'Star Wars: The Digital Movie Collection' Coming to iTunes Friday, April 10

[Yebubbleman]

Empire Only

I pre-ordered Empire. Am disregarding the rest as far as this and future iterative releases are concerned. A New Hope is great, but it's not so high up that I feel the need to buy it on iTunes. Same definitely goes for Jedi and Sith. Menace and Clones don't even deserve mention.

 

[hipnetic]

Hah! Yeah, I was one of the suckers who had HD-DVD (the player was a present, and I paid no more than $8 for any movie.) I now own 2001: A Space Odyssey on 7 formats:
VHS
Betamax
LaserDisc
CED (a failed competitor to LaserDisc - I bought this one solely to "complete the set.")
HD DVD
Blu-ray

What? No DIVX? ;-P

I also have Star Wars on LaserDisc (the very original home-video release,) VHS last-pre-special edition, and VHS Special Edition. I never bought any of the DVD or newer. (I also own Episode 1 on VHS, but that was given by my in-laws for my kid to watch.) I own Empire and Jedi on last-pre-special-edition LaserDisc, plus the same as Star Wars (last-pre-special and Special Edition VHS.)

So you *still* have your laserdisc collection? Wow, I dumped my entire laserdisc collection eons ago (for pennies on the dollar - sigh).

Up until recently, I was collecting and ripping Blu-rays, but I must admit I like the idea of eliminating some of the hassle and just going with cloud-based purchases. Even though I'm firmly entrenched in Apple products, the thought of all of my movies being locked into iTunes and requiring that I have no freedom to leave the Apple world has me uninterested in that. I recently re-joined the world of TiVo (Roamio Plus) and was excited to discover that VUDU on the TiVo supports 24Hz/fps. VUDU also has a disc-to-digital program where you can convert your DVDs to HD VUDU movies for $5 or Blu-rays for HD VUDU movies for $2. And if you convert 10, you get 50% off the total. It's not perfect (a lot of movies won't convert, and Disney doesn't support the disc-to-digital program at all), but it's allowed me to convert a bunch of my old DVDs for $2.50 a pop. And while the VUDU UI might be a bit lacking compared to iTunes on the Apple TV, I like that Ultraviolet is backed by all of the studios and there are VUDU apps on a bunch of platforms.

 

[Bill Killer]

Doesn't sound like they offer anything the blurays don't. Skiiiip.


I think their last release was on the DVD trilogies released in 2008.

I've got them. They're great, but the quality is awful. I'd love to see a full remaster of the original 3.

 

[sunwukong]

well maybe if Han is wearing an Apple Watch....

Don't give Lucas any ideas....

 

[Apple fanboy]

Can't wait to get these to add to my
Betamax
VHS
DVD
Blueray
Versions I have already.

 

[alent1234]

Can't wait to get these to add to my
Betamax
VHS
DVD
Blueray
Versions I have already.

just do the disc to digital on vudu for $5 each movie

 

[GeneralChang]

Oh, so it IS the special editions? Well shoot. Still waiting then.

 

[Arcady]

So you *still* have your laserdisc collection? Wow, I dumped my entire laserdisc collection eons ago (for pennies on the dollar - sigh).

I don't know about him, but my entire LaserDisc collection is now just three movies - the original Star Wars trilogy.

If they ever release the original versions on Blu-Ray, I will put the LaserDisc player and disks in storage. I'm not giving anyone my money for those "special" versions.

I like to own my movies, so I have upwards of 500 BD titles and about 250 DVD titles. If I ever complete my wish list, I will have about 1000 movies total. Hopefully some of the stuff not out on BD will make it there eventually.

 

[0098386]

I like to own my movies, so I have upwards of 500 BD titles and about 250 DVD titles. If I ever complete my wish list, I will have about 1000 movies total. Hopefully some of the stuff not out on BD will make it there eventually.

You brought up something I've been thinking a lot about; getting films on physical media to "own them". Whilst you don't own them as such, you're able to have as close to a master copy of the film as a consumer can. The quality of streaming and download stores isn't up to par with bluray yet, and one can imagine 4k will get badly compressed too. I'll continue to get my films on bluray and make rips accordingly, no digital distributor has given me a better option.
Sorry, just rambling

 

[metsjetsfan]

now that I think about it only 4/5 are any good. 1-3 is basically unwatchable. Might as well tell your children episode 1 was fan art and 6 is just a below avg movie and 4 was only good because of the time and the Special edition destroyed it the most so its really only one good movie.

