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

[Bourne1886]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Folks - I just watched the entire 4K trilogy but this time I did the EE's. Whats everyones take on these versions? I *think* Desolation is the best of the three extended versions with Journey being the least necessary. Armies is take it or leave it with just the funeral scene being great. So for me, I will probably watch this way from now on:

Unexpected Journey - TE
Desolation of Smaug - EE
Battle of the Five Armies - TE

What say you?

Can’t remember the theatrical versions as I only saw them at the cinema. I’ve just finished UJ on EE 2d Blu-ray from my 3D set and I really enjoyed it. Currently half way through DoS EE and not enjoying it as much so far but it’s still good.

What’s your opinion on the picture quality of the 4k’s please? I’m still debating whether to buy them. Thanks.

[lgans316]

HDR/WCG is the only reason to watch the 4K middle earth. I just wish one day we will see these free of DNR and sharpening.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by Bourne1886

Can’t remember the theatrical versions as I only saw them at the cinema. I’ve just finished UJ on EE 2d Blu-ray from my 3D set and I really enjoyed it. Currently half way through DoS EE and not enjoying it as much so far but it’s still good.

What’s your opinion on the picture quality of the 4k’s please? I’m still debating whether to buy them. Thanks.

PQ is solid overall - a decent upgrade over my previous 3D editions that I sold off. Theres some digital muckery going on but the detail improvement is noticeable. Fabulous sound. Im glad I upgraded. I think they are worth the upgrade but try and get them on sale or whatever. I got my set on eBay for a very good price. I wouldnt pay retail for them.

[Bourne1886]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

PQ is solid overall - a decent upgrade over my previous 3D editions that I sold off. Theres some digital muckery going on but the detail improvement is noticeable. Fabulous sound. Im glad I upgraded. I think they are worth the upgrade but try and get them on sale or whatever. I got my set on eBay for a very good price. I wouldnt pay retail for them.

I found them cheap on Amazon.de for £42.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by Bourne1886

I found them cheap on Amazon.de for £42.

Excellent - thats a fair buy! .

My USA set was only $54.99 on eBay and I got $20 bucks for the digital codes.

[Bourne1886]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Excellent - thats a fair buy! .

My USA set was only $54.99 on eBay and I got $20 bucks for the digital codes.

I’ve left it too long, they are now £50.00. Oh well.

[Zombie Dude]

I was able to get The Hobbit set for $60 AUD and LOTR for $70 AUD. Was pretty happy with that.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by lgans316

HDR/WCG is the only reason to watch the 4K middle earth. I just wish one day we will see these free of DNR and sharpening.

I'm probably spitballing here, but maybe there's a good reason why they have DNR and sharpening. I just don't know what it is.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

PQ is solid overall - a decent upgrade over my previous 3D editions that I sold off. Theres some digital muckery going on but the detail improvement is noticeable. Fabulous sound. Im glad I upgraded. I think they are worth the upgrade but try and get them on sale or whatever. I got my set on eBay for a very good price. I wouldnt pay retail for them.

As much as I love LOTR, I was not able to get into these, but wouldn't mind giving them another shot...but yeah, only at a very good price.

[HDTV1080P]

The standard 2006 Blu-ray format can only do a maximum of 1080P resolution at a maximum of 24fps when 1080P is used. However, the 2016 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format can handle frame rates between 24fps to 60fps up to 4K. So native 4K at native 60fps is possible with the 4K Blu-ray format. Its not a deal breaker, but since it’s my understanding that the 3 Hobbit movies were filmed at a native frame rate of 48fps, in the ideal world a 4K Blu-ray release at 48fps would have been ideal to capture the native high frame rate.

However most standalone Blu-ray players would have most likely displayed the Hobbit movies at either 24fps or 60fps since a firmware update would be required to output native 48fps most likely. Then there is the issue of having to own a high-end DLP projector to see the native 48fps. Movies shot in high frame rate on 4K Blu-ray are ideal for native 30fps and 60fps movies since a firmware update to the Blu-ray player would not be needed. There is a possibility that some future 4K movies will be filmed at 60fps, then they could be released at true native 60fps that is playable on all existing consumer 4K Blu-ray players and displays.

The director and studios decide on what frame rate they want to use when creating a movie. 99% of movies in the last 100+ years have used native 24fps. But there is big advantages in image quality to record at high frame rates like 60fps, 120fps or higher.

[Schwartzy]

^^ how much more space would 48-60 fps 3+ hour film need? my guess is atleast ALOT MORE...

[Fjodor2000]

Originally Posted by Schwartzy

^^ how much more space would 48-60 fps 3+ hour film need? my guess is atleast ALOT MORE...

Less than one might think. Going from e.g. 24 to 48 fps, the additional 24 frames will be very similar to the existing ones, so more easily compressible.

Also, I would hope for 120 fps and not 48 fps if the frame rate should be increased in new movies.

