Looks like Amazon's now explicitly stating that the movies will be split across both sides of a DVD-18. I'd still like to know why they seem to be the only one with that info.
Perhaps it is just me, but I don't see how seamless branching is even possible with the TE's and EE's - not without really changing one of them.
FOTR Examples: - The shire intro; Different scenes altogether in different order, different Frodo-Gandalf dialogue, different music arrangement. - The gift giving; The little there is in the TE has different music, and the cutting is much more complex in the EE. - The breaking of the fellowship; More subtle here, but the music was changed (for the worse) by applying it to more battle footage in the EE.
How will they resolve this? Is the seamless branching just a marketing mistake, or is a 3rd cut being made? Or is the branching over very large areas of the movie?
(Like many others, my ideal LOTR editions are somewhere i between the TE's and EE's.)
I can’t see how they could make a better transfer on a DVD-9. With just the DD 5.1 track I can see how it would be acceptable but not better. I also personally would prefer two DVD-9's over an DVD-18 solely because im in the minority that own a DVD changer and all I have to do is press disk skip instead of flipping/changing disks.
I have no interest in watching the theatrical cuts. I’m sure some do but not me.
I've only watched the current documentaries once and only the director commentary track. I'll find a way to watch the new docs cheaply.
After I adopt the winner of the HD war and when the HD editions come out with either the new docs or all the docs then ill bite.
Amazon now says the film is split between 2 sides of a DVD-18
Disc 1 will present the Special Extended DVD Edition of the film split into two parts (on two sides of a DVD-18) at the break point of the initial DVD release. The Theatrical version will also be split into two parts (on two sides of a DVD-18) available through seamless branching.
I'd rather have had the movie spread over the 2 discs with the *documenary* on the 2nd side of the first disc... for DVD changers to work effectively and seamlessly.
Can't comment on the quality of any of this stuff - 1) I've not actually watched it yet, and 2) it's stepping on toes here to offer my thoughts when a HTF reviewer will do their own coverage...