There are other movie franchises with better movies.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

As someone else already pointed out, laserdisc wasn't digital (in case you weren't already aware). It also wasn't 720p. Laserdisc was 425 lines of resolution (less than DVD's 480).

I'm not talking about Laserdiscs. I'm talking about the bonus files issued on the limited release special edition DVD's, which contained 480p copies of the digital masters of the original theatrical release whose only other release was on laserdisc. Though yeah, I meant 480, not 720.

At any rate, the official narrative from Lucas, when pressed on the matter, that the originals had been destroyed and no longer exist & could never be rereleased (a story used as justification for removing the films from the Library of Congress, never before permitted) is ludicrous, since they indeed did release them in 2005, just, to a few lucky people, and there's no way we have files they don't. An absurd thing to say anyway... as if Lucasfilm & ILM are so inept at film preservation and file management that whoops, hey guys, I accidentally deleted every copy of star wars in existence... oh well, no sweat, I'm sure it wasn't worth anything to anyone, moving on... Anyway they're obviously able to keep going back to the original films to remaster them in higher and higher resolutions & trash them all up scribbling cartoons all over them in the Special Ed rereleases.

If you want the best quality for the Star Wars movies, the Blu-ray discs are it. These digital download / streaming options should still be quite a bit better than DVD or laserdisc, though.

How is it the best quality movie if the movie itself suffers? I would rather have lesser image and sound quality and a better film, than all the pixels in the world of a lesser film. I don't see any good reason to vote with my wallet in support of making great films worse and rewarding this kind of thing.

 

[Apple_Robert]

As one who saw Star Wars when it was originally released, I can't watch the bastardized versions Lucas has put forth.

The BD version suffers from color timing and saturation issues, along with numerous other problems (including the change of music and addition or detraction of voices and scenery).

It was mentioned earlier in the thread, that the Harmy version is the closest we are going to get to the original version. And for those of you who share my opinion, seek out the Despecialized Harmy release online. I think you will be very pleased.

 

[Arcady]

I'm not talking about Laserdiscs. I'm talking about the bonus files issued on the limited release special edition DVD's, which contained 480p copies of the digital masters of the original theatrical release whose only other release was on laserdisc.

DVD is 480i, not 480p.

The copies of the movies on those discs is 4x3 video with hard letterboxing, which was in fact mastered for the LaserDiscs. So there is recorded black video at the top and bottom, making the actual content something like 300 lines. And it's interlaced.

Honestly, the LaserDiscs or the copy of them on the DVDs looks like complete crap on any modern display. You have to zoom the image to get the left and right of the picture onto the edge of your TV, and it already looks horrible before zooming.

When I feel like watching Star Wars, I play it on a LaserDisc player connected to a 25 inch Sony CRT studio monitor, connected with a composite video cable. Somehow it looks better than zooming, upscaling, and deinterlacing on a modern TV.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

What? No DIVX? ;-P

So you *still* have your laserdisc collection? Wow, I dumped my entire laserdisc collection eons ago (for pennies on the dollar - sigh).

No, I only have 2001 and the Star Wars trilogy. What's funny? I've never owned a LaserDisc player!

I bought 2001, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi because my roommate had an LD player. I bought Star Wars years later, to "complete the set" (my roommate had it, so I didn't need it, but for some reason, he never bought Empire and Jedi.)

And I'm pretty sure no movie I cared about was ever on DIVX.

Up until recently, I was collecting and ripping Blu-rays, but I must admit I like the idea of eliminating some of the hassle and just going with cloud-based purchases. Even though I'm firmly entrenched in Apple products, the thought of all of my movies being locked into iTunes and requiring that I have no freedom to leave the Apple world has me uninterested in that. I recently re-joined the world of TiVo (Roamio Plus) and was excited to discover that VUDU on the TiVo supports 24Hz/fps. VUDU also has a disc-to-digital program where you can convert your DVDs to HD VUDU movies for $5 or Blu-rays for HD VUDU movies for $2. And if you convert 10, you get 50% off the total. It's not perfect (a lot of movies won't convert, and Disney doesn't support the disc-to-digital program at all), but it's allowed me to convert a bunch of my old DVDs for $2.50 a pop. And while the VUDU UI might be a bit lacking compared to iTunes on the Apple TV, I like that Ultraviolet is backed by all of the studios and there are VUDU apps on a bunch of platforms.

