Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Theatrical Versions) - April 6, 2010

[Mr. Joshua]

Based on the review posted on this site. I am not purchasing the theatrical release. I will wait and hope that the extended editions are done correctly. If not I will wait and let people buy and complain and get the updated extended versions. I've been down this road with Gladiator and never again.....

[El_Burro]

another review:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/2313...gstrilogy.html

[dcowboy7]

Originally Posted by El_Burro

another review:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/2313...gstrilogy.html

That review was already posted here already.

post #5973.

[QuasidodoJr]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Do you really believe Disney will only release three catalog titles for the rest of the year? Come on...announcements or not, that is ludicrous. Disney, Touchstone, Miramax...these are all "Disney" owned production companies. It's March, we've got 9 months to go -- do you seriously think that out of all these production arms, only three titles are coming out on Blu Ray?

No. They'll probably release about 6 catalog titles for the rest of the year.

And that's the issue. They own the rights to PLENTY of rich catalog titles from their Touchstone, Dimension and Miramax brands that aren't even being discussed for release on blu-ray. I appreciate that they're doing such an excellent job with their animated classics, but the fact remains that they put very little product out.

So, how was there anything out of place with my point of view on the matter?

Originally Posted by Maggot

It doesn't matter if Warner has more titles in their back catalog, that only means the pressure is on them to get it right even more. That's their responsibility. Do you understand integrity and responsibility. Do you understand that if one pushes a product, let along one that is a human art form, and then frequently doesn't give each the required level of care, that's a lack of integrity and a lack of responsibility. They have a resposibility to do right by each and every title and certainly ones that make it to Blu-ray. Movies are part of the art of story-telling. And yes, from where I stand and from what others have said, Warner is the worst. You must work for them. You are also living in a DVD world. This is Blu-ray. You either transfer it right and proper EVERY TIME or don't bother.

Please. Point out all of the awful catalog titles Warner is currently releasing on blu-ray. Even films like Ghost Ship have great looking transfers. Just because I don't pull out my torch and pitchfork and call Warner Bros. the devil when they have the occasional misstep, doesn't make me an employee.

I'm guessing you must not watch or buy many catalog titles on blu-ray, in general. Every studio releases less than perfect catalog titles. Actually, the studio that has proven to be the worst, over the past year or so, about releasing "just slightly better than DVD" transfers is Lionsgate. I still like a lot of the movies they're releasing, though, so I still do appreciate the upgrade. Especially since I can buy most of them for less than $10.

If you think every movie released on blu-ray should receive a near-perfect transfer, you're living in a fantasy world. There are too many people with vastly different taste in film. There are only select few catalog titles that will sell a lot of copies and turn out to be a sensible costly restoration for the movie studios. Everything else will come out and sell to a very small fanbase. And when you factor in that the blu-ray userbase, as a whole, is still nowhere near the DVD userbase, the money's just not there.

Without product to sell, the already niche blu-ray format would quiver and die. Hence, the budget priced titles with good-to-great, but not amazing transfers.

Never anywhere did I say this LOTR transfer was perfectly acceptable, though. It should be better. I'm not going to start spewing vitriol or tout a pointless boycott because of it, however. And I love the films enough, that if I find it at a good enough price - I'll bite. Even if they're not fantastic, they're superior to the DVD. I buy blu-rays because I love the films. Not just because of the sparkly transfers. I'm crazy that way.

[howarmat]

Originally Posted by El_Burro

another review:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/2313...gstrilogy.html

so its a pretty safe bet the video is not up to snuff for a release this big. Too many actual reviews saying the same thing

[LordCrumb]

what happened to the review? all the screenshots are gone?

[Mr. Cinema]

Originally Posted by billzfan

Anyone here know who has the best deal out there for the boxed set?

Bestbuy.com is 62.99, but you'll be adding tax to that. Amazon is still at 63.99

I got lucky today because it was in my gold box at Amazon for 60.79.

[billzfan]

Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema

Bestbuy.com is 62.99, but you'll be adding tax to that. Amazon is still at 63.99

I got lucky today because it was in my gold box at Amazon for 60.79.

How did you get the gold box deal?

[dcowboy7]

What if we pay tax at amazon too.

[Mr. Cinema]

Originally Posted by billzfan

How did you get the gold box deal?

Amazon randomly picks items every day and offers up an additional discount. I keep a wishlist on there of BDs and many of those will show up every now and then. LOTR showed up today.

[Q?]

Originally Posted by Ken Brown

Warner doesn't want websites to use their own screenshots, and has instructed us to use a pre-approved series of studio images instead. As you can see though, the images they have provided are not 1080p screenshots. For now, we've loaded these images as an interim solution until we're able to get this issue resolved.

I'd like to apologize for any inconvenience this causes any of you. Rest assured, we're in contact with representatives from the studio, and we're hoping to have the situation resolved soon. Thanks as always for posting.

Originally Posted by KaiGusto

what happened to the review? all the screenshots are gone?

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by dcowboy7

What if we pay tax at amazon too.

Then I suggest waiting till April 6, I doubt this set will street at $60+, both because of first week sales and because of all the negative hoopla around it.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by cstep11189

Does anyone have pictures of the casing yet or if it's already posted can someone tell me what page number it's on?

http://bluviews.moviemansguide.com/?p=923

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

I think if Tolkien were alive, he would share some of your sentiment.



As an example, in the book, the Battle of Helm's Deep is described in 17 pages, which is about 5% of the Two Towers; in the movie, the battle occupies far more time. Other liberties that Jackson took would simply have unacceptable to Tolkien, for example his portrayal of Faramir. But all of that notwithstanding, I still believe Jackson did an excellent job of trying to find that "gray area" where purists and typical movie fans could both enjoy the films.

I got the feeling watching the movies that they were an extended commercial for the video games.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by radagast

I got the feeling watching the movies that they were an extended commercial for the video games.

They seemed like action-packed fantasy films to me, I never liked the video games.

[dcowboy7]

Is there a list anywhere that specifically says which states pay an amazon tax ?

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Are any of you planning on actually contacting Warner's customer service (after the release of course and in a reasonable demeanor) about the poor quality of the transfer?

I think they know by now. That's probably why they insisted on the screencaps being removed.

[rezpekt]

Originally Posted by mredman

So maybe it can't look better.

Then explain me why do captures of HDTV broadcast look better than Blu-ray encodes?

[QuasidodoJr]

Originally Posted by rezpekt

Then explain me why do captures of HDTV broadcast look better than Blu-ray encodes?

If you check out Xylon's thread over at HDD: http://forums.highdefdigest.com/blu-...x-reviews.html

You'll see that he states while small portions of the HDTV broadcast show more fine detail, it's also littered with motion artifacts and jaggies. So, it appears the blu-rays, with fantastic lossless audio tracks, are still the best available option.

[Ken Brown]

Originally Posted by QuasidodoJr

If you check out Xylon's thread over at HDD: http://forums.highdefdigest.com/blu-...x-reviews.html

You'll see that he states while small portions of the HDTV broadcast show more fine detail, it's also littered with motion artifacts and jaggies. So, it appears the blu-rays, with fantastic lossless audio tracks, are still the best available option.

Thanks for pointing that out, Quasi. I'm still curious about the differences in the level of fine detail, but I'm glad you're reminding everyone that the HD broadcast is still inferior in most regards.