The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition) (2001-2003)

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

The same thing goes for Christopher Lee too.

That's only because he loved his performance in his death scene so much and they cut it out in the theatrical!

[RYJAPE21]

Glad to hear the June release date is official This is now my most anticipated BD release.

[md99]

Have I read it right on the front page that each movie is split across two discs meaning half is on disc 1 and the other half on disc 2?

Unless I'm mistaken screw that

[ApolloOne]

Doing a little math...

Return of the King EE is 266 minutes long. On one 50 GB BD, that works out to a total bitrate (including audio and subs) of 23.9 Mb/s. Let's say we knock off about 3 Mb/s for DTS-HD MA and other audio tracks and we're looking at just over 20 Mb/s average bitrate for video.

I don't know about you guys, but for something this epic and gorgeous, I'd like a LOT more bits thrown at the picture than that. Two discs is just fine by me.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith

What a bust. A 15 disc set for what should need only 6 discs. Way to jack up the price. I was hoping for 2 big things from the Extended edition Blu-Rays.

1. Each movie on a single disc
2. The Appendixs in high definition.

Now we know the set will feature neither.

Gone with the Wind is longer then the first two extended editions and it was fit comfertably on a single BD-50 with room to spare and IT LOOKS FANTASTIC. Spreading the movie over two discs will do absolutely nothing to improve the quality all it will do is give the studios an excuse to jack up the price.

First things first GwtW is a black and white film with little to no action scenes and doesn't require huge bitrates to do it justice. Comparing it to LotR shows nothing but ignorance on your part.

[ApolloOne]

Originally Posted by merrick97

First things first GwtW is a black and white film

Uh oh. Everybody duck!

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Looks like June 28th is going to be my next LOTR marathon!

Every year I sit down and push play on the trilogy and only pause to change discs, go to the bathroom, or grab something to bring back to eat while watching. Straight from the opening credits of FOTR to the credits of ROTK!

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by ApolloOne

Doing a little math...

Return of the King EE is 266 minutes long. On one 50 GB BD, that works out to a total bitrate (including audio and subs) of 23.9 Mb/s. Let's say we knock off about 3 Mb/s for DTS-HD MA and other audio tracks and we're looking at just over 20 Mb/s average bitrate for video.

I don't know about you guys, but for something this epic and gorgeous, I'd like a LOT more bits thrown at the picture than that. Two discs is just fine by me.

HALLELUJAH!!!

Preach it!

[Andrewtst]

Originally Posted by merrick97

First things first GwtW is a black and white film ...

Ops! Since when Gone with the Wind became black and white film? How come mine is color! Somebody help me!!! I think I watch too many film... I can't even differentiate black and white vs color! Help!!!!!

[42041]

Great news. I still have little faith in the people doing their video compression, but it gives me hope that WB may do it right this time.

I'm happy that WB chose to split the discs. Swapping discs for a 4-hour film is, quite simply, no big deal. If I wanted convenience, I'd be using Netflix instant.

[Michael Harper]

No news on the UK release, no?

[Jimmy Smith]

Originally Posted by merrick97

First things first GwtW is a black and white film with little to no action scenes and doesn't require huge bitrates to do it justice. Comparing it to LotR shows nothing but ignorance on your part.

Gone with the Wind is black and white? WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Im the igrorant one.

People are acting like HD-DVD won the format war. I feel betrayed by this decision because one of the biggest reasons for supporting Blu-Ray during the format war for me was because Blu-Ray has the space to fit long movies like Lord of the Rings on a single disc while HD-DVD doesn't. Its a slap in the face.

[Blu-Benny]

@ least when u get up to change the disc's, it gives u a reason to go to the bathroom!!

[42041]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith

People are acting like HD-DVD won the format war. I feel betrayed by this decision because one of the biggest reasons for supporting Blu-Ray during the format war for me was because Blu-Ray has the space to fit long movies like Lord of the Rings on a single disc while HD-DVD doesn't. Its a slap in the face.

I supported Blu-Ray because it was capable of superior AV quality. My "slap in the face" is every time a movie comes out with half the video bandwidth of the format wasted.

[myanks12]

I don't mind the movies being put onto two discs. Just as long as the picture quality is better as a result of that.

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

@ least when u get up to change the disc's, it gives u a reason to go to the bathroom!!

Yeah, I don't see how seeing a screen that says "Please insert disc 2" takes anyone out of the experience more than having to pause and go pee... But then again maybe there are some die hards out there that can sit through a 4 hour movie without having the urge. I'm not one of them

[md99]

Crossed right off my list regardless of it being LOTR's. Flippers died with DVD as far as I'm concerned.

[Jimmy Smith]

Originally Posted by 42041

I supported Blu-Ray because it was capable of superior AV quality. My "slap in the face" is every time a movie comes out with half the video bandwidth of the format wasted.

Higher bitrates do not equal better picture quality

A good example is Avatar on Blu-Ray. The first release of Avatar was 2D free of extras and the studio claimed this was to "maximize the quality." Many on this forum foolishly believed this BS. Later that year Avatar was re-released in 3D and because 3D requires 50% higher bitrates for the second eye the 3D release had a bitrate 24% lower then the 2D release. If higher bitrates always equal higher quality then the 3D version should be softer and filled with compression artifacts. Yet none are present. The 3D version of Avatar despite its lower bitrate equals the 2D version in all quality aspects.

Avatars not alone either. Many old DVDs were reissued at a lower bitrate yet the reissues actually look better. A BD-50 has plenty of room to fit each of the Lord of the Rings extended cuts.

[RYJAPE21]

I saw this listed as a feature on all 3 film discs 1: "The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – The Untold Story Trailer". Anyone know what this is?

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Andrewtst

Ops! Since when Gone with the Wind became black and white film? How come mine is color! Somebody help me!!! I think I watch too many film... I can't even differentiate black and white vs color! Help!!!!!

Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith

Gone with the Wind is black and white? WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Im the igrorant one.

People are acting like HD-DVD won the format war. I feel betrayed by this decision because one of the biggest reasons for supporting Blu-Ray during the format war for me was because Blu-Ray has the space to fit long movies like Lord of the Rings on a single disc while HD-DVD doesn't. Its a slap in the face.

Im sorry guys I made a mistake about Gone with the Wind. Ill own up to it.

But seriously Im going to be nice here:

Why is it really such a bad thing to get up and go take a piss and change out a disc in the middle of a 3-4 hour movie?

I frankly have a hard time seeing how anyone can sit that long without having to pee or anything like that.