***Quick note - due to some editing I did, the part about special features left out the fact that this set doesn’t have them, only the Middle Earth collection will. This is just the movies and extended editions.***
I want to buy the lord of the rings collection but I’m worried I will miss out on these fantastic steelbooks. I guess I can’t have everything thou. I’m going to wait for the middle earth collection
@@leohaddad9225 The Middle Earth collection will mostly repeat the extras which have been released previously. The Costa Botes docs were only shot in SD so not much can be done with them. There is a rumour that each film with get one new piece of bonus material.
@@leighhaynes I never actually got the lord of the rings on physical ever. Never owned the movies. So it’s ok if they repeat the special features. Btw I wish they had a massive 4k box set for Harry Potter
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone who grubbied them up with their dwarven ale and dick cheese
@@thefilmrookie3099 really? Whys that? There are a lot of inconsistencies in the theatrical that bother me, not that the extended is perfect but at least better (imo)
@couldn't think of a username I would say the reverse. The fellowship does not add a great deal in the extended edition. The two towers adds some very crucial scenes with Faramir, crucial for his character - they should not have been cut in my opinion. And there's some extra nice stuff too. And the return of the King adds almost an hour of scenes, including actually showing the conclusion of Saruman, which again, should not have been cut. So I suppose if the goal is a very short movie, the fellowship extended might be the best, but I would say the other two gain more from the extended versions.
I actually started with the extended. I've never seen the theatrical. And I'm okay with that lol. It's my favorite trilogy and I watch it at least once every year.
I've only ever seen the extended version since they were in theaters. Though I've found this trilogy has gotten to be a real slog to get through after having watched it so many times over the years. And every time the movie feels like it's starting to drag, I can tell it's always in one of those extended scenes. And so I may look at the theatrical version.
Well especially these days given Star Wars is essentially a nerfed franchise.... Well we can always go back and watch Empire in 4k (though sadly Disney couldn't even get that right!). Thankfully Warner and Peter Jackson scored a TD!
@@bighands69 It's a matter of taste. To be fair the "acting" in the original Star Wars trilogy (and the prequel trilogy for that mater) ranged from bad to embarrassing. Let's just say that George Lucas can't really write compelling dialogue with layers. Star Wars is ultimately Lucas's tribute to the serials of the 30's and 40's he watched as a kid. He just made big-budget versions with incredible (for the time) special effects. As stories however they shouldn't be taken seriously and just seen as a "space sage/light entertainment".
When Return of the King ended and the first thing my girlfriend said was "Okay, so why did Frodo have to leave?"...I knew that we were not destined to be together.
My only issue with the 4K versions is that the editing team removed the film grain and made the films look more digital. Which makes for a lot more issues, it makes the effects stick out a lot more because that clean 4K image without the grain just doesn’t blend with the effects from that time. The HDR is incredible, but I still prefer the Blu-ray’s because the grain issue.
Sorry Tom. You're a great addition to the medium of books but had to be cut for the medium LOTR was being adapted to. If it helps, let's just say Peter Jackson is Tom.
I was watching another review talking about how scrubbing out the grain you're actually losing detail. And that that's also a big indicator of dnr going on due to lack of grain. Seriously, who likes dnr? It's a bummer that this set has it. He also was showcasing screengrabs comparing the blu ray to the 4k set. Several of the 4k screenshots just looked wax like and some details even lost like the tip of Gandalf's staff completely missing in one of the scenes. He also pointed out that there's evidence that it's not a direct 4k copy from the original film. They simply kept saying it's a 4k restoration which is open to interpretation.
Yeah, there seem to be different reviews. Doesn't the eventual experience depend a lot on your television, DVD player / console and sound equipment too? Screen shots will never show you the exact experience you will have at home...
@@AudioEpics Yes but in these screenshots you can tell the difference between bd and 4k and they removed grain, changed coloring of certain scenes and the missing detalis between the two are striking. Also the cgi and miniatures stand out a lot to the point of being distracting
2K transfer. 4K restoration can mean anything. It would cost too much and take too much time to do a 4K scan. All the post processing effects would have to be redone from scratch
Hey man. I know I’m coming to the party late on this. I watch your reviews and for the most part I feel you do a good job on them. On these I have to disagree whole heartedly. These transfers are nowhere near as good as they should be. Their is no grain because they overused DNR to scrub it from the film. Fine detail suffers severely in landscape shots and in some scenes characters look very waxy. The use of DNR in the TTT and RoTK is very aggressive and it leads to soft shots outside of closeups and even some artifacts here and there. These are better than the blu rays for sure just due to color timing. But they are by no means excellent 4K discs in my opinion. These movies deserved much better treatment. It’s like the wanted to give LoTR movies a digital look to match up better with the Hobbit movies. It’s unfortunate that this was not mentioned in your view as it’s plain as day visible to me and it’s a problem for the release as some others have pointed out.
