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Another 'Star Wars' DVD in the works? Blu-ray perhaps?
Posted February 10, 2007 at 10:14 AM Central Time

By Tim Briscoe

You own the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD. You may even own the unaltered version of Star Wars released last year. Now it seems George Lucas has yet another DVD edition of Star Wars on which to spend your hard-earned money.

ComingSoon.net cites an AP report on toymaker Hasbro's earnings for the new DVD rumor. Hasbro, the people who produce the Star Wars toys, expects demand for action figures to remain high "with Lucas planning a video release for this year's 30th anniversary."

(The article also mentions next year's Star Wars animated TV series and the live-action series in 2009 as potential drivers of toy sales.)

This year does mark the anniversary of the first Star Wars film released in 1977. Many toys, books, and other Star Wars-related projects have already been announced to honor the 30 year mark.

The vague mention of a "video release" sparks many rumors. For instance, could this mean a high definition release on Blu-ray Disc? Lucasfilm's distributor Twentieth Century Fox is a backer of this new format.

If this Star Wars on Blu-ray rumor is true it would mark an enormous victory for the format over bitter rival HD-DVD. Not only would it drive toy sales but it would drive many consumers to finally buy one of the expensive Blu-ray players.

I would love nothing more than to have the Star Wars saga on Blu Ray. Well, besides my wife and kids.

That looks faked though. I am assuming the ultimate box set is what they are talking about. All six movies in one set.

You can forget about Star Wars on HD anytime soon. Just not going to happen. It took Lucas 5 years before he released his first DVD...7 years for the Original Trilogy. We'll be getting a DVD boxset of the entire Saga. That's it.

An HD release is light years away....

I remember all of these threads on different forums back in the early days of DVD. I'll remain skeptical on rumors such as these. Would be spectacular if it happened, but I certainly won't hold my breath.

I'd hold my breath on the originals, but the last three, that were filmed in full digital HD, would not be hard to put on Blu-Ray. I just think Lucas would not release out of order though (technically by story line that would be in order though)

You can forget about Star Wars on HD anytime soon. Just not going to happen. It took Lucas 5 years before he released his first DVD...7 years for the Original Trilogy. We'll be getting a DVD boxset of the entire Saga. That's it.

An HD release is light years away....

And you know this how? Your answer is just a speculative as the article to which this thread is based off of. Since we are all just 'speculating' here, let's look at the facts:

Lucasfilm is planning some kind of new video release of the Star Wars movies towards the latter half of the year, though info is non-specific as to what we can actually expect.

The Original Trilogy has now been fully restored and mastered by Lowry Digital in High Definition, though hints have been dropped that Lucas is still interested in 'tweaking' the movies a little more. The reason the DVD's took so long to materialize is because Lucas was busy with the Prequel Trilogy, which is now finished, and wanted to have the Original Trilogy cleaned up and restored, which has now come to pass.

My feelings are we might possibly see the Star Wars movies on Blu-ray sooner than most think, i for one remain hopeful.

I wouldnt hold my breath on this being released on BluRay ANY time soon.........Lucas has a history of waiting the format out (look how long it took to get the DVD).......There IS a 30th Anny set being released BUT expect that to be a DVD (NON HD) release.

If this Star Wars on Blu-ray rumor is true it would mark an enormous victory for the format over bitter rival HD-DVD.

LOL this looks like it should be in yellow text scrolling up the screen with the Star Wars theme playing.


The rebel alliance has fought hard against the evil Blu-Ray empire, but with most of the Galaxy's trade posts under the Empire's rule, defeat seems inevitible.

It seems we get these thread titles to mislead potential readers into thinking that Star Wars is really close to getting released on Blu-ray---when the title is pure speculation. We could have a similar thread in the HD DVD section speculating the same thing about ET and Jurassic Park with a bold headline implying that they are imminent, and that would be just as wrong as this is. I guess if I were a casual observer of the avsforum then I would see this thread title and realize that Blu-ray is getting Star Wars so I better buy Blu-ray---and so the propaganda machine goes.