Ultraviolet worries me because it's streaming-only. At least with iTunes, I know I can save the downloaded file and watch it even after Apple goes the way of the dodo. Looks like I need to look more in to Vudu, since it participates in the Disney "Buy anywhere, watch anywhere" program. (Crap, now that I look, I see it's Walmart, I refuse to buy anything from them.)

 

[johnny_b]

Han Solo never fired FIRST, he was the only one that fired.

 

[malexandria]

Don't give Lucas any ideas....

Han needs the iWatch to properly calculate the Castle run....

----------

No, I only have 2001 and the Star Wars trilogy. What's funny? I've never owned a LaserDisc player!

I bought 2001, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi because my roommate had an LD player. I bought Star Wars years later, to "complete the set" (my roommate had it, so I didn't need it, but for some reason, he never bought Empire and Jedi.)

And I'm pretty sure no movie I cared about was ever on DIVX.




Ultraviolet worries me because it's streaming-only. At least with iTunes, I know I can save the downloaded file and watch it even after Apple goes the way of the dodo. Looks like I need to look more in to Vudu, since it participates in the Disney "Buy anywhere, watch anywhere" program. (Crap, now that I look, I see it's Walmart, I refuse to buy anything from them.)

Just because you downloaded your iTunes movies to your computer doesn't mean there's no DRM. It's locked to iTunes. I can't even view my iTunes Digital copies using Plex. You will ALWAYS need iTunes or Apple TV to watch them. Which is why I'll never get my digital copies on iTunes. I have 200 digital movies on the service (vs. 800 on Vudu/UV) just because my blu-rays require it, but generally I prefer Vudu precisely because the Apps are platform independent. I like that iTunes now supports extra features where, MADDENING, Vudu still doesn't or they do but it's half assed at best.

You can download Vudu movies on some of it's apps like the PS and Xbox versions.

----------

I downloaded the unauthorized "Star Wars: The Despecialized Edition" a few years ago, so I'm good until they stop their BS cinematic revisionism. If Disney/Lucas don't want money for the original versions, that's their loss.

So you're proud you ***** stole it. Aren't you awesome?

----------

They've all been available digitally for years, if you know where to look.

Most people aren't ****ing thieves.

 

[velocityg4]

Let me know when the original theatrical releases are available.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas burnt the original negatives. Disney would probably have to use it's CGI department to remake the original releases.

 

[alent1234]

You brought up something I've been thinking a lot about; getting films on physical media to "own them". Whilst you don't own them as such, you're able to have as close to a master copy of the film as a consumer can. The quality of streaming and download stores isn't up to par with bluray yet, and one can imagine 4k will get badly compressed too. I'll continue to get my films on bluray and make rips accordingly, no digital distributor has given me a better option.
Sorry, just rambling

i usually get the BD with digital copy, but i've noticed that if you watch a newer movie on itunes or vudu it streams very nicely. watch an older and less popular movie and you start to get buffer issues and whatever.

my guess is they are only caching the most popular movies at the CDN closer to the user and if you stream an older movie it's via the backbone and peering links that are already congested from all the other traffic on them

which is why i will continue to but physical discs

----------

I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas burnt the original negatives. Disney would probably have to use it's CGI department to remake the original releases.

knowing Lucas he saved them to increase the value of the company for yet another super special release. i bet they get released this winter in a new blu ray collection where you can choose to play the original or special edition at the menu

----------

Han needs the iWatch to properly calculate the Castle run....

----------



Just because you downloaded your iTunes movies to your computer doesn't mean there's no DRM. It's locked to iTunes. I can't even view my iTunes Digital copies using Plex. You will ALWAYS need iTunes or Apple TV to watch them. Which is why I'll never get my digital copies on iTunes. I have 200 digital movies on the service (vs. 800 on Vudu/UV) just because my blu-rays require it, but generally I prefer Vudu precisely because the Apps are platform independent. I like that iTunes now supports extra features where, MADDENING, Vudu still doesn't or they do but it's half assed at best.

You can download Vudu movies on some of it's apps like the PS and Xbox versions.

----------



So you're proud you ***** stole it. Aren't you awesome?

