The 4K Release of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Me too.

That was fun to watch Sir Peter get all excited again, but I won't be upgrading any time soon (or probably ever).

[Alatar]

I'm pretty sure the PS5 has a 4K Optical Drive, so I imagine that will be where I eventually get one. As for the 4K TV, that's a bit further out for me. LotR Ultimate Edition could convince me though.

[Inanna]

I have my ancient blu-ray player. And don’t you also need a 4K TV? I don’t have that either.

[Snowdog]

But wait... there are already 8K tech coming online.

I could likely grow a garden in the dust that has accumulated on my EE-DVDs. With each attempt at watching them, I get less further than the time before. The last time I quit after getting the shits with Arwen catching a ranger at unawares. I used to make to Fangorn....

[Alatar]

Just saw J Michael Straczinski post this on Facebook

So I've been watching the new 4K transfers of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and just astonished at the clarity and sound quality. It also really brings home how awful the prior blu-rays of the extended editions were...dark, muddy, with this kind of greenish hue to everything. This is the best the film has ever looked, can't recommend them highly enough.


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[kzer_za]

Will the Ultimate edition come in standard non-4k Blu-ray? I'd been thinking about upgrading my DVDs but the color grading correction sounds nice. However I have no plans to buy a 4k TV.

[Jude]

So, has anyone gotten this yet?

[yovargas]

Based on the past conversations, I'm not sure if anyone else here owns a 4K TV so I doubt it!

[Jude]

I'm the only one? This is embarrassing!

[Alatar]

I'm waiting for the collectors edition.

[kzer_za]

Do you know if the anniversary edition is 4k-exclusive?

[Smaug's voice]

I saw the stills comparing the 4K version with the standard versions and I thought that the 4K ones didn't look very good. Am I the only one? They seem to have been colour corrected, which ended up making them look more "modern" I suppose but took away the dreamlike quality of some of these images.

[Jude]

I'm surprised to hear that - almost all of the reviews I've read have raved about them.

Can you link to the stills?

[Jude]

Here's two articles with very different views:

Lord Of The Rings 4K vs HD: Which Is Better?

A positive view, but also has a link to the following article on the same site:

Peter Jackson's Lord of The Rings 4K Transfer Ruins The Original Look

Yet, modernizing LOTR, no matter how enjoyable an exercise, removes something integral to the original films that made them so powerful. The combination of Jackson's devotion (but not cumbersome obligation) to the source material, the evocative score contributed by Howard Shore, and yes, the distinct visual style came together to create a series as magical as its source material. The lackluster reception to The Hobbit proved that efforts to recapture that lightning in a bottle were a fool's errand. The high dynamic range and stark color contrast in the images of the CGI-laden Hobbit films paled in comparison to the richness and warmth of the original trilogy photography. Where the Rings trilogy transported audiences to an otherworldly, yet grounded Middle Earth, the Hobbit films placed them in a saccharine imitation of the fantasy land they'd once loved.

[Jude]

So the Collector's Edition is due to come out in June, and here we are in June. Is it out yet?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Now due out in October, apparently.

https://i.redd.it/wql3baji64671.jpg

[Voronwë the Faithful]

According to TheHutt (who has always been a rock-solid source), the German ratings cite FSK confirms the following bonus material (so far):

Cannes Film Festival Presentation Reel: 0:26:50
The Lord of the Rings Cast Reunion: The Fellowship of the Ring: 0:39:37
The Lord of the Rings Cast Reunion: The Two Towers: 0:29:48
The Lord of the Rings Cast Reunion: The Return of the King: 032:23

[Jude]

More details about the Collector's Edition

Release date: 26 October
Price: $250 (I'm assuming USD)
It's a 31-disc set

The article has an embedded youtube video that shows the artwork of the covers

[Snowdog]

Are people still paying money for these movies? I have the EE DVD box set I got back when it was released and that is good enought for me. It has a lot of dust on it and we only keep it as a momento of what the catalyst was in my wife and my meeting.

I guess I'm surprised these movies keep getting repackaged and people keep buying them.

[Alatar]

If there's no new footage I will not be buying these.