. They look better because of resolution boost but even in 2011 the scan already looked poor and dated. Same issues as 2004 discs.

2020 UHD - Underlying transfer is great. Resolution gains are huge in comparison to the 2004 scan. Colors are finally accurate and are similar to the 97 Special Edition restoration colors. Finally in the correct 2.39 aspect ratio. Grain has been scrubbed to near extinction unfortunately and has been sharpened leading to a swimmy unnatural grain at times.

2020 Blu - Same as UHDs. Some have said the lower resolution hides the faults of the UHDs, but I can't corroborate those claims.

Unfortunately no release is perfect. That being said though the UHDs are the "best" official way to watch the films.

Hey thanks for the detailed post.

Lemme axe u a question though: Which release should I get if I want Han shooting first, Palpy with chimp eyes, and old man Anakin ghost?

[gameguru]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

IMO they're the worst.

See how it works?

You are absolutely entitled to your opinion as am I. I'm simply listing my reasons as to why I believe any previous home video master is worse than this one. I'm not here to change anyone's mind, just offer my thoughts. What anyone does with that information is not my concern.

[gameguru]

Originally Posted by Atomic Salad

Hey thanks for the detailed post.

Lemme axe u a question though: Which release should I get if I want Han shooting first, Palpy with chimp eyes, and old man Anakin ghost?

The best release for you officially is the GOUT DVDs, but they can be pricey. There is however many fan solutions out there as well if you fancy sailing the seven seas.

If you have a LaserDisc player you may want to consider some of those options as well like the pre THX LaserDiscs. They have a more pleasing video compared to the Collectors Edition/Faces LaserDiscs. Just make sure they're the letterbox editions and not the time compressed full screen versions.

ANH does have an issue of shrinking aspect ratio on most pre THX LaserDiscs due to how it was mastered from a Japanese LaserDisc that had hard coded subtitles. The other films are fine with no major issues that I can think of.

[Azurfel]

Originally Posted by Atomic Salad

Hey thanks for the detailed post.

Lemme axe u a question though: Which release should I get if I want Han shooting first, Palpy with chimp eyes, and old man Anakin ghost?

One of the various releases of the 2006 "Limited Edition" 2-disc DVDs if you want an official release. Disc one of each film is the 2004 SE, disc two the "GOUT".

There is a trilogy tin, which bundled the three individual releases, alternate versions of the individual release that included art cards, big box store bundles that added the graphic novel adaptations, or the 2008 slim case trilogy pack to choose from.

[tylergfoster]

Hmm. Was reading the replies and thought, maybe I don't need the 4K UHDs and I was considering the BD sets, but those look bad too? Crazy how one of the biggest franchises in film history looks like shit on home video. Now I'm hoping the 50th brings entirely new discs.

[Azurfel]

Originally Posted by tylergfoster

Hmm. Was reading the replies and thought, maybe I don't need the 4K UHDs and I was considering the BD sets, but those look bad too? Crazy how one of the biggest franchises in film history looks like shit on home video. Now I'm hoping the 50th brings entirely new discs.

To emphasize: we can quibble about where the 4Ks fall in the tier list, but the transfer used for the 2011 BDs and the 2004 DVDs is the worst the original trilogy has looked on home video.

They somehow managed to make the lightsabers, which they redid from scratch using the prequel trilogy workflow, the wrong colors. Consistently. It's utterly baffling, and the (still mediocre) 4K transfer is a revelation in comparison.

My dream 50th anniversary release would include proper restorations for all five major cuts of the OT (six if George wants to have one last go at it), because however little i think of the changes made in the 2004 and 2011 revisions, they still deserve better.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by tylergfoster

Hmm. Was reading the replies and thought, maybe I don't need the 4K UHDs and I was considering the BD sets, but those look bad too? Crazy how one of the biggest franchises in film history looks like shit on home video.

Yes, that's what happens when the creator of that franchise is film-hating lunatic with zero taste.

Speaking of lightsabers looking wrong, what the hell happened during the color grading of The Rise of Skywalker? Why the lightsabers have not white but colored cores?

[Halloween_Jack]

Originally Posted by KarmaNL

used to believe that I was a huge Star Wars fan, but the more they keep expanding, the more I started to realise I only like the OG trilogy. Absolutely nothing else, not the prequels, the sequels, none of the tv shows..

And that is also fine.

That’s pretty much where I am now, though I do enjoy Rogue One and Andor, though kind of consider those as alternate timelines or something. Thing is the original Trilogy represent filmic moments in time that can never be recaptured. I honestly don’t think those that grew up later can really appreciate just how huge these films where at the time. These days you get great special effects in routine TV adverts, apps on mobile devices and so on. It’s everywhere. But back then it turned films into ‘must see’ event movies. But the Star Wars trilogy also had fantastic actors, characters, scripts (mostly, though admit the well was just starting to run dry with ROTJ, much as I love it), and - of course - the scores!

I’ve long resigned myself to the fact that - much like modern Star Trek - modern Star Wars (Andor aside) exists largely due to mimicking echoes of greatness from the past. I was watching Close Encounters the other night, and was reflecting once again about what an uncredible era for genre films that was. Awe and wonder. I love that it’s all ‘real’. Hand-made. Organic. Human. Being extra inventive visually as back then we had no CGI. Scripts had to be stronger.

Rambling aside, will be interesting to see what they do for the 50th in 2027! Hoping for theatrical releases, of the original versions. Hey, a geek can dream eh?