A-List Actors In First English Dub

I had heard a rumour that well-known Hollywood actors were exporting their voice talents to Japan in the 1980s and 90s, using assumed names and avoiding publicity to stay within SAG guidelines for the period. I have VHS recordings of Patlabor 1 and 2 and the voices seem pretty damn familiar, especially Goto, who sounds unmistakeably like Roy Scheider. The latest DVD releases, however, contain a new English dub that does not use these voices; shame, because the original dub is superbly done and very naturalistic. Anyone ever hear anything about this, or why the voices were changed between the VHS and DVD releases?