# Star wars blu-ray box set



## nathometheatre

When can we expect to see a review on the new Star Wars Blu-Ray collectors edition box set? It's currently available @ Best Buy for $79.88 with a retail price of $129.99. I was actually standing in line to pay, and while I was waiting I got cold feet.... I want to read opinions from other audio/videophiles before I hand over $87.00 which these days has to be validated hence a significant purchase in my Family. Call me cheap, but we're on a strict budget, and I just want to make sure my purchase is significantly better in both audio and video! Personally I could care less about George Lucas adding or deleting any of the scenes from the original movies, as I already own the collectors addition box set on regular DVD. I realize it was just released today 9/16/11, and most havent had the opportunity to provide us with a proffessional review. With that being said, does anyone know when we theatre junkies can expect a review? If by chance anyone HAS already seen at least one of the new SW Blu-Ray movies, will you please let me know your opinion? I hope it's every bit as noticeable as LOTR's Blu-Ray Box Set is! I didn't really expect that much of a difference being that I already own the true collectors extended addition in dts-es DVD, and it sounds and looks amazing! But, the Blu-Ray version actually blew me away just when I didn't think they could top the previous extended edition. So, again, if the SW Blu-Ray series is as noticeable as LOTR's was, then it's a no brainer..... Please share your opinions as soon as you've had time to view the new SW Blu-Ray.
Thank you All!


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## Sonnie

I know we have this coming up for review pretty soon.


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## nathometheatre

Great! Thank you Sonnie! It's been a long time since we've spoken. I'm really excited about the new SW Blu-Ray set, and hope it lives up to the long anticipated hype!


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## Dale Rasco

Dave and I are working on it over the weekend. We're doing the complete saga in order and both of our input on each. We hope to have it posted by Monday or Tuesday at the latest.


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## tonyvdb

Beleive it or not I still only have the original THX certified VHS box set of the original three  So this Bluray version is much anticipated for me to have in my collection and should be picking it up today sometime. Its interesting to see that the Canadian price is the same as in the US at $79


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## Guest

For a final review, it would be nice to know if they offer the original edited releases as well. I've read a lot of complaints about releases not having enough in them. Lucas is great at releasing a million versions. Not to say I really blame him, his franchise is a huge money maker, but their has got to be a fine line between giving fans what they want, and just down right crapping on them. Blu-ray already has old and new trilogies released and reviews (on Amazon anyway) seem mixed, or it's hard to find the version you want.


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## TypeA

Reviews are finally starting to trickle in, high def digest always has great reviews. Audio is supposed to be stellar. Looks like Lucas gets a triple-dip from me! :spend:


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## ironglen

tonyvdb said:


> Beleive it or not I still only have the original THX certified VHS box set of the original three  So this Bluray version is much anticipated for me to have in my collection and should be picking it up today sometime. Its interesting to see that the Canadian price is the same as in the US at $79


I'm in the same boat Tony! I'm glad to see the price is the same for you guys up north :T

I'd about decided not to buy this set because of Lucas' changes, as well as it being a want rather than a need onder: I was thinking perhaps I should track down the best quality *original* movies on dvd...what would you guys say?


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## Guest

ironglen said:


> I'm in the same boat Tony! I'm glad to see the price is the same for you guys up north :T
> 
> I'd about decided not to buy this set because of Lucas' changes, as well as it being a want rather than a need onder: I was thinking perhaps I should track down the best quality *original* movies on dvd...what would you guys say?


For the price of the blu-ray full trilogy, you might have better luck getting a used laser disk player and movie collection off of ebay (star wars) included. 

I myself will probably just wait till the movies are sold solo. I only want III, V, and VI anyway.


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## Thomasdk1405

Hi !

I got the complete saga bluray box - and only had a quick run on the first episode - the phantom menace. Picture is perfect and sound also - but - I really want to know - if anyone else is having this huge bang / pop from the subwoofer in chapter 13 - coming out of hyperjump (from Naboo) and heading towards Tatoine. Played clip several times and at one time my receiver shut down. I really think there is someting wrong here - at least on my disk. For reference - I have a Onkyo 5007, svs pb13-ultra along with AS-EQ1 and blu-ray player is an older Panasonic BD-30 EG model - latest firmware 2.6 on.

So if some of you could have a go with this chapter (warning - have volume way down).
Thx


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## tonyvdb

Just tried that chapter, yup thats what you call subsonic bass :hsd: probably down to around 10Hz at high SPL will rattle any sub/receiver not set up properly. The Hulk has also a spot where the guys are fighting in the park where the sonic wave's go as low as that and really rattle the room.


