I have heard from a few people a while back that its actuelly the 1995 faces editions of the orignal unaltered versions of the films that have slightly better picture quality then even the 1993 The Definitive Collection edition even though they are from the same master. Is this true? were the 1995 "faces" editions (which were indecently the last official releases of the pre-special edition versions of the films) ever so slightly better?

They fixed a few of the heavy DNR artifacts of the Definitive collection but they are otherwise the same. There are several different pressings (3 I think) of the Definitive collection, so the Faces could be better than one, since they were pressed later, but not as good as a different Definitive pressing - plus, the Definitive is CAV which give a bump in quality over CLV. I had the Faces edition and didn't think they looked as good as my Definitive set so I got rid of them. The Special Edition set looks much better because of better mastering and pressing quality and better DNR, but you have to put up with the changes.... Which is no fun. My favorite is the original widescreen of all 3 because they have the original sound mixes and look like I remember from the theater, not scrubbed clean.

Ah I see. I didn't know there were 3 different pressings that ranged in quality of the 1993 Definitive collection. Even still the Definitive collection would be nice to have for all the extras and everything but its too expensive for me especially if you factor in international shipping costs. That is why I am interested in the Faces editions because they are cheaper overall and contain the unaltered versions of the films. No surprise to me that the 1997 special edition versions on LD look better but I am not interested in that since I already have those special editions with all that CGI stuff on Blu-Ray which is obviously much much better in quality for obvious reasons.

The bonus DVDs from the 2006 re-release that contain the original unaltered trilogy are sourced from the D1 master tapes used for the 1995 THX "Faces" release.

They're higher quality than the 1995 THX "Faces" LDs, but suffer from all of the same defects, including (but not limited to) terrible DVNR-smear. See my thread over at originaltrilogy.com for a more comprehensive list of defects: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic. ... Post598230

I suggest purchasing the Special Collection LDs from Japan, if you can find them. They're SF148-1196, SF148-1343, and SF148-1242.

Yeah I am aware of the unaltered versions being on the 2006 DVD box set which are sourced from the LD master, but you have to buy the actual 2006 boxset for that and I have no interest in doing that. As for the Special Collection LD versions from Japan, none appear to be sale on the LDDB global shop and being a Japanese release it has burnt in Japanese subtitles which I could do without if I could. The Faces editions even without the extras, just seem to be the easiest and cheapest releases to obtain of the orignal OT.

I have the Faces editions, the first laserdiscs I ever watched. They're certainly acceptable quality, not amazing, not terrible, just average for laserdisc. I haven't seen any other version on laserdisc so I can't really compare with other releases of the same films, but compared to other films I'd says it's run of the mill but certainly enjoyable to watch.

I prefer the original wide screen edition of star wars. It seems sharper without any DNR.

Empire strikes back suffers from a lot of DNR artifacts on the faces and definitive collection editions. The opening scenes on Hoth with the low contrast snow backgrounds show major smearing compared to the original wide screen edition. That being said, the original edition is VERY grainy during the Hoth scenes.

I haven't compared the ROTJ editions in a while, but the original wide screen edition is shifted up slightly with bigger letterbox bars on the bottom than the top. I think I preferred the faces edition.

As was mentioned, the 2006 box set which includes the unaltered versions is sourced from the same master as the faces editions. If you're dead set on that release, seek out the DVDs. They'll give you better PQ than the LDs. The audio seems worse though.

Sorry guys, what is DNR ?

Thanks

Digital Noise Reduction

Indeed, the 2006 Bonus Disc DVDs are the THX LD master. The Faces editions are CLV and may have a very few tweaks done to the CAV Definitive Collection issues but it is generally held that the Def. Coll. is of a higher standard. However, the DC is prone to rot and went through several pressing runs with only the last ones being error-free.
Then you have all the lovely DVNR smearing on top of it.

Thanks !

To my knowledge, there were two 'editions' of the "Faces" version of the Star Wars films. In 1995 they were pressed by Pioneer USA and in 1997 they had a final run pressed by Kuraray in Japan. The sets are exactly the same except the Kuraray versions have a "Made in Japan" sticker on the back.