Page 1 of STAR WARS ON DVD

I`ve just obtained copies of all 4 of the Star Wars films. Whilst the packaging is authentic, along with picture disk and stamped DVD - I don`t believe they are true DVDs. My Phillips 711 reads them as DVDs and not VCDs, but the quality is more VCD than DVD. They are watchable and clear, but have no comparison to DVD quality. Does anyone know how these copies are produced? Do they have, as advertised on the disks, THX and Dolby Digital? The disks are from the Far East.

Well, they`re pirates aren`t they? My guess is VCD, does your player not tell you what it`s playing? As they are probably dupes of the laserdisc box set which was DD 5.1 and THX, I suppose that you might say they are both of those things. But given that they are obviously pirates, that`s a bit like saying you have the Mona Lisa at home when all you have is a postcard.

Yeah, if they`re Far Eastern imports they most probably are VCDs.

Hope you didn`t spend too much on them...if Star Wars ever did come out on official DVD you`d soon know about it - these forums would never stop talking about it !!!

Bootleg DVDs of the Star Wars films do exist. If the film is on a single disc, or has any kind of graphical menu, then it`s a DVD, not a VCD.

Here are a few features on the DVD bootlegs.

Episode I:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/episode1boot/episode1boot.html

Star Wars Trilogy:

http://www.dvdfile.com/software/bootleg_bulletin/star_wars.htm
http://www.dvdfile.com/software/bootleg_bulletin/review/starwars_anewhope.htm
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/starwarsboot.html

Note that *official* VCD versions of these films are also available! If you want to watch Star Wars on your DVD player and don`t want a pirate version, you`ll have to go the VCD route.

Mike