Disc Version 1
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Disc Version 2
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Star Wars Special Edition, DVD, Bootleg, Dish Emperor, China 2000
The "Dish Emperor" versions were among the first bootlegs that started to appear in 2000. The source for these DVDs were the 1997 US laserdiscs of the special editions. Laserdisc was the High-end video format of the day, and using them as a source meant these DVDs were superior to VHS but not comparable to a properly mastered DVD.
These come complete with the Dolby Digital and THX Laserdisc trailers at the beginning. The image is letterboxed widescreen, but not anamorphically enhanced. The Chinese subtitles are burnt-in and contained within the lower letterbox band. The only audio on the disc is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, but I can't confirm that it is a bit-for-bit rip from the Laserdisc source. From the main menu you can select AC-3 or DTS, but that only plays a DTS trailer or a Surround Sound demo, it has nothing to do with selecting an actual soundtrack for the film. For the parts with alien subtitled languages, the Chinese subtitles are just superimposed over the English subs.
I have several copies of these bootlegs, and I've seen two variants of the disc art. One has nice, saturated printing, but leaves out artwork at the centre, and the other has washed out colours, but goes all the way to the spindle hole. I've checked, and the files are exactly the same date and size on both versions, so this is an insignificant variation.
This set came from Hong Kong in a flat envelope with just the discs and the artwork (You can see the fold along the spine on the insert). You had to provide the actual case yourself. This was standard practice for bootleg sellers. Note that they just copied the credits from VanDamme's Maximum Risk. Who would notice? No pride in their work...
If you were a bootlegger, Star Wars was a goldmine in the early 2000s. Lucasfilm's reluctance to release these films on DVD meant that numerous Star Wars fans paid up to $100 for a set of the trilogy. (Guilty as charged.)
From the logo on the cases of these releases, they have been nicknamed the "Dish Emperor" versions. However, the actual content of the discs is identical to many other bootlegs, and you may find the same discs released with many cover variations and disc art.
DVD main menu
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DTS trailer
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5.1 surround sound demo
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Look logo
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20th Cenury Fox Home Ent. logo
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Dolby Digital "Egypt" trailer
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THX Cimarron trailer
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Fox fanfare
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A long time ago...
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Title card
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Opening crawl
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Star Destroyer
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Droid spa
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Binoculars
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Greedo subtitles
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Jabba subtitles
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Ben's saber
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Praxis effect
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End credits
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End credits
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