What many have been waiting for - LOTR trilogy

Pycroft

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Lord-of-the-Rings-The-Motion-Picture-Trilogy-Blu-ray-Review/5174/

Just reviewed by blu-ray.com. They say the video is disappointing, but passable. I wonder if I should wait for the extended cuts version, or jump on this. I've been waiting for it a long time!

James

concealer404

Wait for extended.

coolsax

wait for extended.. its the only way to watch these three movies!!

cheddar

Actually, they said that Fellowship was a video mess (poor colors, scrubbed faces, ruined scenes) with Towers and King being much better. The reviewer thought they hadn't even remastered the video and just used available masters cleaned up with DNR.

This is very disappointing considering the amount of time they've had to get this right. Could be they're increasing the likelyhood of a double dip by releasing this flawed version first. I hope it's not the case that they just decided not to put in the time to do it right. I mean if they can make the Wizard of Oz look good, it's a shame they couldn't have put in the time to restore a more recent film like Fellowship.

It does seem to have good audio. However, since they already released a 6.1 track on the dvds, a 5.1 track seems like a step backwards for blu-ray. Again, maybe they're waiting for the extended version for a 7.1 mix. I just hope they'll make a better effort all around for the extended versions. I think I'll wait.

Sherardp

Lame that they would screw up the transfer of this series. So many people have been waiting for this.

Demiurge

concealer404 wrote: »

Wait for extended.

Pretty much. I wasn't going to buy this set no matter how glorious the reviews might have been. It's all about the EE Blu-Rays and I suspect if this is just a gimmick those transfers will be great to get more people to upgrade to them from these shoddy messes.

Erik Tracy

Demiurge wrote: »

Pretty much. I wasn't going to buy this set no matter how glorious the reviews might have been. It's all about the EE Blu-Rays and I suspect if this is just a gimmick those transfers will be great to get more people to upgrade to them from these shoddy messes.

I'm gonna pass on the TEs, the EEs are, *for me*, more complete - yet still far from 'perfect'.

But, I'm not hopeful that the EEs will be any better - it seems a trend with how Warner Bros is treating their movies - a quick turn of the DNR knob, slap the disc in a box and fling it to the masses.

Demiurge

Erik Tracy wrote: »

I'm gonna pass on the TEs, the EEs are, *for me*, more complete - yet still far from 'perfect'.

But, I'm not hopeful that the EEs will be any better - it seems a trend with how Warner Bros is treating their movies - a quick turn of the DNR knob, slap the disc in a box and fling it to the masses.

You're right. I'm not gonna get my hopes up either, but you never know. I won't be there at the end of the year buying them until there has been time for them to be reviewed. If they're bad I'll just stick with the SD-DVD EEs that I already have upscaled on the Oppo BDP.

Erik Tracy

Demiurge wrote: »

You're right. I'm not gonna get my hopes up either, but you never know. I won't be there at the end of the year buying them until there has been time for them to be reviewed. If they're bad I'll just stick with the SD-DVD EEs that I already have upscaled on the Oppo BDP.

Precisely - and, really - the SD-DVD still look pretty darn good upscaled thru my Oppo-83 as well.

I just can not justify the coin for the jump to a shoddy BD set of LOTR.

millerman 3732

Ive been reading the reviews over at AVS for a couple of weeks now and every one agrees that the PQ is a little disappointing but I'll still be getting my copy from WB shop, got a decent deal $50 shipped. I'm also a much bigger fan of the EE but considering it could be another two years or longer before they come out, most agree that it will be released when the Hobbit makes its theatrical run, I'll go ahead and pick these up and enjoy them until the EE are released. The DVDs where nice back in the day but blown up to 106 inches even with my XA2 they can still be tough to watch after watching so many BD's

cheddar

Well, the reviewer said that overall Fellowship was still an improvement over DVD and the next two in the series are supposed to be much better in blu-ray. Still, it seems like quality that may have been somewhat acceptable two years ago if they rushed it out for fans. But considering the delays until now, makes you wonder what they've been doing all this time or an obvious marketing ploy for the double dip to come.