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## Thomasdk1405

Strange - I have my ultra in the 20hz setting - shouldn't even be able to go that low in that setting ? Also have this one on dvd - never noticed this pop before here. Also - why did it force my receiver to shut down one of the times ?


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## tonyvdb

Thomasdk1405 said:


> Strange - I have my ultra in the 20hz setting - shouldn't even be able to go that low in that setting ? Also have this one on dvd - never noticed this pop before here. Also - why did it force my receiver to shut down one of the times ?


Even at 20Hz there will be information below that that the sub will reach, are you running the sub at 75db reference level or hotter?
Hard to say about the receiver although it could be because you have all your channels hot and at that moment it pushed it into overload. What speakers are you using and what crossover settings are you using?


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## Dale Rasco

tonyvdb said:


> Just tried that chapter, yup thats what you call subsonic bass :hsd: probably down to around 10Hz at high SPL will rattle any sub/receiver not set up properly. The Hulk has also a spot where the guys are fighting in the park where the sonic wave's go as low as that and really rattle the room.


Finally finished the entire saga this weekend and been updating the review for posting in a day or so. There is definitely some VLF going on in several scenes throughout the entire saga. Dave and I actually watched A New Hope last night at my house and there is some ridiculous stuff both impacting and subtle ambiant VLF; Absolutely awesome! There is a good one in Episode V when Han is being tortured and they come out of the room. It's like a really low generator hum thing but it's very cool.


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## TypeA

Looking forward to your review.


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## Vader

Thomasdk1405 said:


> Hi !
> 
> I got the complete saga bluray box - and only had a quick run on the first episode - the phantom menace. Picture is perfect and sound also - but - I really want to know - if anyone else is having this huge bang / pop from the subwoofer in chapter 13 - coming out of hyperjump (from Naboo) and heading towards Tatoine. Played clip several times and at one time my receiver shut down. I really think there is someting wrong here - at least on my disk. For reference - I have a Onkyo 5007, svs pb13-ultra along with AS-EQ1 and blu-ray player is an older Panasonic BD-30 EG model - latest firmware 2.6 on.





tonyvdb said:


> Even at 20Hz there will be information below that that the sub will reach, are you running the sub at 75db reference level or hotter?
> Hard to say about the receiver although it could be because you have all your channels hot and at that moment it pushed it into overload. What speakers are you using and what crossover settings are you using?


I would also be curious as to the size room (ft^3), and if the sub was calibrated near or far-field. According to Ed Mullen, the Ultra driver cannot be "bottomed" in the conventional sense (i.e. the voice coil physically striking the back plate), but I would imagine that it would take a great deal to make the Ultra cry "uncle". All I can think of is that possibly the LFE output was clipped at the AVR, and that might explain the pop you heard...? As for the Onkyo shutting down, I concur with tonyvdb's assessment: that it was simply overloaded. I have not yet watched it (my dual PC13 Ultras are in the 16hZ tune, and I usually watch at 10-15dB below reference), but I will post back here when I do.


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## Dale Rasco

I have just played it six times and don't get that result. I played it at reference level that i use for reviews with the sub about 1.5 -db hot and it just rolls right on through. My sub is an Axiom EP800.


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## Thomasdk1405

My room is 7,5 x 4,5 x 2 meters (dont know what this is in ft). I just calibrated using the mics - first AS-EQ1 and then the mic for onkyo. Didn't change a thing - only the crossover set to 60 hz. Don't run the sub hot. Did a check with my RS meter - and its about 70-72 db for all channels. Don't understand this - I've played Cloverfield and other movies with lots of deep bass and never heard this before. Wondering - could there be any difference in the version you have en US vs. the one we have here in Europe / uk - my version is a limited ed. with a movie strip.

Next thing could be to have a run on a friends system to see how it behaves here. Could also be my bd player - having problems to load the hurt locker movie - often it says not a bd disk or unable to read - and there is absolutly no scratches etc on the disc.

My speakers are Monitor audio silver rs 8, center and 4 of the sfx speakers in a 7.1 setup + a pb13-ultra.