I just purchased the set myself and noticed this from the beginning. The soft, waxy look of most facial shots stands out like a sore thumb. Thank goodness I got this at a huge discount because it is definitely not worth paying full price.
This opinion is regarded as true. Why would you erase the grain, it doesn't make sense. I will have to review it myself but from the screenshot comparison it doesn't look good.. but it may still be a great experience due to great sound and the fact that Dolby vision is great.
The extended versions are the real versions to watch. It’s just crazy to me that I watched the movies growing up and the first time that I watch the extended versions were when I bought the Blu-ray box set when it came out several years ago. I didn’t really expect much of the extended I thought that they would’ve just added a few scenes I had no idea that they added like dang near 40 minutes to each movie.
No the theatrical versions are quite literally the "real" versions, and Peter Jackson agrees. The filmmakers spent years of their life flawlessly editing the scenes together into a perfect example of cinematic pacing. The extended editions crap all over it, all of those 40 minutes where cut for good reason. Almost all of the new scenes are narratively pointless, often they conflict with the atmosphere of what has come before or after and some of them are actually BAD. You need to hear Gimli taking about an orcs "nervous system" ?? You think that's a good line and not jarring at all? You think we need a scene on what Eowyns stew tastes like? Or Gandalf brainlessly illuminating a canyon of Mithril in Moria, 5 seconds after saying they would have to remain in darkness.
The Theatricals are indeed the better films. They are the films that won Oscar’s, and absolutely what I recommend for first time viewers. However, while the Extended editions are flawed in terms of pacing etc, that are some really great additions that really do a lot of world building and you just get to spend more time with these characters which to a lot of people makes these editions the preferred, which I understand. And while I have some gripes with the extended editions it’s the only way I can really watch these films. I heard someone put it like this: the theatricals are a perfect cinematic experience, while the extended’s are an incredible journey. Just depends which one you want to have. I think a cut of something somewhere in the middle would be nice, but that’s my opinion.
I’d say yes they do have some bad scenes, but also some really great ones in my opinion. It’s a more flawed experience but there’s also some good stuff you’re missing out on. The depth you get with Boromir and Faramir, the additional scenes between the fellowship, the additional moments in hobbiton, the action scenes have more time to breath (the elephant sequence in the extended is mind blowing), the death of Saurmon, and on and on. There’s great stuff. But on the other hand everything with the army of the dead that’s extended is pretty bad, as well as the mouth of Sauron. I’m 50/50 on that. The effects weren’t finished to put out in that state.
@@zechariahhall97 extended fellowship is still a good movie, but the extra scenes actually ruin two towers and return of the king. the whole epic tone is crapped on with pathetic cringe jokes
They put the theatrical edition, and someone said, "What about Lord of the Rings?" "You already have it." "We have one, yes. What about SECOND Lord of the Rings?" BOOM! 4K Extended.
You keep repeating it's a 35mm to 4k transfer which is clearly false. It's a 2k upscale with loads of DNR that ruins details. Even the tip of Gandalf's staff is missing due to DNR. Also, if you thought you could give your subs a nice workout, forget it. They got rid of the frequencies below 30 Hz. It's just ridiculously bad. That's what I would have loved to hear in a review, but this channel seems to be more about "wow this is so great and amazing".
I get Peter Jackson's stated desire to make all of the movies look like part of a cohesive whole. My instinct, then, would have been to apply a grain filter to the Hobbit series rather than take away the grain from LOTR! Why edit the good movies to fall more in line with the shitty ones? On top of it all, it seems that the process was automated. I saw another video in which DNR really messed up, and even left digital artifacts on the screen. Egregious shit too ended up on the screen, like the top of Gandalf's staff disappearing into the background in one shot, due to the automated process deciding it was digital noise to be scrubbed away! In that same shot, Shadowfax's ears create ghost artifacts in the background that remind me of video game glitches.