Erik Tracy

cheddar wrote: »

Well, the reviewer said that overall Fellowship was still an improvement over DVD and the next two in the series are supposed to be much better in blu-ray. Still, it seems like quality that may have been somewhat acceptable two years ago if they rushed it out for fans. But considering the delays until now, makes you wonder what they've been doing all this time or an obvious marketing ploy for the double dip to come.

The issue of 'double dip' seems, to me, completely separate from any intelligent forethought and planning that if the EEs are mastered with better PQ that more people will be inclined to 'double dip'.

The double dip is, to me, exclusively tied to the release of TE first and the impatience of people to buy ANY offering of a BD release, then waiting for the EEs to come out - regardless of any implied or rumored improvements or care for PQ.

cheddar

Well, I don't think I would have as much of an issue with it if they did release this two years ago and went back to work remastering and reworking the movies for an EE. But to force people to wait years for this AND the EE without the benefit of a remastered TE Fellowship seems to give long-waiting fans a poor choice no matter how you want to frame it.

billbillw

I've waited for over 2 years. I'll wait some more and hope they put more effort into the EE discs.

kuntasensei

cheddar wrote: »

It does seem to have good audio. However, since they already released a 6.1 track on the dvds, a 5.1 track seems like a step backwards for blu-ray. Again, maybe they're waiting for the extended version for a 7.1 mix. I just hope they'll make a better effort all around for the extended versions. I think I'll wait.

This release has DTS-ES Matrix, so the rear channel audio is encoded into the side surrounds the same way other DTS-MA ES material is (for example Wall-E, Up, etc.). Given the way DTS-ES Discrete works on DVD (by encoding the data to the side surrounds and removing it based on the metadata in the bitstream), this should still be a faithful reproduction of that 6.1 mix.

The reports on the video are disappointing. It's sad to see them screw up what should be a AAA title for the format. Let's hope they step it up for the EE.

BIZILL

how the eff could they eff up, assumably on purpose, or even not, in this manner and execute blasphemy upon a series such as this? boggles my mind.

Ron-P

BIZILL wrote: »

how the eff could they eff up, assumably on purpose, or even not, in this manner and execute blasphemy upon a series such as this? boggles my mind.

It's not **** up, according to HTF the transfer of this blu-ray release is approved by Peter Jackson, if that's the case, it's what he wanted.

But still, I may pull the plug on the pre-order and just rent.

BIZILL

yeah, i'm hoping blockbuster picks these up so i can rent and then purchase on down the line.

danger boy

wait for the extended directors cut remaster on limited edition 180 gram vinyl

ryanjoachim

danger boy wrote: »

wait for the extended directors cut remaster on limited edition 180 gram vinyl

Coming in June of 2045!

AGUERRA

double dip- they give us something now and probly when the hobbit comes out bam the EE come out. man this blows

Erik Tracy

AGUERRA wrote: »

double dip- they give us something now and probly when the hobbit comes out bam the EE come out. man this blows

No - trip dip or quadruple dip.

The EEs will come out as a fast and dirty zip thru the DNR process and the EEs will look the same as the TEs do now.

And folks will bite for these and cough up the coin to buy them.

THEN, you will see the "Re-Mastered" TEs.

And folks will bite for these and cough up the coin to buy them.

THEN, you will see the "Re-Mastered" EEs.

And folks will bite for these and cough up the coin to buy them.

Problem is - by then, there will be a new format to replace BD that is even better and the process starts all over again.....Sauron LIVES!!

BIZILL

let's not forget those who have already dipped for standard dvd.

comfortablycurt

I'd definitely hold out for the extended editions. They're WAAAY better than the regular versions.

I'll be holding out either way, since I don't even have a Blu-ray player yet...lol