There IS a 30th Anny set being released BUT expect that to be a DVD (NON HD) release.

Yes, we have heard a 30th anniversary boxset is in the works, but again I ask, does anyone KNOW there is no BD version in the works? And I mean really have having some true insider info, because so many here seem to be posting with absolute certainty that we won't be seeing any kind of high def release anytime within my lifespan. :rolleyes:

Yes, we have heard a 30th anniversary boxset is in the works, but again I ask, does anyone KNOW there is no BD version in the works? And I mean really have having some true insider info, because so many here seem to be posting with absolute certainty that we won't be seeing any kind of high def release anytime within my lifespan. :rolleyes:

Luca is VERY tight lipped about releasing info the current leak is one that was gained off of a third party (Hasbro) and most people are going by what he has done in the past since he did not support DVD for Star Wars for Years........it may be years until we see a HD version on Disc (you can always see it on Cinemax or HBO)......I wouldnt say never just not soon.....

Yes, we have heard a 30th anniversary boxset is in the works, but again I ask, does anyone KNOW there is no BD version in the works? And I mean really have having some true insider info, because so many here seem to be posting with absolute certainty that we won't be seeing any kind of high def release anytime within my lifespan. :rolleyes:
I agree. What does how long something took to come to standard DVD have anything to do with this? Everybody here talks like George is there best friend and would never do such and such.... ridiculous.

These movies really looked great on DVD..I hope we get these sooner rather than later..and if i may...THE GODFATHER!

(you can always see it on Cinemax or HBO)....

I didn't think that the HD versions on Cinemax looked much better than SD DVD upconverted. I just watched Revenge of the Sith though. Forgot to record the others.

I see this as unlikely. I don't think Lucas will ignore the 30th Anniversary. He will release something. My gut says Clone Wars S1 and S2 on a 50gb disc.

If you are any kind of star wars fan, you should watch The Clone Wars. Great series. I bought them for my son and ended up watching them a couple of times each.

On some real ****...this title needs to be changed.

Some say since he didn't release it on DVD right away means something, it doesn't mean jack since he did release them on Laser.

The orginal films look amazing in 1080p. From my BBCHD 1080p 20Mbps capture:


http://www.own-age.org/images/Empire_Strikes_Back_1.gif (http://www.own-age.org/images/Empire_Strikes_Back_1.png)

The orginal films look amazing in 1080p. From my BBCHD 1080p 20Mbps capture:


http://www.own-age.org/images/Empire_Strikes_Back_1.gif (http://www.own-age.org/images/Empire_Strikes_Back_1.png)

Can you do this with a PS3?

I didn't think that the HD versions on Cinemax looked much better than SD DVD upconverted. I just watched Revenge of the Sith though. Forgot to record the others.


Yikes!! They were far far far superior in PQ to any of the released DVD versions with upconversion.

It seems we get these thread titles to mislead potential readers into thinking that Star Wars is really close to getting released on Blu-ray---when the title is pure speculation. We could have a similar thread in the HD DVD section speculating the same thing about ET and Jurassic Park with a bold headline implying that they are imminent, and that would be just as wrong as this is. I guess if I were a casual observer of the avsforum then I would see this thread title and realize that Blu-ray is getting Star Wars so I better buy Blu-ray---and so the propaganda machine goes.Uh, we already had one of those. The Look and Sound of Perfect had to issue a retraction and apology to Spielberg for adding those very titles you mentioned to a Coming Soon list. So much for propaganda machines.

Yikes!! They were far far far superior in PQ to any of the released DVD versions with upconversion.

I only saw a bit of Star Wars (EP IV) on HBO-HD over the weekend. While it was at a friend's house, on their set, subjectively it looked pretty danged nice. I watch mine at home thru a 3k scaler/processor - to upconvert the std dvds. The HD broadcast looked quite a bit nicer to me. Might not be the case with the newer ones, but the stark, clean lines of the original, uncluttered by too much CGI, looked awfully nice.

