I know the orginal star wars movie are not out on DVD yet (A New Hope, Return of the Jedi, Empire Strikes Back). But I have seen these DVD's on ebay. some people are saying these DVD movies were purchased in Hong Kong. Does anyone know if this is true? Is this worth buying or should I wait until it is released in stores whenever that will be?
Here is one example of an Ebay auction for the star wars trilogy.
[Link: cgi.ebay.com]

Those are probably bootleg versions taken from the LD.....I would not waste your time......

Bootlegs

Thanks for responding before I bid. I had a felling they were bootlegs. Why is george lucas waiting so long to release these movies. its pissing me off.

This should have been your first hint that they were bootlegs.

"Cover graphics may vary due to supplier!"

As for why he is doing it. I don't think it's money/profit issue with him. So I have no idea why. No matter when they come out. They will probably set a sales record that may never be beat by any other release on DVD.
Hell, I've bought every "new" version they made on VHS. And I'm sure I'm not the only that has done that. I must own about 6 copies, in different versions. And I'd buy the DVD version as well. But I's also like to have both the "normal" WS version and the SE WS versions on one disk, even if it means making it a flipper. But the main reason I want a DVD of them, is for the sound improvments over the VHS tapes, more so than the picture. Otherwise I'd just burn a copy of the VHS to a DVD with my burner.

BTW:

If you really want the Trilogy in a DVD format, even though they are a bootleg.
DO NOT buy them from Ebay vendors, or you will overpay for them in the bidding frenzy that abounds on Ebay.

Go to a place like this, and buy the set for $45.

[Link: getvcds.com]

When you see stuff that is hard to find on Ebay, that you would like to have..
Take the time to do a search to find the same thing, at a normal set price. And avoid the Ebay feeding frenzy!
After all those "sellers" on Ebay, have to get them from somewhere, for less than the people pay for them on Ebay.
It took me less than 2 minutes to find this other source. It was the FIRST listing on a search using google by using "five star collection star wars DVD" as the search phrase.

Note that the audio is 2-channel. Not a criticizm, and ProLogic will function well.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

From what I've heard, Lucas is waiting to release episodes iv - vi on dvd until after episode iii is released. He's never been happy with the technology that was available when he made iv - vi (hence the special edition theater releases) and wants to "finish" or "fix" A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi with the latest technology before releasing them on dvd (that is, after the release of episode iii at the earliest). What does it mean? Probably quite a few new additions like we saw in the special edition versions...hopefully they look better than the Jabba added scene (that scene was a joke)!

Well from what I can tell, both the link I posted, and the Ebay auction he posted. Are both for DTS only DVD's.
Both say it's the "Five star collection". So I'm betting they both were made from the same source, even though the cover art is not the same. Which is also probably why the Ebay seller has his "disclaimer" about how the cover art may not be the same as he shows in his AD. But yes, you would still get normal Dolby surround sound in pro-logic, unless they are DTS only disc.
But as for the DTS, I have no idea of what they are giving you with that. As the site I posted only says it digital 2.0 stereo sound. But we know that pro-logic surround is encoded within the 2 channel sound, if it's just normal surround sound.
Still, $45 + $5 S&H from the site I posted is better than paying the $60 that the Ebay auction is at right now, who knows what the final bid will be.

His "messing" with the first 3, is also why I want to be able to also have the option of having the real movie. Without him trying to fix something that was not broken, in the first place. Yes, getting rid of some of the not so well hidden after effects of the special effects, was needed. But redoing the entire movie, is not.

I definitely agree! I'd like to see the dvd come with the original untouched version as well as the "final" version of it. However, it's really lame when they start doing something like the E.T. dvd where the only way to get the original is to pay $80 for a collector's version. That's rubbish.

Johnla
Thanks for the link and the hint on the cover graphics.

You should really try going to some SW websites if you are this interested. This has been an ongoing discussion for around 6 years. There's rumors, confirmed rumors, wild rumors, changes of heart by Lucas. It's endless. Here are several points germaine to this thread:

Lucas has said (although he keeps changing his mind on things) that he will not be putting the original version of Ep 4-6 on DVD, only the SE version with additional footage.

To my knowledge, because of the above, the original version has never been put into 5.1 surround by Lucas. Most bootlegs (of any movie) have DTS, recoded from DVD or LD. But for the original SW, this is probably just 2 channel. For the SE version, it may be a bootleg of the DD 5.1 channel created for the last set of LDs.

Lucas owns THX, which is linked with Dolby these days. Therefore, no Lucas DVD will ever have an official DTS track. (that's my assumption, so far true) Any Lucas film with DTS is a bootleg.

As Pronto said above, Lucas will finish Eps. 1-3, both theatrically and on DVD, before he will get to making DVDs of 4-6. What exactly it is he wants to update past the changes already done for the SE version I'm not sure. I haven't been following this stuff real closse, perhaps there are some solid rumors out there these days....

There was also some talk at some point that he wanted to possibly create a "star wars sags" version, akin to the Godfather, where all the movies are edited together. I doubt that would happen.

The problem I see, is that by the time he "finishes" the DVD for Episode 3, we may be close to some unified format for HD-DVD and he may want to wait further and re-do the whole she-bang (all 6) in HD-DVD, possibly only as a set and not individuals. If he chose something like that, it would mean repurchases for us fanatics.

Then again, who knows what George will do. I would like Ep 4-6 now, but I will not buy a bootleg to do it. It is just not that important to me. But, to each his/her own.

No problem. At $45 it might be worth the risk to get them. If they are good, it would be a decent deal at that price. If they are not, you could always take them to Ebay and get your money back, and probably a bit more...