HOLY FLIRKING SCHMIDT! New Lord of the Rings releases! (1 Viewer)

[cafink]

Like others, I am one hundred percent happy with the 18 LOTR DVDs that I already have. I'm not really into supplements (I haven't even watched the ones on the existing DVDs), so the new documentary doesn't tempt me at all. The cover art looks really gorgeous, but I'll have to pass. I can't wait for an HD release, though!

 

[Steve Christou]

[strokes stubble] mmm yeah why not, after all they are my favorite films of this century, and I like the new covers too. Put me down for all three, cheers.

 

[Arnie G]

The docs on the EE are so thorough I can't imagine they'd be worth a double dip unless the A/V of the movie is much better.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

I wonder if this is the 'formula' for the HD discs?
Cool packaging (look & features)!

 

[Brent M]

Well, since I only have the 4-disc EE sets and not the 2-disc theatrical cuts, I might be tempted to pick these up.........if they're cheap enough at BB on release day.

 

[Adam_WM]

NETFLIX for the docs, but I won't be buying these. The EE 4-discs set rule already.

 

[John Alderson]

By the end of the features and commentaries on ROTK, I was ready to scream with all the repeated info. Did you know the massing of the army in front of the black gate was done on an army mine field? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH. ROTK was the only one that I didn't listen to all of the commentaries in their entirety, and TTT was pushing it.

I can't imagine what I don't know about these movies yet.

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

Probably, but hopefully not - these Limited Editions need a little extra something to grab the triple-dip crowd.

I'm only on my double-dip, so I'm in.

 

[EricRWem]

The EE's are quite good enough.

The next time I buy these, it will be for an HD format.

 

[John Alderson]

I based my thoughts on CG tweaks on Jackson's comment on the FOTR commentary that he would like to replace the FOTR Gollum with the TTT/ROTK one. It's pretty minor because Gollum is in shadow, but he looks different.

 

[Stephen Brooks]

Well, according to the Digital Bits, it looks like these ARE going to squeeze the theatrical and extended editions, via seamless branching, on one single-sided disc, with only a Dolby Digital 5.1 track (no commentaries or DTS).

To my knowledge this is the most video ever put on a single disc for a major studio release. While I understand compression has come a long way (Kong is slightly over 3 hours and is said to be near-reference quality, the same compressionist could probably wrangle at least an acceptable image with a 4 hour film), this is pushing it.

I am curious if anyone knows the answer to this.......assuming you don't care about quality, what is the absolute most video that could be compressed on a DVD-9? IS there an absolute limit or only a theoretical one, based on what most consumers would find acceptable to watch?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Well, this may not be the same thing, but I can fit 8hrs of video on a single disc on my dvd recorder, it'll look like utter crap, but I CAN fit it.

 

[Stephen Brooks]

Thanks, John. That would appear to settle it......4 hours of video is doable, but who knows what it's going to look like. New Line has always handled this series with utmost care and respect, and I seriously doubt they'd make a decision to do this if it was going to look like complete and utter crap. They must have some trick up their sleeve for getting this all to fit acceptably.

Unless, of course, this is a deliberate attempt to make next year's HD release look all the better by comparison. =)

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I think it'll look very good, no DTS, no commentaries, just the movie and the DD track, they can work with that I think.

One could probably fit more than 8hrs on a disc, but it would be so freakin' compressed, you'd be better off entertaining yourself with an Etch-A-Sketch.

 

[Sam Davatchi]

Having a 2 hours movie on a single layer is doable (acceptable). Remember that the first Fifth Element DVD is considered a reference disc and it was more than 2 hours of anamorphic movie on a single layer

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Until they release THE HOBBIT on DVD, (after they make it and it runs in theaters). Then they'll be the Ultimate Tolkien Box Set.

I'm sticking with my EE set.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Huh? I knew King was a rush job, but I haven't heard anything about "missing footage" before. Like they couldn't find a scene they intended to include? That would be interested... but I'm sure it won't be on the new disc.

Watch the documentaries on ROTK EE: They show a brief part of a scene on what happens with Gimli/Legolas that was not included and there were many rumors about that Theodens Funeral and The Arwen/Aragorn Wedding Party were filmed. PJ definately planned on extending the ending for the EE but too much whining about the theatrical ending for ROTK changed his mind. For a 11 and half hour movie with so many Main and Minor Characters the ending was way too short and left many characters unresolved. If a 2 hour movie is typically a 5 minute ending then an 11 and 1/2 hour movie should have had a 29 minute ending by comparison but we only got 17 minutes though there is no official word on just how much was filmed even if its only 5 minutes more it would help.

 

[Paul McElligott]

Since I have the Theatricals and EEs already, I would be buying these for the documentaries only, so the quality of the movies would be immaterial. I usually watch the EE only, anyway, so having access to the theatrical is irrelevent.

Each disk would have to contain more than than length of the EE, since it would have to contain the footage and scenes from the theatrical version that are different than what was included in the EE for whatever reason (slightly different ordering, different scoring, etc).

 

[Dave H]

So, is this unlikely to be a new transfer?

 

[Vader]

Gonna pass on this one. I watch the trilogy over three nights twice a year - once in July and once in December (extended, of course.... I see the theatricals as "cliff notes"). Considering that the EE's have fantastic picture and sound quality (I know, there are those who vehemetly disagree - curious, since when each was released all got high kudos for PQ, but then so did TPM), that I would be losing the DTS track, and am not fond of flippers (an assumption on my part to preserve bit rate, sort of), and that an HD version is probably coming in 1-2 years....