@@thelegit969 ahh... that's a shame. Tbh even the Blu-ray player on the Series X doesn't support Dolby Vision. I use my 4K Blu-ray player for playback (Panasonic UB820... amazing player) 😁
I'm waiting for them to be available on the UK Amazon but as somebody who doesn't live in the UK, I can't ever tell whether they're just not available to be exported or not available at all. For me it just shows it's not available for pre-order yet with no price set either. Hopefully it'll get sorted out soon, ordered normal versions locally but I keep refreshing the Amazon listing for the steelbooks daily, lol.
@@mr.rapter4517 Some shop in my country seems to sell them when they release on the 3th and 17th of dezember. I pray for all fans to get the steelbook. The normal version looks kind of cheap to be honest. It would be nice so see what the 2021 bundle looks like...
Mine is arriving tomorrow, the money came out for it about an hour ago from amazon. The amazon exclusive back to the future is coming in a week, and tremours on I think the 19th. And cyberpunk on the 10th and tenet on the 14th I think lol and at the start of the month my MCU 4k set came. Very fucking expensive few months for me.
I was excited before but now I'm really psyched. I just put together my Dolby Atmos system a couple of weeks ago and LOTR is why I put holes in my ceiling.
Awesome, congratz. I recommend giving Godzilla King of the Monsters and the 2 Bladerunner movies a whirl. Those are great atmos movies. Blackhawk down is also a thrill.
This guy always rips other 4K transfers for having DNR yet praised this LOTR 4K as perfect when this trilogy probably has the most DNR out of any 4K out right now. I personally don’t mind DNR but just felt he is being hypocritical with his 4K reviews. Like he doesn’t even mention the DNR once in this review but will dedicate whole reviews to why DNR is terrible for other videos.
I noticed that as well; I think one shouldn't be dogmatic about DNR use though. If it works, it works, and if not, no biggie. But here, I have to agree, I'm not convinced by the use of DNR and I might have to stick with my Blu Rays until they fix it in the future.
I was thinking the same thing while watching this review. You can tell he's too emotionally invested in this series to give it an unbiased review. It's pretty common opinion within the home cinema community that Two Towers 4K has some of the most egregious DNR in any 4K UHD out right now even still.
@@Chelios__ I tend to agree hard to beat the first film such a masterpiece and sets up the story perfectly. Although the Return of the King in terms of sheer epicenes may take the cake either way LOTR is the best trilogy ever it wont be beaten.
He crapped all over the Inglorious Basterds 4K since it's a 2K upscale. But this mess was also upscaled, full of DNR and has horrible color grading - yet, it's one of the greatest 4Ks out there... Haha.
Wrong. I crap on Inglorious Basterds because it looks like crap. Peter Jackson and his team put a ton of work into this release and it looks great. Now leave my channel and go back to your shitty forums.
@@JeffRauseoSo! You got critcized and you can't have a disscusion like a normal person. Well that is not a great way to do. Becouse what ever you are saying. So is this a bad remaster whit DNR
For the purists out there though, I read a lot of complaints that DNR got rid of the film grain and some of the detail. And that by making these films look like The Hobbit trilogy, a lot of the film magic is gone.
Not exactly. They didn't alter any of the CGI or do any upgrading....but they did go back as far into the process as possible, to find the earliest 'finished' material for the CGI, and they re-scanned THAT in 4K in order to have the highest quality source possible. They re-scanned all of the original footage and all of the original VFX shots in 4K, created a new 4K Digital Intermediate, and completely re-did the color grading in HDR 4K. They basically 're-finished' the movies after going back to the original material. Many 4K Discs just take whatever 'master' the original film currently exists in, whether it be a 35mm negative or for most modern films, a 2K master....and just do a 4K scan/upscale/upsample of it onto a 4K disc. For example, Endgame was finished as a 2K master. The 4K disc presentation is just that 2K master upsampled to 4K. It looks really good, but is not "True 4K" so to speak. Sonic was finished as a 4K master. The CGI within it was only rendered at 2K, but the final mastering of the film was done at 4K. By doing what they did with Lord of the Rings....re-finishing the movies in 4K resolution....it takes a 20 year old trilogy and puts it on a completely modern playing field in terms of the visual and audio presentation. Took a LONG time and plenty of money, but it literally results in the greatest trilogy of all time looking and sounding better than it ever has(and better than many modern films) for the next generation.
