Unaltered Original Star Wars Trilogy on Blu Ray?

[The Goon]

George already did it. It was a B-side deal in one of the DVD releases.

Downside: it still had the letterboxed aspect ratio for old TVs, and you cannot get the image to fill the screen on a modern TV/monitor.

That's the version I have too. Letterboxed, doesn't even come close to filling the screen, and not possible to change that. And Lucas was being such a child about the whole thing that they didn't bother to color correct anything, so laserdisc or not it looks like a third generation VHS bootleg. Nearly unwatchable.

 

[Halliwax]

I have some old bootlegged laser disc copies I bought back in 2004. I know it was right before they released the special edition on dvd..

Just a few months after I got them in the mail, the SE was in stores

 

[Psab keel]

I had those same bootlegged DVD'S too and at the same time as well.

 

[robn1]

I still have the THX edition Laserdiscs, but both of my players broke down more than 20 years ago

 

[Ron]

I've been wanting to get the OT on laserdisc. I don't have a player but they'd be nice collectibles to have. Much like vinyl records. They're not cheap though for a sealed set.

I believe the Japanese made versions have the more accurate color timing.

 

[Psab keel]

I have the 2006 officially released DVD transfers of the laserdics. I'm so glad I got them when I did!

 

[Jaitea]

This person’s channel is pretty good, here’s the original Star Wars intro right up to Vaders appearance in 4k

TeamNegativeOne likely

He has loads of other clips, including the arrival at Mos Eisley & the Death Star Attack

Just nice to see them without all the Cg alterations screaming at you

John

 

[HMSwolfe]

This person’s channel is pretty good, here’s the original Star Wars intro right up to Vaders appearance in 4k

TeamNegativeOne likely

He has loads of other clips, including the arrival at Mos Eisley & the Death Star Attack

Just nice to see them without all the Cg alterations screaming at you

John

That looks fantastic

 

[Psab keel]

I got to thinking about the original film and for a project no one believed in it was incredibly well documented. Is that standard practice for movies or is Star Wars an exception? I know continuity takes lots of photos for reference during filming but it seems there was a lot of footage shot of the production too. I'd be curious to know.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

Hopefully you all remember the story behind this infamous painting “restoration”…

Octogenarian's Hilarious Failed Attempt At Restoring A Painting

 

[Treadwell]

I got to thinking about the original film and for a project no one believed in it was incredibly well documented. Is that standard practice for movies or is Star Wars an exception? I know continuity takes lots of photos for reference during filming but it seems there was a lot of footage shot of the production too. I'd be curious to know.

Fox had a behind-the-scenes crew there shooting on 16mm. All the studios have been doing that since around the late 60s.

 

[Psab keel]

Thank you for the info. I had a feeling it may have been standard practice, especially given the beleaguered production. I'm sure Fox was curious to know where their money was being spent.

 

[robn1]

This person’s channel is pretty good, here’s the original Star Wars intro right up to Vaders appearance in 4k

TeamNegativeOne likely

He has loads of other clips, including the arrival at Mos Eisley & the Death Star Attack

Just nice to see them without all the Cg alterations screaming at you

John

I had to check this out. It's a new project using the official 4kBD release as the main source, with 4k77 elements used to replace the cg and other changes. Some changes, like the matte boxes and lightsaber colors remain, but it looks like a great option for casual viewing.

D+77 - Star Wars - 4k Theatrical reconstruction (Released) - Original Trilogy

Posted by oohteedee on undefined

originaltrilogy.com

 

[Jaitea]

Brilliant Robn1

It’s so refreshing just to watch these clips, to keep reminding you what a masterpiece the original releases were.

J

 

[edge10]

Brilliant Robn1

It’s so refreshing just to watch these clips, to keep reminding you what a masterpiece the original releases were.

J

Which brings us full circle, as to why it is important to have the real OT available for people to see. It is a work of art, created by many more people than just G.L.

 

[The Terminator]

Yes Laserdisc was higher res.

VHS had about 240 Horizontal lines of resolution. Laserdisc was... 425 lines of resolution.

Update: Laserdisc was an analog signal as well, while DVD/Bluray are digital signals. Laserdisc
could only fit about 60 minutes of video per side and had to be flipped mid-movie.

I believe DVD resolution is 480H and bluray is 720H?

Laserdisc storage capacity is about 3.2Gb of data
DVD is 8.5Gb and Bluray is about 50 gb. So larger capacity media combined with digital compression
gives you better quality and longer movies/more content.

DVD: 576i - 720x576 (414 720 pixels)
HD-DVD/Blu-ray: 1080p - 1920x1080 (2 073 600 pixels).
2K: 1152p - 2048x1152 (2 359 296 pixels).
"4K" blu-ray: 2160p - 3840x2160 (8 294 400 pixels).
4K: 2304p - 4096x2304 (9 437 184 pixels).
5K: 2880p - 5120x2880 (14 745 600 pixels).
35mm film: outputs to roughly more than 5.5K. But in order to really get every last bit of information stored in the celluloid, one should scan it at 11K/12K.
"8K" tv's marketed as "8K" are not. They are actually 7680x4320/4320p (33 177 600 pixels).
8K: 4608p - 8192x4608 (37 748 736 pixels).
12K: 6912p - 12288x6912 (84 934 656 pixels).

All of these, minus DVD is the standard 16:9 resolution. It's all a bit convoluted since companies started marketing UHD resolution as "4K", "8K" when they're really not.

 

[Mottrex]

Let's just say that the last 3D movie I think I watched in 3d was Jaws 3D.

The Hobbit..enough said lol

 

[Solo4114]

I had those same bootlegged DVD'S too and at the same time as well.

I did, too. No idea where I put them. I remain convinced that their prominence was the reason why Lucas released the '06 LD rips. They were literally the same product, just released officially.

And they are, indeed, nigh unwatchable on a modern display. Either the image gets stretched and cut off to fill the screen, or it's like watching on a postage stamp.

 

[Psab keel]

I almost wonder if those bootlegged versions were just stolen from someone who had access to the LD official versions and just leaked them early. I mean the fact that the menus were the same and everything (from what I can recall) was pretty remarkable otherwise. Perhaps George had them in his back pocket and only decided to release it once the bootlegged versions started ending up in people's hands. Who knows? That's just a theory.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

This person’s channel is pretty good, here’s the original Star Wars intro right up to Vaders appearance in 4k

TeamNegativeOne likely

He has loads of other clips, including the arrival at Mos Eisley & the Death Star Attack

Just nice to see them without all the Cg alterations screaming at you

John

That's the Harmy version that uploader is showing off, if I remember correctly. I think he mentions it in some of his other uploads.