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

[Dorklord]

Very excited for this release! Extended version on blu with a remaster of Fellowship! WIN WIN IMO!!!

[Yonaz]

Anybody knows of any review of the picture and sound quality or doesn't anyone (film critics, movie magazines etc) had the chance to check it out yet..?
And yes I know the release is yet to come...

Lots of talks about EE vs TE, singeldisc vs double disc etc but not much about the picture or sound quality.
What I know the BD Theatrical Edition didn't have any good picture quality (especially 1st film) and the main reason to buy the BD EE for me would be purely for the assumed improved picture and sound quality compering to the DVD's (which were really good for being DVD's).

Cheers

[frogmort]

Originally Posted by Yonaz

Anybody knows of any review of the picture and sound quality or doesn't anyone (film critics, movie magazines etc) had the chance to check it out yet..?
And yes I know the release is yet to come...

Lots of talks about EE vs TE, singeldisc vs double disc etc but not much about the picture or sound quality.
What I know the BD Theatrical Edition didn't have any good picture quality (especially 1st film) and the main reason to buy the BD EE for me would be purely for the assumed improved picture and sound quality compering to the DVD's (which were really good for being DVD's).

Cheers

None that I have seen. It will probably be a week or two(or three).

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Yonaz

Anybody knows of any review of the picture and sound quality or doesn't anyone (film critics, movie magazines etc) had the chance to check it out yet..?
And yes I know the release is yet to come...

Lots of talks about EE vs TE, singeldisc vs double disc etc but not much about the picture or sound quality.
What I know the BD Theatrical Edition didn't have any good picture quality (especially 1st film) and the main reason to buy the BD EE for me would be purely for the assumed improved picture and sound quality compering to the DVD's (which were really good for being DVD's).

Cheers

By this time, for the TEs, there were people on this site with screencaps wailing and gnashing their teeth because they thought FOTR looked horrible. I'm surprised they aren't back here now. Maybe they only turn up when there is something to complain about.

[jwoodwar]

Getting pumped!!! Never watched the EE!!! Thought I would hold off until bluray! I got the set for $66 cant wait to get it!!

[TruBlu06]

If I were to take a guess, I would say the picture quality will be better on the extended editions. I noticed that on the TEs the encoding is VC-1 and on the EEs its is MPEG-4. So hopefully they are from different masters.

[TruBlu06]

Originally Posted by jwoodwar

Getting pumped!!! Never watched the EE!!! Thought I would hold off until bluray! I got the set for $66 cant wait to get it!!

If you haven't seen the Extended Editions you're in for a real treat. They really enhance the story with scenes that were cut for the runtime's sake, but that adds more depth to the movie. This will be a must buy for me. The only problem is whether to buy it when it is released or wait for the price to drop.

[Rik1138]

Originally Posted by TruBlu06

If I were to take a guess, I would say the picture quality will be better on the extended editions. I noticed that on the TEs the encoding is VC-1 and on the EEs its is MPEG-4. So hopefully they are from different masters.

Um, VC-1 and AVC are both Mpeg-4, just different types. These codecs are just the format for Blu-ray, and have nothing to do with the masters used. You can make a VC-1, AVC, Mpeg2, Quicktime, iPhone, Realmedia... anything you want from the same master.

VC-1 is not better or worse than AVC, it's just a different encoder. If you know how to operate it, you can make either look spectacular. AVC is getting more popular these days since it seems VC-1 is no longer being developed, and 3D is AVC only it seems (VC-1 can do it I'm pretty sure, but no one is making an encoder that I know of)... The new AVC encoders are a little more 'idiot proof' as the built-in features get refined. Sort of like how DTS is winning over TrueHD. No real reason to use one over the other for the most part, but the DTS encoder is _much_ easier and faster to use/work with, and for a long time it was nearly impossible to do seamless branching with TrueHD... It's simply convenience that really helped it win out.

FOTR EE is definitely a new master, and looks worlds better than the TE did... The color is slightly different (little less red), no idea of that's exactly how it's supposed to look or not, but unless you are comparing side-by-side, it's not noticeable (I only compared one scene- the 'waxy Gandalf beard', definitely not waxy any more...). I don't think discs have gotten out to reviewers yet, but I suspect they will be very soon...

[duke4711]

Does anyone else think that Warner is cutting some serious corners with this set? First of all, I don't mind having the films on two discs as I have been changing discs/flipping laserdiscs for years, but my problem is with the extras. It seems that all we are getting that's new is the films on blu-ray, and they are simply copying the extras discs from the existing set. I can't see spending $84 for the movies and then a bunch of crap that I already own and have watched more than once already. I would rather have a bare-bones release for about $40. For this reason, I am going to pass on the set for the time being. I will pick them up if they release the movies separately without the DVD bonus features or if the price of this set is lowered substantially in the coming months. This is really sad because I loved the books since I was a teenager, and I love seeing the story come to life, but I still am not going to shell out 84 of my hard-earned dollars for what I believe is a substandard set. Warner could have (and should have) done a lot better.

[Rik1138]

Well, you could sell the DVDs and then buy the Blu-ray. You'd have the best quality for the movies, and basically get all the bonus DVDs from the existing set back. I actually prefer this rather than having a blu-ray set AND having to keep the DVD set just for the extras.

