The Hobbit Trilogy 4K UHD Extended & Theatrical (2012-2014)

[Mamaluigi24]

Originally Posted by NoFro

I agree with others in this thread that say that the TBOTFA extended edition is absolutely essential. I watched the extended versions of all six films for the first time last year and TBOTFA was by far the film that was most improved by the extended run time and is the only extended edition which I would consider the definitive version of a Middle Earth film. There were so many moments where I thought "why was this not in the theatrical release!?"

Yep. That’s exactly how I feel as well. While the other extended versions added a lot of important scenes and storylines, very few of them are necessary to understand the main story. When I finished watching The Return of the King in theatrical, there were elements I thought could have been fleshed out more, but overall, everything made sense. The added scenes are just there to add more depth to an already amazing story. With BotFA, I was left wondering many questions that I knew would never be answered in LOTR. Half of those questions were eventually answered in the extended version, and that’s why, to me, this is the one movie I will never watch in theatrical ever again.

[fighthefutureofhd]

Just my f'ing luck. I spend $130 dollars on The Hobbit 4K box set only to have Amazon knock the price down. WAY DOWN. That's $130 I can't get back.

Originally Posted by trekky76

Watched An Unexpected Journey today. Looks nothing but amazing to me. I can only imagine how much better the other two can be. Didn't see a single issue but didn't look for any either. Did notice some smooth faces early on but I imagine it was de-aging of a few actors. I'm also glad they didn't go for HFR on these. Wasn't a fan of how smooth Gemini Man was. Anyways, haven't seen LOTR ones yet so that'll be an interesting comparison.

I just got this set over the weekend and plan to start watching them soon. I'm hoping they will be better than the blu-rays and the 3D blu-rays. I found the HFR on these wasn't good at all. It made everything look like cut scenes from a video game. It was not used well at all. Or the material being shot didn't fare well with HFR. I am with you and glad they didn't add the HFR. This will be my first time seeing these movies without the HFR.

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Only thing potentially going out-of-print is the Steelbook set, and even that could linger for a while.

And the regular box set for The Lord of the Rings. That sucker has been out of stock for almost a month.

Originally Posted by jerclay

Well, no. I don't think I'll want to watch these again. Yes, the HDR is beyond awesome, but man, this DNR and edge ehancement are killing me. I'm not a big fan of 3D, but I just happen to still have the last OLED that has 3D in a proper working condition, so I decided to give my Hobbit 3D discs a spin. And I was actually blown away at how good the 3D looked! It was very striking contrast to what I just saw on a 4K UHD - how good a digitally shot film can look if nobody effs with it. Just how I remember seeing it in 3D in cinemas... So for me, it really boils down to a simple choice - should I stick with the perfect 3D presentation or should I just take the good with the bad of the fairly flawed 4K release - sometimes good, occasionally great (give credit where credit due!), but a lot of times - just like an upscaled videogame.

I think a lot of that, for me anyway, boils down to how it was shot using the HFR. I truly believe the HFR ruined the look of these movies. I know that they were also shot without HFR but having HFR in the background, in mind, may have ruined the look of these movies. Again, to me anyway. I never liked how the final product looked in HFR. I'm hoping this will be better. I'm not expecting miracles, mind you. Just as long as they are somewhat better or improved on the Blu-rays. The ones I had never seemed to look right at home either. It just felt very waxy, or rather fake is a better word. And a lot like upscaled cut scenes from a videogame. We'll see this week. I didn't own these movies, so 4K was the only option for me. Despite the fact that I plunked down a hunk of money for this set.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by ClaytonMG

Finally got around to watching these. Woof. Don't know how any professional reviewer could give these perfect ratings for the video. Especially the third one. Talk about overusing DNR and EE. Faces look incredibly waxy, you can see EE halos in multiple scenes. Sure it's sharp, but artificially sharp. It's clean, but artificially so. Just completely overcooked. Maybe on smaller screens it's not so bad but on a 110" screen my wife even began commenting on it.

On the plus side the Dolby Atmos is pretty amazing!

I do: it's because there's not really such a thing as a "professional" reviewer, just someone who's got a TV and can string a few words together (often sounding like they swallowed a thesaurus) or point their face at a camera and is therefore thought of as a wise oracle who knows exactly what they're looking at. On the very rare occasion that someone's reputation precedes them like RAH then of coursh people will listen, though even he's desperately out of touch when it comes to UHD. People might think that there's some sort of 'qualification' involved but there's no 'disc reviewer's college' that one can learn from, no need for any formal writing skills, hell, no need for even the most rudimentary writing skills when it comes to video reviews like YT, just a stream of consciousness based on whatever cock-eyed settings they've got their gear set to.

Nah, they got fooled just like most people do. It's because sharpness sells, DNR sells, people don't want images to look all soft and be packed with that nasty grain stuff (or indeed noise, in the case of digital video) and the oldest tricks are the best ones. So they look at these and are "blown away". I look at these and I think "bloody hell, did the colourist have cateracts or something?".

[madridista8700]

My set of custom covers are done

[Mamaluigi24]

Originally Posted by madridista8700

My set of custom covers are done

These look great!

[Mamaluigi24]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

It's because sharpness sells, DNR sells, people don't want images to look all soft and be packed with that nasty grain stuff (or indeed noise, in the case of digital video) and the oldest tricks are the best ones. So they look at these and are "blown away". I look at these and I think "bloody hell, did the colourist have cateracts or something?".

I actually fit perfectly that description. I love sharpness and hate grainy pictures. Maybe I’d feel different if my TV was over 100 inches. In any case, as much as I love it, I wish the Hobbit re-releases were indeed a little softer. I decided to watch them before LOTR and I regretted it as soon as I started Fellowship of the Ring, because I found the movie to be too blurry. It really isn’t though. It’s just because I watched The Hobbit movies first. They should have been more in line with LOTR in term of sharpness.

