WHV Press Release: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Blu-ray) (3 Viewers)

[Ron-P]

Originally Posted by Luisito34

The EE are scheduled to be released by the end of 2012. The world is supposed to end by then, isn't it? Personally, I'm sufficiently happy with the current ultimate editions that I don't have to breathlessly wait two years for a Blu-ray to roll around.

If it's only 2012, I can wait. I wonder if they'll try and release these with the theatrical or Blu-ray release of "The Hobbit"?

 

[LarryH]

Wow! My Amazon order is still in effect, so it will have taken two weeks short of one year to have had it filled!

 

[Jeff Robertson]

That's good to know. It would be nice to have the theatrical and extended versions of LOTRs on the same discs.

Originally Posted by Brian Borst

King Kong, another Peter Jackson movie, managed to fit the original and the extended versions of it with seamless branching on the same disc. That's roughly 200 minutes, plus an audio commentary, the U-Control and DTS-HD MA audio. As I understand it, Dolby TrueHD takes less room, so it should be done easily for the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings movies.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Are people saying 2012 for the extended editions just because that is when The Hobbit hits theaters?

Has there been any official statement that it would be that long (almost 3 years)? The only thing I saw in this press release was that the EE's would be released at a "later date".

Just wondering if I missed something.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Sean Bryan

Just wondering if I missed something.

Nope, people are just guessing about the date. I think it's a pretty safe assumption though.

 

[Steve Christou]

A shame we have to wait for the EE's but I'll be buying these too, it's only money and I want to see what they look like in 1080p hi-def. The LOTR trilogy are my favourite films of this decade, nothing else comes close.

On April 6, 2010, renowned animator Ralph Bakshi's literal adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings animated version will be released in an all-new Deluxe Edition on Blu-ray Disc for the first time and newly remastered with new Dolby 5.1 audio and newly created extra content.

Wahay, my precioussss!

 

[Carlo_M]

I'm also in the "I'll buy both" category assuming:

1. The street price on release date is reasonable. I see that Amazon's price is $68.99 but I'm hoping it will dip down to about $60. With largely no new extras, I think $20 per movie is fair. Especially since another release is forthcoming.
2. A/V quality is outstanding. As someone else pointed out: no EE/DNR.

What would absolutely make this a sweet deal is if they offer some sort of rebate like they did with the regular/EE DVDs. If the price of the sets is reasonable I won't complain if there's no rebate. But if the $68.99 price holds, and assuming the EE BDs will cost more, then I would hope they give us repeat buyers the opportunity for a rebate.

Also, I hope PJ goes in and re-CGI's Gollum in Fellowship to match Gollum in Two Towers and Return of the King. Preferably in both theatrical and extended cuts, but at the very least do it for the extended cuts (if the point of the theatrical BDs is to preserve exactly the theatrical experience).

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Man-Fai Wong

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

I actually hope PJ will redo the EE version to give us something truly better. While I do love seeing most of the stuff added back into the EEs, I do also think the pacing and such have been thrown off a bit w/ the EEs as they are right now -- plus PJ really blew it by adding the one small scene that essentially ruins the suspense for the subsequent ending of the battle at Minas Tirith (even though we all know by now how things play out).

_Man_

I have to agree with this. While I think the EE of Fellowship is generallyhttp://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oGky4dH...R3BJto0Gt3lRBDAAAAA%40%40&fr2=sp-qrw-corr-top a better film than the theatrical, I don't think the EE adds much to Two Towers (isn't better or worse) and the EE of Return of the King distroys the pacing and is WAY too long.

Having said that, and while I loved these films when they were first released, I find that I haven't watched them in years and have no real desire to watch them again. I doubt seriously that I will buy them one more time. They have lost their luster for me.

Doug

 

[DaveF]

As a new Blu Ray owner, I'm intrigued. But I've not watched the movies since the first time at the Theater, and I never saw the Ext. Eds. So maybe this will be rental; to re-enjoy without having to spend a C-note.

 

[Michael Osadciw]

Like Apocalypse Now, I prefer the theatrical edition of Fellowship of the Ring - much better film! I'll be waiting in line for these!

 

[davidcarroll01]

When the extended version came out, I had a 21" TV and used the DVD as an excuse to upgrade the TV and the DVD player. Then I tried hooking the sound out to my old Sansui system that I bought in the early 70s while overseas. That was so good that I figured it was a good excuse to upgrade the speakers and add a sub. Then I went to a new receiver but moved on quickly to separates. That sounded so good that I treated the room with bass treatment and early reflection treatment.