I'd buy it. - might as well - I dropped something like a buck and a half to get the first LD collection - why not get them on BD?

I only saw a bit of Star Wars (EP IV) on HBO-HD over the weekend. While it was at a friend's house, on their set, subjectively it looked pretty danged nice. I watch mine at home thru a 3k scaler/processor - to upconvert the std dvds. The HD broadcast looked quite a bit nicer to me. Might not be the case with the newer ones, but the stark, clean lines of the original, uncluttered by too much CGI, looked awfully nice.

I'd buy it. - might as well - I dropped something like a buck and a half to get the first LD collection - why not get them on BD?

It would be nice....but I think he's still tinkering, I think there was talk to go back on EP1 to replace the puppet Yoda with the CG one and other "tweaks" so probably until this stuff is done and milking the DVD side, then we'll see BD Star Wars...

I think we might actually see all 6 of these films this holiday season in a 30th Anniversary Box Set Edition Exclusively on Blu-ray. I see no reason for Lucas not to do this. Seeing how frequently this franchise is released in various formats, he can simple double/triple dip later on. He could also allow the release as a favor for Fox to help them in their backing of Blu-ray. Who knows? Only time will tell. I will just say this, if these films do come to Blu-ray this Fall/Winter, I would not be in the slightest surprised.

~Josh

delete

Yikes!! They were far far far superior in PQ to any of the released DVD versions with upconversion.

I am running a DTV HD DVR to a Sony pearl at 1080p on a 106" screen. To me it looked like Revenge of the Sith was "dumbed" down on HBO HD. Maybe the cinemax version looked better.

I saw a lot of compression artifacts. It wasn't OAR either right? It wasn't bad, but my setup makes good SD DVD's look pretty darn good.

JMHO

I think we might actually see all 6 of these films this holiday season in a 30th Anniversary Box Set Edition Exclusively on Blu-ray. I see no reason for Lucas not to do this. Seeing how frequently this franchise is released in various formats, he can simple double/triple dip later on. He could also allow the release as a favor for Fox to help them in their backing of Blu-ray. Who knows? Only time will tell. I will just say this, if these films do come to Blu-ray this Fall/Winter, I would not be in the slightest surprised.

~Josh

I wouldn't be surprised either.

I think we might actually see all 6 of these films this holiday season in a 30th Anniversary Box Set Edition Exclusively on Blu-ray. I see no reason for Lucas not to do this. Seeing how frequently this franchise is released in various formats, he can simple double/triple dip later on. He could also allow the release as a favor for Fox to help them in their backing of Blu-ray. Who knows? Only time will tell. I will just say this, if these films do come to Blu-ray this Fall/Winter, I would not be in the slightest surprised.

~Josh

It would be great, but it seems like wishful thinking.

The orginal films look amazing in 1080p. From my BBCHD 1080p 20Mbps capture:


http://www.own-age.org/images/Empire_Strikes_Back_1.gif (http://www.own-age.org/images/Empire_Strikes_Back_1.png)

I do not know where you got this capture, but nobody broadcasts 1080p. Second of all BBCHD did not show any Star Wars. They were shown on SkyHD at 17Mbps h.264 with sound speed up.

I've see them all except Jedi, and while AOTC and ROTS don't have a big difference over upconverted DVD. TPM looks much better than the EE laced DVD, and ANH and ESB have a more natural look as well.

You can forget about Star Wars on HD anytime soon. Just not going to happen. It took Lucas 5 years before he released his first DVD...7 years for the Original Trilogy. We'll be getting a DVD boxset of the entire Saga. That's it.

An HD release is light years away....

If I remember correctly (and I'm pretty sure I do), the reason it took so long to get SW on DVD is that GL was considering skipping the format altogether and waiting to release all six films as a Hi-Def boxset.

Only after a huge internet outcry did he start to release SW on DVD, starting with Ep. 1 in 2001 - two years after the theatrical release!

As for a Blu-Ray release this year, it's certainly possible and it would be great. I'll wait for an official announcement before getting my hope up, though.

