***Official LOTR: The Two Towers DVD Discussion Thread*** -- All Posts Here; NO EXCEPTIONS (1 Viewer)

[Brent M]

I would imagine the PQ on the official release will be a little better than that on the academy screener. Even though the screener was anamorphic widescreen, it still had some flaws that I doubt will appear on the official release(s). I was going to hold off on the theatrical version and just wait for the 4-Disc set in November, but if Best Buy has it for $14 or $15 I may just go ahead and pick it up on the 26th. I can't wait to hear this movie on my set-up.

 

[cafink]

I won't pretend to have any clue about the way things work in the movie business, but would a studio really use a different transfer for an "official" DVD release than for a screener?

Obviously, transfer quality is not as important on a screener, but the folks doing the transfer know that they'll need one for the official release later anyway, so why not do it right the first time?

Is it just a matter of time, where there's not enough of it before the screener needs to be done to tweak everything to perfection? Or what?

 

[Brent M]

The screener was out in February so I'd imagine that they've done some work to clean it up and perfect it over the past 6 months. That would be my guess anyway.

 

[Richard Kim]

Ryan, I was just wondering if TTT has the same overblown bass as the theatrical FOTR disc. For FOTR, I had to turn the volume down 10dB from normal so my ears wouldn't bleed. Is this the same for TTT?

 

[Ricardo C]

The FOTR transfer was completely different from the one on the screener disc, and has a completely different look, color-wise. THe same might be true of TTT.

 

[Dave F]

Screeners are "quickies". The focus is getting the content into the hands of the voters asap, not to provide the best audio/video possible. A real release should be a significant improvement.

-Dave

 

[Lou Sytsma]

I dunno - the screener is pretty damn impressive on it's own.

Ryan - I sent you an email. We're in the same neck of the woods.

 

[Nick Sievers]

I dunno - the screener is pretty damn impressive on it's own.

I'll agree with that, it was easily better than last years screener for FotR. Its hard to say whether it will be improved upon, to my eyes it was a damn good representation of what I saw in the theatres.

Lou, do you know if TTT Screener was EX? My Reciever didn't detect the flag.

 

[Carlo_M]

Ryan,

Since you got the official release (just a bit early) is there any indication that there will be a rebate if you buy the Extended Edition in November, ala Fellowship?

Thanks!

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Can't help Nick.

My receiver is only 5.1. I use the Smart Circle Surround Jr decoder to extract the rear center channel info - I do have a 7.1 speaker setup.

 

[Tim Glover]

My screener of TTT displayed good video, but compression artifacts were present at times. It's also "grittier" than FOTR and some of the dark/gray look is intended of course. I expect the "official" theatrical dvd to be more refined visually. I also expect the ext. ed to be even better visually simply having the long film spread over 2 discs.

The audio is a sonic assault and like FOTR dvd, my THX reciever displays "dialnorm offset +4"... Still a terrific audio mix.

I too, planned on skipping the theatrical dvd hoping that the Ext Ed would help flesh out/improve on things I felt were shortcomings.

The EE was so good on FOTR, I ended up selling my theatrical dvd version having no need to watch it again.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I have been looking for the reviews and I expect they will trickle in soon.

Not sure about that. Last year New Line didn't send out screeners until street - they kept the thing under wraps for reasons I don't recall. (I think it was to contain the next flick's preview or something like that.)

I don't think anyone's gotten TTT yet, with only a few weeks to go. NL usually ship really early, so I have the feeling they're holding the discs until street again. Hope I'm wrong!

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Ryan - any further comments? Did you receive my email?

Thanks

 

[Shane D]

The screeners were also DVD5's 4.5GB disks, where I'm sure the offical release is a DVD9 and can fit much more info.
To me the screener was barely better than a vhs copy as far as video goes. But the sound was great on it.

I can't wait until the 26th to pick up the real thing.

 

[Sean Bryan]

The COPY of the academy screener I have is on TWO 4.5GB discs (therefore, about the SAME amount of data as on one DVD9), and the video quality is better than most of my regular DVDs. If you saw something that looked like VHS, then it couldn't have been an official academy screener DVD and had to have been a compressed copy of the academy screener. You mean the whole 3 hours was crammed on one layer of one DVD? Yeash! Guess you weren't as lucky as others who saw (have) high quality copies.

I actually think there there is more fine detail in the academy screener than in the FOTR:EE DVD. I noticed this in the texture of Gandalf's robes on the Bridge. Maybe there was no (or less than typical) fine detail filtering done on the academy screener DVD? Hope the official release matches up.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

The 4.3gb single-layer screener looks nothing like VHS.

 

[David Ely]

Guys, I'd suggest removing posts about bootlegged screeners. Otherwise this thread will be closed.

The official screener is a DVD-9.

 

[Sean Bryan]

I paid to see FOTR in the theater four times. I bought the Canadian DVD because I found it 2 weeks early. Then I bought the US version on street date (just because I wanted the "American" version of the DVD). Then I bought the EE gift set, and I bought an extra EE "just for safe keeping". Then I paid to see TTT in the theater three times. I will buy the TE later this month, and I will buy the EE in November (probably two of them again), and I'll keep both TE and EE of both films. I'm more than happy to give New Line any money they want from me, and then some!

A most excellent fellow fan of the film happened to have the good fortune of coming across the academy screener of TTT. He offered me a copy FOR FREE, simply because he understood my love of the film (which he shared). New Line lost no money from me and no one profited from this that shouldn't have. I wouldn't ever support someone who was illegally selling these films.

So for those who have seen the screener (a quality version), did you think the level of fine detail was impressive? I sure did.

 

[Nick Sievers]

did you think the level of fine detail was impressive?

Definitely, and I doubt there will be much of an improvement on the Theatrical Edition DVD which I will of course, purchase.

 

[David Ely]

I have both the screener and the retail DVD. I will do some side-by-side comparisons on my PC after work tomorrow. I only had a chance to briefly look at the retail DVD, but it looks pretty much the same as the screener (but without that annoying "For Your Consideration" ).