I'm not sure I'll be able to afford the Hobbit if it's done better than the LOTR trilogy. I want the LOTR triology in blue ray extended version.

 

[davidcarroll01]

When the extended version came out, I had a 21" TV and used the DVD as an excuse to upgrade the TV and the DVD player. Then I tried hooking the sound out to my old Sansui system that I bought in the early 70s while overseas. That was so good that I figured it was a good excuse to upgrade the speakers and add a sub. Then I went to a new receiver but moved on quickly to separates. That sounded so good that I treated the room with bass treatment and early reflection treatment.

I'm not sure I'll be able to afford the Hobbit if it's done better than the LOTR trilogy. I want the LOTR triology in blue ray extended version.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I received my review copy yesterday. I have a couple of titles in the hamper before this, but thought I would at least confirm the specs for anyone interested.

Audio is DTS-HD MA 6.1 English on all titles. FotR has a DD2.0 Spanish dub. TT and RotK have DD5.1 EX Spanish Dubs.

The set contains 3 BDs, 3 SD DVDs, and 3 DVD-ROMs.

The BDs for each title have the film as well as high-def versions of the same theatrical trailers that appeared on the second discs of the previous SD DVD releases of the theatrical versions. All three BDs also include the "mega-trailer" in high def as well as trailers for two forthcoming LOTR-based video games. They all have access to the Warner BD-Live Portal as well, although there is no specific LOTR content beyond the ability to have screening events for the movies at this time.

The three SD DVDs have the same content as the second discs of the previous theatrical cut DVD releases of each film minus the video game promos, the DVD-ROM stuff, and the trailers (which are on the BDs in high definition). I confirmed that everything else is present,

The three DVD-ROMs are simply the digital copy discs for each film which are compatible with iTunes or Windows Media.

The digital copies are bound in their own standard sized blu-ray case with a hinged tray allowing for the accomodaton of three discs with no overlapping. There is a paper insert in this case with a directory of the contents of all of the discs.

The BDs and SD DVDs are in a "fat" blu-ray case with two double-sided hinged trays alowing for the accomodatiion of six discs with no overlapping.

Both blu-ray cases fit in a thick cardboard box that "pulls the whole thing together."

Regards,

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Audio is DTS? Just curious since the original press release on this thread and The Digital Bits review from today both only mention Dolby TrueHD.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Originally Posted by Jeff Cooper ">[/url]

Audio is DTS? Just curious since the original press release on this thread and The Digital Bits review from today both only mention Dolby TrueHD.
[/QUOTE]That's what it says in my notes, but I will verify this evening. At least bluray.com agrees with me.

 

[Todd Erwin]

It looks like DTS continues to gain market share on Blu-ray!!!!

Update: Colin's review of The Fellowship of the Ring over at DVDMG indicates DTS-HD MA as well. I'm pretty confident I got it right at this point.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Ken_McAlinden

Definitely DTS-HD. I even checked that it displayed that on my receiver.

BTW: just checked, and the TDB review has been corrected to list DTS-HD...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Toddwrtr

Isn't DTS already dominant on Blu-ray? Seems like I see way more DTS-HD Blu-rays than TrueHD ones...

 

[PaulDA]

Why does it matter? Lossless is lossless--whichever format they choose, the sound is identical to the source master (or it is supposed to be). Dolby TrueHD is more efficient, space-wise (this is NOT a comment on sound quality) so I can see it being preferred in some cases where films are especially long (which makes the LOTR movies a good candidate for TrueHD, frankly). Otherwise, it should be of interest only to stock holders of Dolby or DTS--not to listeners.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Originally Posted by PaulDA

Why does it matter? Lossless is lossless--whichever format they choose, the sound is identical to the source master (or it is supposed to be). Dolby TrueHD is more efficient, space-wise (this is NOT a comment on sound quality) so I can see it being preferred in some cases where films are especially long (which makes the LOTR movies a good candidate for TrueHD, frankly). Otherwise, it should be of interest only to stock holders of Dolby or DTS--not to listeners.

...or possibly to people with 1st gen players that cannot output DTS HD-MA as lossless PCM over HDMI. (I have since upgraded, but that is still the case with my secondary HT).