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Another 'Star Wars' DVD in the works? Blu-ray perhaps?
Posted February 10, 2007 at 10:14 AM Central Time

By Tim Briscoe

You own the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD. You may even own the unaltered version of Star Wars released last year. Now it seems George Lucas has yet another DVD edition of Star Wars on which to spend your hard-earned money.

ComingSoon.net cites an AP report on toymaker Hasbro's earnings for the new DVD rumor. Hasbro, the people who produce the Star Wars toys, expects demand for action figures to remain high "with Lucas planning a video release for this year's 30th anniversary."

(The article also mentions next year's Star Wars animated TV series and the live-action series in 2009 as potential drivers of toy sales.)

This year does mark the anniversary of the first Star Wars film released in 1977. Many toys, books, and other Star Wars-related projects have already been announced to honor the 30 year mark.

The vague mention of a "video release" sparks many rumors. For instance, could this mean a high definition release on Blu-ray Disc? Lucasfilm's distributor Twentieth Century Fox is a backer of this new format.

If this Star Wars on Blu-ray rumor is true it would mark an enormous victory for the format over bitter rival HD-DVD. Not only would it drive toy sales but it would drive many consumers to finally buy one of the expensive Blu-ray players.

Who's saying there will be a Blu-ray release? It looks like idle speculation to me.

That being said, the first time I ever heard of Blu-ray was from GL. He said he was planning on doing all 6 films in a BD box set.

He seems to have close ties with Sony because I remember him touting the massive power of the PS2 a couple years before it came out as well.

Is it possible? I suppose. Is it likely? No.

Fake.

Fake.

I don't think anyone is saying that's a real cover-scan, just a mock-up of what one would look like.

I am running a DTV HD DVR to a Sony pearl at 1080p on a 106" screen. To me it looked like Revenge of the Sith was "dumbed" down on HBO HD. Maybe the cinemax version looked better.

I saw a lot of compression artifacts. It wasn't OAR either right? It wasn't bad, but my setup makes good SD DVD's look pretty darn good.

JMHO

Was this from DirecTV? That would explain some of the problems. Comcast here has a noticeably more detailed picture than from DirecTV since DirectV drops the resolution to 1280x0180i. It is a noticeable difference with a 1080P set.

yes, it is a directv 1080i box. The picture is actually pretty good. Our local Cox cable HD picture is some of the worst HD I have ever seen.

It just appeared to me that revenge of the sith looked downrezzed.

I don't care which format as long as it is in HD! :eek:

I do not know where you got this capture, but nobody broadcasts 1080p. Second of all BBCHD did not show any Star Wars. They were shown on SkyHD at 17Mbps h.264 with sound speed up.

there are all out on the net in 1080p, so they had to be broadcasted somewhere in 1080p, so hopefully somebody will now the origin of that 1080p broadcas..

Marek

P.S. found info..

SW I-VI h.264 DD5.1: shyHD caps

SW IV-VI h.264 DD2.0: premiereHD caps

SW I-III mpeg2 DD5.1: HBO caps

SW IV-VI mpeg2 DD5.1: cinemax caps

The films have all been on HBO-HD recently. Empire is still the best scifi/fantasy film ever made, really holds up well despite the unnecessary changes.

I find it very odd that Fox/Lucas will basically give me these for next to nothing but decline to sell them to me for $30 each! Very strange.

I would bet that we will not see them for a long time on Blu-ray BUT I do think that there is a chance that they could come fairly soon. I would not be completely shocked to see one by the end of the year or at least an announcement.

Lucas might enjoy ending the format war. :)

LOL this looks like it should be in yellow text scrolling up the screen with the Star Wars theme playing.


The rebel alliance has fought hard against the evil Blu-Ray empire, but with most of the Galaxy's trade posts under the Empire's rule, defeat seems inevitible.

Lol, that would be hilarious. It could be "Format Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the BDA".

But seriously, I think a BD release sounds likely, but it might not be this year. My guess is that it will be released before the Star Wars TV show, at the latest.