[Geoff D]

It's not even screen size that's the factor, it's mainly taste. But you're 100% right that the two 'looks' don't track when you watch one trilogy after the other, I see a lot of people talking about all the processing applied to the LOTR UHDs to make them look all digital like the Hobbitses but I don't see it. Whatever they've done to LOTR they haven't expunged the filmic texture completely, whereas with the Hobbitses they've smoothed away the inherent camera noise and cranked the sharpening up like a bastard, they look SO 'edgy' and terribly over-sharpened compared to the LOTR UHDs.

[Indiana Jonezzz...]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

It's not even screen size that's the factor, it's mainly taste. But you're 100% right that the two 'looks' don't track when you watch one trilogy after the other, I see a lot of people talking about all the processing applied to the LOTR UHDs to make them look all digital like the Hobbitses but I don't see it. Whatever they've done to LOTR they haven't expunged the filmic texture completely, whereas with the Hobbitses they've smoothed away the inherent camera noise and cranked the sharpening up like a bastard, they look SO 'edgy' and terribly over-sharpened compared to the LOTR UHDs.

Do you prefer the Blu-rays over the 4K’s for The Hobbit? Or does the HDR and colour outweigh the overdone sharpening?

[Bellicose]

Originally Posted by madridista8700

My set of custom covers are done

LOL I thought at first these were covers for a new version. The official stuff is so hideous I might as well wait for anniversary.

[EvilMoose]

Originally Posted by Bellicose

LOL I thought at first these were covers for a new version. The official stuff is so hideous I might as well wait for anniversary.

Agreed. These custom covers are MILES better than any of the official boxart for the new releases. I would give the front cover images a bit more room, though, and maybe crop the Lord of the Rings images less. The covers for the Hobbit look great, given that Bilbo is the point of focus on each of them, but the Lord of the Rings covers are all about that gorgeous scenery.

[Alister_M]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jonezzz...

Do you prefer the Blu-rays over the 4K’s for The Hobbit? Or does the HDR and colour outweigh the overdone sharpening?

Even with the added processing, the UHDs do look far more like actual movies and less like 3-hour video-game cutscenes. Especially the last one, which looked terribly fuzzy and diffused on BD.

[Everan]

Did the steelbook art ever got released in HQ, front and back?

[PatrynXX]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jonezzz...

Do you prefer the Blu-rays over the 4K’s for The Hobbit? Or does the HDR and colour outweigh the overdone sharpening?

well if it would stop locking up the player... the sound is way better on the 4K's. Alas (extendeds) Movie 1 no problems , Movie 2 one freeze. Movie 3 about 1/2 way thru. . unplayable the rest of the way (right about the time Cate says I'm not alone and Hugo says you shoulda stayed dead bang. locked up. and did that constantly the rest of the disc. Think I'm going back to Sony. Always had better luck even with the Region Free version of a $40 blu ray player. lasted 3 years, not bad $150 yes but I really haven't had any issues on something I can't update.. Only problem is .... use a sony remote with 2 sony's they'll both run...

[Alister_M]

Originally Posted by PatrynXX

Only problem is .... use a sony remote with 2 sony's they'll both run...

Just plug the less used one into a different powerboard. Or get one with individual switches so you can disable whichever player you're not using.

[Schwartzy]

Originally Posted by madridista8700

My set of custom covers are done

[Show spoiler]

amaizing covers!! but you forgot the american barcode that would cover the top right corner, in this case atleast aragorns face

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Mamaluigi24

With BotFA, I was left wondering many questions that I knew would never be answered in LOTR. Half of those questions were eventually answered in the extended version, and that’s why, to me, this is the one movie I will never watch in theatrical ever again.

What questions are you referring to?

[Mamaluigi24]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

What questions are you referring to?

What happens to Bard after the battle?
Do the citizens of Laketown receive the share of gold that was promised?
Does Thranduil receive his jewels?
What happens to Tauriel after the battle?
What becomes of the Arkenstone? (Answered in EX)
What about the new King under the Mountain? (Answered in EX)
Why does Gandalf carry Radagast's staff all of a sudden? (Answered in EX)
Where did that line of "This treasure will be your death" come from? (Answered in EX)

Now, because I read the book before seeing the movie, I actually knew the answer to most of these questions, but anyone who hasn't read it won’t know much without the extended version.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Mamaluigi24

What happens to Bard after the battle?
Do the citizens of Laketown receive the share of gold that was promised?
Does Thranduil receive his jewels?
What happens to Tauriel after the battle?

The first two are implied quite strongly: Bard becomes the new Master and the citizens do receive their share of the gold.

I think we can assume that Thranduil (probably) reclaims his jewels, too.

Not sure what happens to Tauriel, not sure it really matter either.

[Mamaluigi24]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Not sure what happens to Tauriel, not sure it really matter either.

It matters to me. She’s not in the LOTR movies or any books whatsoever. So BotFA was all the closure they could have given her, and they didn’t. Even just a shot of Thranduil reaching out his hand would have done the trick. Such a shame.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Mamaluigi24

It matters to me. She’s not in the LOTR movies or any books whatsoever. So BotFA was all the closure they could have given her, and they didn’t. Even just a shot of Thranduil reaching out his hand would have done the trick. Such a shame.

Reaching out his hand for what? What does that accomplish that the "Because it was real" exchange doesn't? Her dwarf boyfriend is dead, her elf boyfriend isn't coming back home. We can assume she just goes back to the Woodland Realm to be an elf for the rest of forever. Or maybe she joined Legolas to go explore Middle Earth and we'll get an HBO Max show about it.