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## Vader

Well, the room size is well within the capabilities of a single Ultra (approx. 2384 ft^3), and the sub is calibrated slightly below 75dB reference. What volume were you watching at when this happened (i.e. I am calibrated the same as you... about 70-72dB... and tend to listen at 10-15 below that)? Also, when your AVR shut down, did it completely turn off and then back on (like from a brown out), or did it simply mute the audio momentarily? A while back, some AVRs (including Onkyo) were having problems with DTS-HD MA tracks, characterized by a loud "pop", although I thought it had been resolved years ago via FW update...?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008620

UPDATE: Looking on other forums, it seems that some Panny players are having audio dropouts at various places (one guy even petitioned Panasonic to investigate the problem and issue a FW patch). Don't know if that is related to your problem, but since you have an older Panny player, it's something to keep on the table. You mentioned trying it on a friend's machine. Any chance it is _not_ a Panasonic?


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## Thomasdk1405

Hi !
I think it was - 15 or so when it happened. I got the most recent fw on both the onkyo and the Panasonic. My friends player is also a panasonic. 
The sound I get - is not subsonic - I've heard that before - this is a very unpleasant sound - the not right kind of type - like an electrical pop - one of those you fear is going to destroy your sub.

But thx for letting me know that there is a thing going on with the sound in the panasonic world - could be something here !


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## Vader

Thomas,

Another update for ya. I am following several forums, where it appears that certain player/AVR combinations are exhibiting dropouts and other audio anomalies. It is not clear as yet what combos are problematic however, and I will be following these quite closely (I have not yet watched my saga BDs, and I have a Sony 5000ES player bitstreaming to a Denon 2311CI AVR). Most of the issues seem to be with bitstreaming the audio via HDMI, but at least one report shows the opposite behavior...?!? It has even been proposed that there might be an authoring issue with the discs (one poster was unable to get rear surround info from RotJ via bitstream, but if he changed to LPCM everything was "honky-dory.") There is a poll going on concerning this, and when (if) a pattern emerges I will report back here....


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## Thomasdk1405

Hi and thx for info. Also google is your friend 
found this:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=301879174688&topic=16536
looks like my onkyo is causing this - I'll try and let the player decode and stream as pcm instead of letting the onkyo doing the dirty work. But still - why now - what about all the other dts hd master discs I've played without problems - what have they changed in the Starwars edition ????


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## tonyvdb

This sounds like the DTS Master audio "bomb" issue that Onkyo had with their x05 series. It was fixed with an update that was easily done with a CDr.


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## Thomasdk1405

Hi !

A quick update - don't think I got the DTS HD master audio bomb. When playing the disc from chapter 12 and just let it run into chapter 13 - there is no loud pop / bang. Only when I use the chapter skip forward/back to chapter 13 I get this huge pop. Also - did change my bd player to pcm (its an old bd player - so it cannot decode dts hd master - only down to normal 5.1 dts). Changed it back to bitstream - it's the first time I encountered this in all my BD movies !


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## bobav

I am new to this fourm. So this is my first post not at all new to the A/V hobby. I received my set Friday and now have watched All but Jedi. I have all previous releases including VHS Lazer, and two of the dvd sets. The individual copies of episodes , One , Two and Three. I found this set to be a huge to moderate improvement of the DVD's. I am glad to have them both PQ and Audio are both spectacular and involving best I have seen these outside of theyre original theatrical runs. I hope the negatives around the various threads do not discourage Star Wars vans from giving these a try.


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## Vader

Thomasdk1405 said:


> Hi and thx for info. Also google is your friend
> found this:
> http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=301879174688&topic=16536
> looks like my onkyo is causing this - I'll try and let the player decode and stream as pcm instead of letting the onkyo doing the dirty work. But still - why now - what about all the other dts hd master discs I've played without problems - what have they changed in the Starwars edition ????





tonyvdb said:


> This sounds like the DTS Master audio "bomb" issue that Onkyo had with their x05 series. It was fixed with an update that was easily done with a CDr.


Unfortunately, there seems to be a much larger game afoot. While the "DTS Bomb" may indeed have resurfaced, reports of audio dropouts are starting to surface at an alarming rate, both here in the US and over the pond. Most player/AVR brands are represented in varying degrees, but the prevailing theory is that the problem has to do with THX Metadata that was added to the bitstream (Star Wars is the first title to have it). I'm not sure if this is part of a new round of BD+, but it is starting to look as if the DSP in specific AVRs is not playing nice with the new data. However, Oppo has stated that this should not be a problem for legacy decoders:

From an email query to Oppo Tech Support (originally posted on avsforum):


> "The Movie Director meta-data included with this boxset should not affect older equipment, as the player and/or receiving device has to be able to read this additional data in order to process the Movie Director subroutines."