I don't care which format as long as it is in HD! :eek:


Same here!

there are all out on the net in 1080p, so they had to be broadcasted somewhere in 1080p, so hopefully somebody will now the origin of that 1080p broadcas..

Marek

P.S. found info..

SW I-VI h.264 DD5.1: shyHD caps

SW IV-VI h.264 DD2.0: premiereHD caps

SW I-III mpeg2 DD5.1: HBO caps

SW IV-VI mpeg2 DD5.1: cinemax caps

No they were not. Somebody took 1080i and converted them to 1080p. Once again, nobody broadcasts 1080p. At this satge it would take way too much bandwith.

I think I'm going to have to side with the minority here. Lucas has never been shy about releasing these films on any format possible. I do remember paying through the nose for Laser Disc versions of the films which was a very niche format. Much like these HD formats are now. In fact just recently when he released the original trilogy in their unaltered formats they were from that laser disc transfer. He also not only released these films on the niche Laser Disc format but he double and triple dipped with it too. We had the original CBS/FOX discs, The Definitive Trilogy box set and then the SE trilogy with the highly touted now with AC3 sound!

Now as far as the timing goes it would be ideal to do it this year for marketing reasons. First to promote the 30th anniversary, Second he's obviously very fond of the HD format concept, he has mentioned blu ray in past interviews before it was even produced. He's touted Sony's HD cameras to anyone and everyone in Hollywood to all but kick celluloid to the curb. He also shot his recent trilogy with those cameras for the sole purpose of being able to some day release the saga in HD glory. As for the dvd releases he did not rush to do the DVD's before because he was doing everything in his power to get this last trilogy to production.

I could understand if he doesn't do them this year to wait for a bigger penatration of blu ray players to hit the market. However with the PS3 and a second year of players on the market and other big blockbusters on the way this year I'll bet he's taking note. Hell, even Disney is going all in with their animated titles this year and how long did it take them to go to the DVD format before? Don't be surprised if doesn't happen this year, but if it doesn't do also be surprised if it's not much sooner then later compared to the dvd releases.

You can forget about Star Wars on HD anytime soon. Just not going to happen. It took Lucas 5 years before he released his first DVD...7 years for the Original Trilogy. We'll be getting a DVD boxset of the entire Saga. That's it.

An HD release is light years away....

Agreed, it won't happen this year, the forums of the Jedi faithful have been talking about a box set with all 6, but ZIPPO for anything HD, but the BD faithful will put a different spin on it. I SW did come out exclusively on BD, I would actually bite the bullet and by a player for those movies only.

Another useless thread sinking into redundancy, Mods, can we shut this thread down?

I'm not holding my breath but a BD release of SW would indeed be a huge nail in the coffin of HD DVD.

Another useless thread sinking into redundancy, Mods, can we shut this thread down?

Um, a mod started this thread.

You can hope all you want, but I believe HDTV ownership is not sufficient enough to motivate Spielberg or Lucas to release their blockbusters. It is not in their interest to boost one format over the other. They have no vested interest. Their primary motivation is MONEY. They will wait till there is heavier saturation before we can ever hope to see these films in high definition. Why would George Lucas release Star Wars to a tiny HD public when he can get us to buy the standard versions yet again and then hit us in 2012 for the 35th Anniversary as well? His track record is clear.

I think I'm going to have to side with the minority here. Lucas has never been shy about releasing these films on any format possible. I do remember paying through the nose for Laser Disc versions of the films which was a very niche format. Much like these HD formats are now.


You actually make a pretty good point. When I first got into HT (around 1990), I got a Laserdisc player. The first movies I bought were the Star Wars Trilogy.

I wonder how many LD players were "in the field" at that time and how does that compare to the number of HD players that are out there now.

You actually make a pretty good point. When I first got into HT (around 1990), I got a Laserdisc player. The first movies I bought were the Star Wars Trilogy.

I wonder how many LD players were "in the field" at that time and how does that compare to the number of HD players that are out there now.