@@ChrisPeteG i was with you till the end and you remark about greatest trilogy of all time lol..first part a masterpiece but 2 and 3 dont come anywhere close..some of the worse cgi ever
I've just watched them... And they look horrible... I'm sticking with the BluRay's... I'm so dissapointed.... (It seems, online, that i'm not the only one)
Watching Ride of the Rohirrim on 4K was truly one of the most incredible things I’ve experienced. It brought me back to seeing it for the first time in theaters. Shook my entire house and brought a tear to my eye
Hey Jeff did you happen to catch Boutique Blue Rays review of the the 4K LOTR. He has bit of a different take than you do. He says its not a 4K but 2K upscale and is full of DNR processing hence no grain plus some other things were scrubbed out as well. Whats your thoughts?
@@NYC_Goody IDK, Boutique seems like a nitpicker. Sure the lack of grain may be controversial, but it's not the end of the world. For LOTR, I think the smoother picture actually works pretty well. Except for that thing with Shadowfax's ear, I haven't noticed anything all that wrong with the image. Plus, I don't know why he doesn't take into account they may have scanned the negatives in 4K, and THEN smoothed it out.
@@adriannn3720 I can't remember what he said and am too lazy to scan the video again but he showed and made a strong case showing that the lotr trilogy actually isn't a legitimate 4k transfer.
@@NYC_Goody He says that it's a 2K upscale, because a native 4K scan of the original film negative would have far more film grain. Which is fair, but then why wouldn't they have scanned in 4K, and THEN DNR-ed it? It's perfectly possible,
Restored by Weta Digital. Supervised by Peter Jackson. Warner only distributes. BIG detail to note. Weta is THE powerhouse behind every aspect of these films. The CGI blends well with the live action because this new 4K scan was done on the filmout negative. The CGI was given film grain when it was printed to film, melding live action and CG.
And going by the review on The Digital Bits...it seems that the brand new 4K HDR Color Grading was utilized to blend the CGI into the live action EVEN MORE than ever before, beyond just the matching film grain...the fine details of the color and contrast too. You would be surprised how often the 'color grade' of a CGI effect within a scene is the make-or-break on it looking real or not. Most CGI effects look 'real enough', but the biggest tells is when they don't look lit/colored properly to be fully integrated into the live action shot around them, they don't look properly part of their 'world'. That isn't something typically decided by JUST the CGI model and the quality of the render, but by all of the fine-tuning of the color grade and everything that goes with it. As soon as I heard "Brande new 4K DI with new HDR color grading"....I knew that even without altering/upgrading the CGI effects themselves....that every VFX shot in the films would just be kicked up a few notches in terms of overall integration into the live action.
@@adriannn3720 lot of debate around this. I'm no expert, just regurgitating what I've read online. My best guess is that it's somewhere between 2K and 4K
The lord of the rings trilogy is incredible, everything is just perfect. The Cast, the score , the locations, the design choices just EVERYTHING. Can’t wait for this release!
@@ttfidrat multiple times through but as far as movies go , imagine the movies we could have got had they been made at a different time by someone else
They're great movies and I'm super nostalgic about them (30+ years old so I was a kid when they came out at the cinema). But if you're an avid LotR fan, they're also far from "perfect". They miss out on a lot of what makes LotR special in the first place, like Tolkien's vivid depictions of nature. The journey through Woodhall to Crick Hollow and onwards to Tom Bombadil and the Old Forest is the best part of the entire book, but it's barely even in the movies.
@@rainisneat I love that stuff but I also understand the limitations of the movie medium , the fact that Hollywood gave Peter 3 movies to make this story in is a miracle enough, cuts had to be made I suppose
This video feels insane to me, considering this was the only review I watched before my set came in my expectations were high, I was imagining a Lawrence of Arabia quality transfer, only to be completely confused after watching them. How come you didn't mention all the DNR, the fact that it's likely a 2k upscale, the digital artifacts? I would imagine that stuff would put you off but you couldn't find anything to complain about, as you said. Just curious, I rewatched this video after finishing the set and to say this is the best 4k blu-ray actually made me laugh, what gives? I get that you're a fan and all that but people put a lot of trust in your opinion. I love the videos btw, not a lot of good 4k br channels out there. You personally sold me on the Columbia classics set, usually it's reddit that does that and not youtube.
i came back here because of the same reason and wondering if someone has the same question like you. I watched this "review" a couple of weeks back and told my self to buy the two boxes. But then i did a bit of research and "Films at Home" is telling smth totally different then everybody else. LoR is 85% rubbish in the 4k version. No need for an upgrade from 1080p BluRays
@@kappy0405 th-cam.com/video/I3Z58uiwcME/w-d-xo.html 5:30 says otherwise. This video also has screengrabs of how the 4k version looks like it loses some details and looks waxy. Seems like a informative video to me.