[HDTV1080P]

The Hobbit trilogy is one of my family members favorite fictional movie series, and over the years I have grown to like many of Peter Jackson's movies (I saw all 3 movies in a movie theater many years ago). My favorite versions of the 3 films is the extended versions of the movies. Peter Jackson is a very talented screenwriter, director, and producer (I like his King Kong movie also). The 3 films in the Hobbit trilogy had a budget of $745 million dollars and box office sells was $2.935 billion dollars according to online information (very successful film series). I like the very large birds in the Hobbit series that some people ride on. Also the talking fire breathing dragon in the last two Hobbit movies was really neat to watch and listen too. The dragon of course uses computer generated interface technology and is not real, but this is another intelligent dragon that is both different and similar to the fictional dragons in the HBO Game of Thrones TV series (The Dragons in the Game of Thrones TV series does not speak in English but instead uses some type of ancient dragon language to communicate). It is interesting that the Hobbit movie series is between the years 2012-2014 and the Game of Thrones TV series is between the years 2011-2019, and both series have excellent quality CGI style dragons. With the help of computer graphics technology movies and TV series that contains excellent looking dragons has become a reality.

The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey, both the theatrical and extended version is rated PG-13: “Extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, frightening images, and fleeting nudity.” The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug, both the theatrical and extended version is rated PG-13: “Extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening images.” The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies theatrical version is rated PG-13, however the extended version is rated R: “Some Violence”.

On December 1st 2020 the Warner Brothers studio released the Hobbit trilogy on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format in native 4K (2160P) with Dolby Vision HDR and with lossless 13.1 Dolby Atmos surround sound (This release is a standard 24fps frame rate 4K Blu-ray instead of high frame rate 48fps version). Due to limitations in my equipment, I watched the movie series downscaled to standard dynamic range with 1080P and lossless 7.1 Dolby TrueHD core. The most important thing when it comes to a movie release is the picture and sound quality and then extra features are the second most important thing. I was disappointed that this version of the Hobbit trilogy does not have any extra features at all, not even the audio commentary tracks were ported over. The standard Blu-ray release has a massive amount of extras with an audio commentary track for each film that takes several days to see and hear everything (The extra features are worth $100+ for some people). Some people like me were surprised that this release is the movie only version with no extras. I still own the Blu-ray 3D versions of the Hobbit trilogy if I ever want to see the extra features again. It is rumored that sometime in the future a deluxe 4K Blu-ray Middle Earth Lord of the Rings and Hobbit boxset might be released with a massive amount of all new and old extra features sometime in the future.


There are a total of 6 BD-100 (100GB) discs in this boxset. A native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player is required to watch the series, and that is the way all 4K Blu-ray movie releases should be since many people do not like combo packs. The menus were easy to navigate on the 4K Blu-ray release also (The main menu for the Hobbit trilogy uses lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital and the main menu for the Lord of the Rings trilogy uses studio master 5.1 PCM). I ended up watching the entire movie series and every 100GB disc was flawless with no problems. It appears that Warner Brothers studio has perfected triple layer 100GB 4K Blu-ray disc stamping and manufacturing process, since everything worked flawless like it should. This Hobbit trilogy is reference quality. At the time of purchase, I was not able to get the Best Buy limited edition steelbook version of the Hobbit since they were all sold out. However Best Buy, Amazon, and other online stores do have the standard 4K Blu-ray packaging style in stock, which also contains the exact same 6 BD-100 (100GB) discs.

100GB 4K Blu-ray discs if treated and stored properly can literally last over 1,000 years. Something to pass on to people over several generations.

The Hobbit The Motion Picture Trilogy 100GB disc information (information valid for both the Best Buy steelbook and standard 4K Blu-ray packaging styles)

The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey (Theatrical version) 73.4GB
The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey (Extended version) 77.5GB
The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug (Theatrical version) 78.3GB
The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug (Extended version) 88.4GB
The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies (Theatrical version) 68.3GB
The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies (Extended version) 68.7GB

[onyx527]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

The director and studios decide on what frame rate they want to use when creating a movie. 99% of movies in the last 100+ years have used native 24fps. But there is big advantages in image quality to record at high frame rates like 60fps, 120fps or higher.

I’m not exactly a fan of these films but it was just very neat seeing them in 48fps in the theatre. And now those versions are locked up almost a decade has gone by and not a whisper about releasing those versions. Really irks me. I cannot imagine anyone wanting to watch these films more than once, except to experience the native HFR

I own both Ang Lee's 60fps films and there’s just something so interesting and curious about watching them. Really neat experience.

Releasing the hfr versions would be a day one purchase from me. Even if they up it to 60.

[Vashetti]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I've watched AUJ and the review is coming.

[Georgeleon]

Does anyone know the reason why Geoffs account says banned, I'm new to the forums on this site and cant tell if he changed that to say banned or not lol.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by Georgeleon

Does anyone know the reason why Geoffs account says banned, I'm new to the forums on this site and cant tell if he changed that to say banned or not lol.

He’s either been suspended or banned for awhile. But either way he can’t post until his time out is up.

[Georgeleon]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

He’s either been suspended or banned for awhile. But either way he can’t post until his time out is up.

That really sucks, I appreciate his insight on many transfers. Thanks for the update.

[Zombie Dude]

Originally Posted by Georgeleon

That really sucks, I appreciate his insight on many transfers. Thanks for the update.

Yeah, how does an MVP get banned? lol

[#Darren]

Is this a definitive set with all the extras or is a super duper version coming later?