Even when Laser Disc started out in the early 80's you could get Star Wars then and the discs were almost $50 a pop then. Then came the definitive box set for a whopping $200. I'd find it hard to believe that Laser Disc had a bigger penatration of the market either time they released the movies at those prices then Blu Ray does now or by the end of the year.

George Lucas is going to release STAR WARS on a format that's several months old and is not tallying any sales of note to speak of?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighht........you'd have to be smoking something to think this could happen in 2007.

Yeah because Uncle George has never released the movies a gazillion times in multiple forms before within a short time period. How many last times did we get the regular version of the trilogy? Weren't those VHS editions suppose to be the last time? Then we got the dvd versions this past year. Right?

He put them out early on VHS and Beta didn't he? When those formats were in their infancy too. Seriously how successful were those formats in 1979-80? VCRS were going for what $1300-1500 a piece then too weren't they? So how could he release those movies on a small unproven format for the same price as new players today, only we're talking late 70's early 80's dollars. I mean purchasing a copy of those films on VHS went for what $100 a piece?

They may not be out in 2007 but I'm saying I won't be surprised if they are within the next year or year and half. Which would be well ahead of how long he held up on the dvds. I am basing this on his history of releasing these. I'm just looking at two models that were niche formats when he released on them. Why not again? Especially when he has stated numerous times his desire to release these in HD formats.

No they were not. Somebody took 1080i and converted them to 1080p. Once again, nobody broadcasts 1080p. At this satge it would take way too much bandwith.

there are many movies on P2P, which are 1080p, it is strange that they will take time to rebuild 1080i to 1080p hmm ?!

I am sorry, I really dont' have info about HDTV stations and if they are capable or not broadcasting 1080p..... so tha't why I thought they are from 1080p broadcast..

Marek

Oh my god dude..... One more time.... NOBODY BROADCASTS IN 1080P!

Who the hell knows what the pirates do with that stuff? They remove commercials and recompress them to fit on a DVD/etc. You... uh... you do realize all this is HIGHLY illegal, and admitting that you are pirate on a public internet forum is probably not the best idea?

Anyway, the SW movies shown on cable are low bit-rate and cropped to 16:9 (usually). They are hardly reference-quality.

If you go by his previous track record, Lucas will not release SW on HD/BD until 2010 at the earliest! It took a good 4 years to get him to release Ep1 on DVD, and Ep4-6 didn't come until 3 years after that.... so... see you in 2012-2013! :rolleyes:

Anyway, the SW movies shown on cable are low bit-rate and cropped to 16:9 (usually). They are hardly reference-quality.Wrong, at least about being reformatted to 16:9 (1.78:1). Recent airings of the films have all been 2.35:1, and they look terrific.

All of this depends on how GL feels in the morning, seriously, he could release them next week if he really wanted to, however unlikely.

IMO we have a small chance of seeing them this year on BD, but it is very small and the announcement will have to come soon. I think I speak for pretty much everyone when I say SW on BD would be a very large, very permanent nail in the coffin for HD DVD. There is no catalogue release from Universal that could compete with SW.

Oh my god dude.....
You... uh... you do realize all this is HIGHLY illegal, and admitting that you are pirate on a public internet forum is probably not the best idea?


you know I never said anything bad to you, so I am not your god dude...
and are you calling me a pirate ?? who do you think you are ?

did I admit anything ? well, you can type few words on google, and you will see what is on net....

Wrong, at least about being reformatted to 16:9 (1.78:1). Recent airings of the films have all been 2.35:1, and they look terrific.

It depends on what airing and which channel. The previous broadcasts of Episode II on FOX HD and CBC HD were "formatted to fit" 16:9, but the more recent broadcasts on HBO HD (all six movies) were original aspect ratio.

the broadcast HD versions on Cinemax are head and shoulders above the SD DVD in terms of PQ. The SD DVD's look pretty darn good upocnverted - but a driect shot to shot comparison shows that even a partially blind person could see the improvement.

I can't wait for these to come out in any HD format.

I'm a star wars fanboy first and foremost.