Drad

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.

When you contact Jeff for your piece, ask him about his dual-cell models. He may be able to build you one using "The Deuce." Those run on two 9-volts instead of just one, which according to Jeff results in 35% increased brightness over single-cell models. Only certain designs will accommodate the dual-cell, however. And like Marimba just said, the blue-green is the brightest. Next brightest is the green.. I think.

We'll hook you up with some books that are rigged with shaped explosive charges every third or fourth page. Those'll hold ya for awhile.

Click the links in my sig. Hopefully they'll help.

More... From the top.. the lightsabers of Qui-Gon Jinn (TPM), Obi-Wan Kenobi (TPM), Luke Skywalker (ROTJ) and Mace Windu (AOTC). I wonder if Mace's has "Bad Motherf_cker" inscribed on it?

Jeff can't list any film-accurate designs on his site, but that doesn't stop him from making one for you if you call and ask. I did. Mine is Skywalker's lightsaber from A New Hope. It has a removable light-up electroluminescent blade, which means it can be used for display or just to mess around with.

That might've been me, being that I'd recently received one of those "super fresh dope custom lightsabers". And let me assure you, they are. (The dude's name is Jeff Parks. Absolutely top-notch stuff.) Give me a yell if you have any questions.