Someone explain this to me: Star Wars Trilogy & Indy DVDs already available? (1 Viewer)

[Rob Lutter]

Also the packaging looks pretty cool

You can afford good printers when you don't have to create anything

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I've seen virtually all of these above-mentioned discs at comic book or toy shows and when I lived in LA, my roommate bought a few of them. They are all struck from the LD releases and are bootlegs from Malaysia. Unfortunately, it's damn near impossible to stop the manufacturing of boots in Malaysia. Anyone thinking about purchasing these should note:

-The releases of the original theatrical cuts of the Star Wars films have horrible audio-sync problems making them unwatchable, not to mention lousy picture quality. You're far better off taking your LDs of these and making a DVD-R for your own personal use.

-The DTS tracks on the Special Editions of the Star Wars films are distorted and faulty. I'm referring to the ones pictured above ("Five Star Editions"). The Dolby Digital 5.1 track on Empire Strikes Back is also faulty. A New Hope has a brightness problem which requires you to crank down the brightness on your set. Again, you're just better off with LD set.

-The Indiana Jones Trilogy is mediocre at best. Also struck from the LDs, these are 10 year old transfers which aren't worth it. As Jeff Kleist said, new HD-transferred versions will be available in about 6 months or so. You can bet that these will be sold below wholesale at numerous brick and mortar retailers and you'll probably be able to pick up the trilogy for just a few bucks more than you'd pay for these mediocre releases.

Jeff

 

[Darren Haycock]

Yeah, I was actually considering getting the original trilogy on official VCD (I don't have a VCR anymore) until I realized that it was only available in pan & scan. Booo!!

 

[MarkHastings]

The packaging looks somewhat professional

Professional doesn't always mean legal.

 

[Dave F]

And legal doesn't always mean professional!

-Dave

 

[Dave H]

Gary,

All you have to do it look at sites such as Amazon, Deep Discount DVD, DVD Empire, Best Buy, etc. to see and you will notice they don't carry them. Why would only one retailer carry them and no one else? I am assuming you are new to DVD because otherwise there is no excuse!

 

[Richard Stammer]

By the way, Gary Dee, you shouldn't feel the need to apologize. You made an innocent assumption which only the more rabid DVD fans know is not true. Unfortunately, this can sometimes be a rough group.

 

[JeffPh]

For what it's worth...I didn't know that Star Wars wasn't available on DVD. I am new to DVD, and if I did a search for DVDs and found this site, I could have bought them and never known better. It's not like I would've gone to other sites to make sure they were "real"...I don't do it for any other online purchase.

On the subject of DVDs (small hi-jack). Where do you guys get these DTS and SE DVDs? So far I've only bought a few DVDs, and I just found out there's a better version of one of them coming out soon (Blackhawk Down).:frowning: I had no idea there were different "grades" of the same DVD. I go to Best Buy and rental places for mine, but besides the LOTR extended edition, I've never seen two different copies of the same movie.

 

[Gary->dee]

I've had my PS2 with which I watch DVDs for 2 years now, so yes I'm fairly new to DVDs. What it comes down to is that I'm not used to bootleggers having such sophisticated sites blatantly selling their pirated goods. Bootlegs on ebay is one thing, a clean looking professional site that sells bootlegs and also many other supposedly licensed titles is another. There are so many DVD sites out there and some, for example, sell titles that are only available in certain regions, which is why I had to question the particular site I came across. And yes I know that the SW trilogy is the most anticipated DVDs.

 

[WillG]

I have seen the Episode 4 disc. The DTS is fake. It is more like 5.1 mono

 

[Ricardo C]

But the days of buying multiple copies of these greedy filmakers' films have come to an end for this boy.

Good for you. But... How does this relate to bootlegs and Lucas' status as a victim of this practice?

 

[Qui-Gon John]

I actually have all 6 (SW and Indy). The only real drawback is the sound in Empire gets soft many times during the movie, probably 30 - 40 occurences. I understand this sound problem is on all of the ESB discs that are out there. I thought the picture quality was pretty good for Laserdisc transfers. And the Indy set, IMHO, was flawless as far as sound or picture anamolies, (Jedi & empire had a few frames pixelate on me).

Of course, these are non-anamorphic, (even though some of the web sites and/or packaging material says contrary). I will be buying the official releases when they come out, as I'm sure they'll be anamorphic and much better picture and sound quality. I agree with some other here though, if GL really wanted to minimize the profits these bootleggers have made, he should have released these on DVD years ago!