----------



Most people aren't ****ing thieves.

the DRM on the itunes and VUDU digital copies is easy to remove

 

[Razeus]

The problem with movie downloads is that you're stuck to one ecosystem. I still refuse to pay for movies via download because of this.

 

[0098386]

Most people aren't ****ing thieves.

Maybe, maybe not. I do get my films from pirated sources if they don't provide the original here. Ie, the Watchmen ultimate cut (I think it's called) that mixes the film with an animated comic was never released in the UK so I happily downloaded that. If ripping the film proves problematic I'll just get a download of it too. But I don't upconvert, because I know a lot of work goes into those conversions and everyone involved deserves paying.

For most pirates its a convenience issue. Like why would someone buy a low quality iTunes film when they can get a full quality torrent rip that will play on all their devices on not just the ones Apple lets you?

----------

The problem with movie downloads is that you're stuck to one ecosystem. I still refuse to pay for movies via download because of this.

Same, I've only bought iTunes films when they were cheap or on sale. I don't want to invest in a service that only works on my iMac, iPhone and iPad. I want to buy something that will stream to my TV, my consoles, my other tablets and handheld game consoles. The only way I can do this is buying the original and ripping it to a nice format.

 

[wgnoyes]

I ripped the DVD special editions (all 6) into iTunes with handbrake; they look fine, have sub-titles where they need to (that was a trial-and-error process to figure out) and also have chapters. This DVD set also included the urtext (original) versions of the 3 and I ripped those as well. They also look fine. So I don't have a pressing need to buy these new ones, but I'm glad they're available now.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Let me know when the original theatrical releases are available.

"Furthermore, our sources at Fox, (who possesses the distribution rights to the original trilogy until 2020 and A New Hope indefinitely, not Disney) said that as long as Lucas is alive, they cannot go against his wishes of not re-releasing the Original [Theatrical Releases]."


AP: Why not release both the originals and special editions on DVD?

Lucas: The special edition, that’s the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it’s on VHS, if anybody wants it. ... I’m not going to spend the, we’re talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn’t really exist anymore. It’s like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I’m sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be. I’m the one who has to take responsibility for it. I’m the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they’re going to throw rocks at me, they’re going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished.

AP: Do you pay much attention to fan reactions to your choices?
Lucas: Not really. The movies are what the movies are. ... The thing about science-fiction fans and “Star Wars” fans is they’re very independent-thinking people. They all think outside the box, but they all have very strong ideas about what should happen, and they think it should be their way. Which is fine, except I’m making the movies, so I should have it my way.


There you go. His original vision was to have 2 Jawas falling off a dinosaur in the background, and the film just isn't complete without it.

Understandable. If you spent 30 years fighting for control of a thing you helped make, constantly barraged by everyone else in the world claiming to know what's best for it, what better way to exert total control than by making unpopular choices and forcing them as everyones only option? Now how old is Lucas...

 

[milo]

I still have never bought a single download version of a movie. I think just a few TV episodes. The whole "ecosystem" thing puts me off.

I already have all three films in their authentic virgin state from the laserdisc bonus files.

Unless you can offer something better than that, I can be happy with 720p forever.

Laserdisc bonus files? Laserdisc isn't 720p, nor any consumer format at the time.

Lucas: I’m sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it.

Gee, at the time you didn't seem to have a problem releasing those supposed "half finished movies" and collecting the hundreds of millions of dollars, a*****e.

 

[hipnetic]

I have to say, I don't get all of the hate for the reprocessed original trilogy. Does it really bother people that much that Lucas added a few extra bits of CGI to it? I think my biggest complaint was replacing (at the end of episode 6) the ghost of the old Anakin Skywalker with the ghost of the whiny teenage Skywalker, and that's largely because it's not consistent (he died when he was old, so either the ghost should be him as an older man, or the ghost of Obi Wan should also be of a young Obi Wan).

Now if you want to complain about the "new" trilogy (episodes 1-3), that's another subject altogether. There's plenty to hate there about the storylines, [painfully bad] dialog, certain actors (ahem, teenage Anakin), midi-chlorians, and the fact that every set and object (and every background actor) is CGI (and *looks* like obvious CGI).

 

[faizoff]

I'm very lucky to have bought the bluray set for the complete saga for $35 used and it was in super mint conditon.