The mystery deepens... The workaround for this is simply to set the player to decode and output PCM as opposed to bitstream (which has worked across the board, so far). For some of us, however, this is not an option. For example, my Sopy S5000ES cannot be set to force PCM if the HD audio format in question is supported by the AVR (it will, however, decode the audio and send out PCM if that is all the AVR will support.)

Several people have emailed LucasFilm/THX for their response to this latest copy protection snafu, and I will post here as soon as they respond. Not everyone is experiencing this problem, so apparently some AVRs can handle the THX Metadata. If everyone can post with the following information, it will be very helpful in nailing down a pattern:

Player Model:
AVR Model:
Bitstream/PCM?
DTS Bomb?
Audio Dropouts (& where)?

I will post back here as I learn more, and I encourage everyone else to do the same.


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## bdpf

I haven't experienced the DTS "bomb" but I have all the audio drop outs reported on Episode 2: Attack of the Clones and Episode 4: A New Hope.


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## Vader

bdpf said:


> I haven't experienced the DTS "bomb" but I have all the audio drop outs reported on Episode 2: Attack of the Clones and Episode 4: A New Hope.


Hi!

What is the model of your BD player and AVR, and are you bitstreaming or sending PCM?


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## bdpf

My receiver is a Denon AVR 890 and my blu ray player is a Panasonic BD 35. I have drop outs when setting the player to bitstream and the audio is fine when setting it to PCM.


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## bdpf

Also, on top of the audio issues, I also have pixelation occurring two times during Attack of the Clones. The times stamps are at 1:19:30 and 2:00:06. This video issue seems to be specific to my player but the audio is not.


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## bdpf

Did anybody tried to contact Denon? I sent them an email 4 days ago but still didn't get any reply. I would have expected them to take this more seriously:hissyfit:


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## Vader

bdpf said:


> Did anybody tried to contact Denon? I sent them an email 4 days ago but still didn't get any reply. I would have expected them to take this more seriously:hissyfit:


It looks as if Denon has been contacted, and has analyzed the issue (and been able to reproduce it). The good news is that it can be fixed. Denon will upgrade the firmware of any Denon AVR, regardless of warranty status! The bad news is that it will require a firmware update done at a Denon service center to do it. I am still trying to get confirmation that the newer Denon lines may be in the clear (11 and 12 generation AVRs).


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## bdpf

Since I wasn't able to get an email back, I called them. They told me that they've heard of this issue (no kidding!) and he wasn't sure if a firmware is available for my 890 (which I know it is) and he was going to call me back. In any case, if there is no repair center nearby, I probably won't end up updating it as I don't feel confortable sending something like this by mail and I don't have the original box.


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## bdpf

Now I'm hoping that Panasonic will release a new firmware soon to at least fix the pixelation that I get on Attack of the Clones on my BD35. What a mess :dontknow:


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## bdpf

Ok, so I got lucky, I have a service center 10 min from my work. I took it there this morning and should get it back in a few days. I'll let you know if the firmware upgrade fixed the problem.


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## Vader

Apparently, the firmware that fixes the dropout issue for Denons was released sometime between Spring and Summer of 2010 depending on the model. Assuming that Denon applied these upgrades to each subsequent production run, that would explain why these anomalies have not been showing up in newer models (xx11, xx12.) In the next few days, Denon will be releasing the FW updates for the earlier models (xx08, xx09, xx10) for those who need it, either via Network update (3310) or taking it into a Denon repair facility. Note that not all centers will have the update for all models, so it is advised to call first (unless you are sending it into the factory repair center PanurgyOEM in NJ). Of course, the probability that the xx11 and xx12 models are in the clear on the base FW is really only supported by the complete lack of any user reports otherwise. Based on the FW updates that are made available over the next couple of weeks, this should become definitive, one way or the other. I will report back as I learn more.


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## bdpf

After talking with Denon, the answer that I got was different. They told me that they are aware of the problem and they already fixed it in April 2010 when they had the same issue with the Golden Compass. The technician told me to take it to a repair center, that they would do this firmware update and that I should have no problem. I will confirm that in a couple of days when I get my AVR back.


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## bdpf

So I just got time to quickly put in Episode 2 yesterday and check 0.31.26 and 0.31.32 where I used to have drop out consistently and now, no drop outs :T. So it does appear that a firmware update solves the issue.


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## Vader

bdpf said:


> So I just got time to quickly put in Episode 2 yesterday and check 0.31.26 and 0.31.32 where I used to have drop out consistently and now, no drop outs :T. So it does appear that a firmware update solves the issue.


Glad to hear that all is well! Keep us informed as you watch the rest of the saga, and enjoy...


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