I sold the EE DVD boxset for $45, so with that money it's now just the $40 you were happy to pay for a bare-bones set...

Would have been nice if they just packed all the SD bonus stuff on one or two BDs instead of 9 DVDs though.

I just think it's funny- They release the movies with all the bonus content from the DVD set, and people complain... If they just released the movies by themselves, people would have complained...

They are just re-packaging the 9 DVDs of extra content from the DVD set, and people are complaining. If they put it all on a blu-ray disc, people would complain that it was only SD...

The studios really can't win, can they?

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Rik1138

FOTR EE is definitely a new master, and looks worlds better than the TE did... The color is slightly different (little less red), no idea of that's exactly how it's supposed to look or not, but unless you are comparing side-by-side, it's not noticeable (I only compared one scene- the 'waxy Gandalf beard', definitely not waxy any more...). I don't think discs have gotten out to reviewers yet, but I suspect they will be very soon...

How, when, and where did you do this?

[Josh5890]

The more I think about it, the less I want to get this. It is $80+ and I've gotta feeling that there will be a better re-release not too far down the road. 9 DVDs doesn't sit well with me.

[RYJAPE21]

I care more about the films in Hi-Def than extras. It is nice, however, that the Coasta Botes documentaries are included as I have never seen them.

[Josh5890]

Originally Posted by RYJAPE21

I care more about the films in Hi-Def than extras. It is nice, however, that the Coasta Botes documentaries are included as I have never seen them.

Trust me I'm right there with you. Of all the special features that are on films I own, I've seen less that 5% probably. I just don't want bulky packaging with alot of needless DVDs. It can't cost that much to port the features onto blu's even if the PQ stays SD (which I am fine with). I wouldn't be suprised if there are individual releases of the EE within a year from now with 3 blu's to each film. At least that is what I'm hoping for

[Max_Genus]

Originally Posted by Josh5890

The more I think about it, the less I want to get this. It is $80+ and I've gotta feeling that there will be a better re-release not too far down the road. 9 DVDs doesn't sit well with me.

Well, between Best Buy Rewardzone coupons (that begin to expire in July) & gift cards I've accumulated, I only expect to pay about $20, so this is one time that price on a box set will not an issue.

Originally Posted by RYJAPE21

I care more about the films in Hi-Def than extras. It is nice, however, that the Coasta Botes documentaries are included as I have never seen them.

And, I'll second both of these sentiments, but that's in large part because I already have the previous extras.

[Scooter1836]

Originally Posted by Rik1138

Would have been nice if they just packed all the SD bonus stuff on one or two BDs instead of 9 DVDs though.

I just think it's funny- They release the movies with all the bonus content from the DVD set, and people complain... If they just released the movies by themselves, people would have complained...

They are just re-packaging the 9 DVDs of extra content from the DVD set, and people are complaining. If they put it all on a blu-ray disc, people would complain that it was only SD...

The studios really can't win, can they?

Exactly..

If they would have packaged the bonus content on BD's people would have criticized hat they did not get a true high def transfer. LOL

I also think it would have been nice to have them consolidated. But it is not worth complaining about.

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Rik1138

Well, you could sell the DVDs and then buy the Blu-ray. You'd have the best quality for the movies, and basically get all the bonus DVDs from the existing set back. I actually prefer this rather than having a blu-ray set AND having to keep the DVD set just for the extras.

I sold the EE DVD boxset for $45, so with that money it's now just the $40 you were happy to pay for a bare-bones set...

Would have been nice if they just packed all the SD bonus stuff on one or two BDs instead of 9 DVDs though.

I just think it's funny- They release the movies with all the bonus content from the DVD set, and people complain... If they just released the movies by themselves, people would have complained...

They are just re-packaging the 9 DVDs of extra content from the DVD set, and people are complaining. If they put it all on a blu-ray disc, people would complain that it was only SD...

The studios really can't win, can they?

And then they'll complain about your post about their complaining.

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by duke4711

Does anyone else think that Warner is cutting some serious corners with this set? First of all, I don't mind having the films on two discs as I have been changing discs/flipping laserdiscs for years, but my problem is with the extras. It seems that all we are getting that's new is the films on blu-ray, and they are simply copying the extras discs from the existing set. I can't see spending $84 for the movies and then a bunch of crap that I already own and have watched more than once already. I would rather have a bare-bones release for about $40. For this reason, I am going to pass on the set for the time being. I will pick them up if they release the movies separately without the DVD bonus features or if the price of this set is lowered substantially in the coming months. This is really sad because I loved the books since I was a teenager, and I love seeing the story come to life, but I still am not going to shell out 84 of my hard-earned dollars for what I believe is a substandard set. Warner could have (and should have) done a lot better.

The existing bonus features are already excellent (I'd say the EE DVDs are still the best in terms of supplements), so there's no reason to create new ones.

[IronFingaz]

Originally Posted by Josh5890

The more I think about it, the less I want to get this. It is $80+ and I've gotta feeling that there will be a better re-release not too far down the road. 9 DVDs doesn't sit well with me.

From what i've read a while back, there will be a better release. PJ is working on it but it probably won't be out until The Hobbit hits theaters.

[Constitution 101]

Coasta Botes documentaries???