Drad

They weren't designed with that in mind, no. Back then, it was all about looking appropriate for the Star Wars universe.

The two major lightsaber builders are Parks Sabers and Lightech. I own a Parks replica. It's extremely well-made and is film-accurate (ANH Skywalker version). Film designs are not available on the website for obvious reasons, but Jeff will make them or any other custom design for you if ask. Some of his designs are able to use a new dual-cell power source that runs on two 9-volt batteries instead of one, resulting in 35% greater brightness than the single-cell models. Prices include shipping and batteries. He also offers parts, extra blades, stands, and accessories as well as several stock saber designs. As far as I know, Parks sabers do not have sound effects. I'm alright with that, though. I just wanted a film-accurate replica lightsaber with a detachable EL blade, and I'm quite happy with it. Here are some examples of Jeff's film-accurate lightsaber designs from earlier in this thread. Lightech sabers have the option of interchangeable parts to make your own custom lightsabers. Their website offers several stock designs as well as parts, upgrades, accessories, etc. They do offer a sound module, although it's not integrated into the saber hilt. Instead, it connects to the base of the hilt. Both Lightech and Parks use similar EL blade technology, but the blades are not interchangeable between each company's products due to differences in inverter design. Like Parks, Lightech's sabers are powered by one or two 9-volt batteries. Lightech does not appear to offer film-accurate saber designs. Prices seem to be a bit higher than Parks. I can't speak for their overall quality since I don't own one. Personally, I prefer lightsaber designs from the films.. so my next sabers will also come from Jeff Parks. I'm sure Lightech sabers are just as sturdy, and they do offer the sound module, but I prefer the look of Parks Sabers over Lightech's. I do wish my Parks saber had sound effects, but for me the appearance is more important. It might be possible to attach Lightech's sound module to one of Jeff's sabers, but I'm not certain. In my opinion that would mar the film-accurate look of the saber. I'm hoping that Jeff comes up with a sound chip for use in his designs.

"According to Reuters, $115 million in worldwide sales were generated on Tuesday, the first official day of the title's release. That's an impressive figure, despite the fact that the number reportedly includes sales data for both the DVD box set and the Star Wars: Battlefront video game. We expect separate numbers to be released soon." -TheDigitalBits.com

I exchanged the two Star Wars sets that I bought. One of the new ones was fine. The other one had the same problems on the same disc. So now, I have to go back and exchange Star Wars again.. until I replace it with one that works properly.

Hahahahahahahaha. <ahem> Hahahahahahahaha.

Heh.

Not really. People on originaltrilogy.com and hometheaterforum.com have been reporting the same encoding errors that I have. Same discs, same problems, same chapters. Apparently chapters 26 and 27 on A New Hope are the culprits. One person said that their supplemental material disc had similar issues. I bought two Star Wars sets; one for myself and another for a friend. Both sets' copies of ANH were flawed. The person who bought the DVDs for me also purchased three more sets at the same time, for himself and others. Out of those three, only one was problem-free. I returned mine for a refund.. I didn't feel like continually exchanging DVDs until I got a set that worked properly. Looks like a hit-or-miss to me. And the odds haven't been good so far.

Yeah. A lot of the "issues" are ultimately a matter of preference. Only Lucasfilm knows if they're truly flaws or not. The rest of us are limited to our opinions. However strong or substantial they may be, they're still opinions until proven fact. Still.. I hope you're more fortunate than I was and that you get a properly-encoded copy. Encoding problems aren't exaggerations to me. I want a clean copy, damn it.

Kevin, Congratulations! My best to you and your wife.. and a big welcome to baby Allison. -Brandon

I just watched the Death Star run on the ANH disc. The reports of a nearly muted score in this segment are correct, unfortunately. Even some of the sound effects are muffled. Gee. Are these flaws intentional too? This just can't be right.

Yeah, really. There were pinkish-red flashes during the gunbattle on the Rebel ship in the beginning.. very distracting, at first. Then they became downright annoying. The new transfer is still better than any I've ever seen for the Star Wars Trilogy, but we don't need strobe effects. It's a firefight, not a disco.

I can verify that you are not having problems with your player. I'm having the same problem. There is also problems with not hearing the soundtrack in the background, especially in the Death Star battle. You can barely hear the music at all, and that is with it being set on all ranges. And all those purple flashes when something explodes is getting to be really annoying. What the hell is up with that? Well crap. I was looking forward to having both versions of the trilogy on DVD. I was especially looking forward to a nice, new transfer and outstanding sound.. .. and I got this instead. Hrm. Yes, the video and sound are excellent, for the most part. Star Wars has never looked or sounded better.. ever. Until you run into those problems. For what is arguably the most highly-anticipated DVD release to date, you'd think they'd have done some serious quality control. I guess not. What's next? Are they going to tell us that the encoding problems were intentional as well? Should I even bother to watch through the other discs? Oh well. <puts the original trilogy back into his player> EDIT: I have the widescreen version.

Just got the set and opened it up. The ANH disc seems to have encoding problems during Chapter 26. I ran through this chapter on three players.. a Panasonic, an Xbox and a PS2. All three of them experienced the problems at the same points. Macroblocking, freezing, etc. I haven't watched the entire disc, though I suspect that the entire first pressing may have these issues. I inspected the disc and it's free of any visible defects or damage, so this does appear to be an encoding problem. Would any of you who also have your Star Wars sets mind helping me verify these issues? Check out Chapter 26 on ANH and see what you can find, please. Looks like I'm going to have to return these and wait for a second pressing. Damn.

I'd love to take shots at characters from the trilogy.

Not to sidetrack the discussion..... but what the f*ck does Yamato have to do with Alpha toys? They have never, to my knowledge, indicated that they would produce anything for Mospeada or Southern Cross....so complaining how much you think the VF/A-6H MPC sucks compared to the Yamato 1/48 VF-1 is a bit like complaining to Chevrolet how much you think the Black and Decker Power Tools are better than an S-10 Pickup Truck. He was referring to ROBOTECH.com's forum policies regarding the mention of competitors and their products. That's all.

Congratulations, pfunk! My very best to you and your wife. Duke.. a little discretion wouldn't kill you. Grow up.

Meh. You don't have to like Christianity to buy cool lightsabers.

I voted for Hi-Detail. But I'm with ewilen on this one. I'm a lazy ass. I probably wouldn't buy it because I don't want to replace and repaint any parts. But that's not to say this isn't a great idea.. because it is. Something cool for the toy people.

Their loss.

A Macross World group purchase? Hmmmm..... Oh no, hear those wacky fanboy wheels turning!!

I've never owned one of the Master Replicas lightsabers, so I can't speak for those. I only own a Parks. It's solid. If you think $119 is a bit much, then you might want to pass on a Parks. Those run $250 and up. Excellent, excellent stuff though. Absolutely worth every penny.

Luke or Vader's sabers will run you around $265, shipping and batteries are included in the price. When I asked about the Maul, he quoted me at $550.. being that it's two sabers in one. So be prepared to pay quite a bit more for it.

As far as Parks Sabers are concerned, I'm sure Jeff is working on incorporating sound into his sabers at some point. For the time being, I think the sheer quality of the product and the removable blade more than compensate for the lack of audio effects.

Yeah, totally. Mine is a replica of Skywalker's lightsaber from ANH, and it can be tricky to get a grip on. I guess that's why the prequel lightsabers are a lot smoother and sleeker by comparison.. not as many protrusions. Well, that and a vastly bigger budget.

Talk about a compliment. Heh.