He is not honest in this video about 4K aspects of this collection, so its kind of biased in this review (fanboyish), people who tested it probably didn't liked it. Even I see that he used reference screens from 1080 BD in this video. That is an argument for a "dislike", from a perspective, don't you agree ?
What!? This is one of the worst 4K adaptions of movies ever. Shame on you. Way too much DNR, way too smooth, so much less grain. The blu-ray version is so much better.
Including the theatrical versions is pointless. No one who buys the extended editions has any intention to watch the theatrical editions. Yet they chose to not include the Appendices DVDs... nice.
Nice collection. Good to see they included both the theatrical and extended editions. Extended being split across 2 discs so no compromise in quality. Having no extras means most will be keeping the 15 disc blu-ray extended sets for the audio commentaries and extras. Even if most of them are only on DVD.
I had these pre-ordered, then I cancelled it due to hearing there’s another set with more special features in summer ‘21. Though after hearing this review, screw it, I’ve pre-ordered it again! I can’t wait. I don’t need all the special features. As long I’ve the theatrical and extended, with a great picture quality and sound - then that’s good enough.
the special features wont be upgraded in quality- likely to still be standard definition. so if you have those extra discs already id say its fine to pick up just the 4k movies
The only film of this Trilogy that I would put above 2001 in terms of 4k video quality is Return of the King. The transfer is simply outstanding in every way and my favorite 4k presentation. I don't care if there is mild DNR in all three. Fellowship also looks fantastic and Two Towers looks Grade A despite some minor flaws.
Only down side is that the Series X doesn't support Dolby Vision. so your tv will end up using a different hdr type. If you still have a one x or one s. you're better off using that one.
As a lover of the films since they came out being around the same age as you, I only ever over the years watched the 2000s extended editions DVDs all this time. I never even upgraded to Blu Ray. Now I'm heavily considering finally upgrading to a 4k player just for these movies alone. I'm sure the upgrade from being used to seeing it on early 2000s DVD to this will be mind-blowing.
It will be absolutely mind-blowing. This is almost like a 3rd version of the films. Not George Lucas Special Edition type of alterations happening....but the process of going back to all of the original material and re-scanning it at 4K, re-finishing the films in 4K with brand new HDR color grading....it basically gives the films a completely modern and pristine 2020 post-production process. The Trilogy was originally finished with film-scanning and Digital Color Grading technology of 2001-2003. State of the art at the time, but woefully outdated by modern standards. This would have been like....if after the Trilogy was filmed and all of the CGI was done, they put everything in an archive and said "Wait until 2020 to finish everything else" and then the movies got to be finished with completely modern tech. Avengers: Endgame exists as a 2K master. It was completely finished at 2K resolution. The 4K Disc is an upsample of that 2K Master. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy being newly color graded and finished at 4K resolution means it now exists as a 4K master that is better than almost every major modern blockbuster. Every MCU movie, every Harry Potter movie....all of them are always finished as 2K masters. You would have to go to a Nolan movie to find modern films that will surpass the new standards that LOTR has been raised to with this brand new 4K master.
I own this set, and i have to say the DNR is way to much on this 4k release. Now, i don't mind "some" DNR, but this is ridiculous. I'm suprised almost nobody is talking about this, i guess many are blinded by their love for the films. This could have been so much better, but they ruined it tbh...
Soo looking forward to this! Would love to see a 3 way comparison between DVD, Blu-ray and UHD. As well as the green-blue tint issue with Fellowship extended Blu-ray and now the new transfer. Also would like to know how the use of HDR is besides some of the scenes being darker.
I bought the trilogy largely on your review here, and I cannot agree with your assessment. I'm new to Blu-ray of any sort, and even an upscaled DVD looks great to me, but I can certainly tell that the LOTR 4K Blu-ray boxed set is nowhere near being a great transfer. I haven't watched the original Blu-ray discs, but I'm quite happy to accept that there is a big improvement here in areas of colour balance etc. but the picture is nowhere near having the definition and detail that I've seen elsewhere and would expect of 4K.
@@JeffRauseo To be fair, I was only going from my own memory of what they should look like! Then I saw another review that agreed with me, so I didn't feel too crazy! This is why we have social media. I didn't really buy it because you said so. I wanted to buy it and you said that would be OK! lol [I am still enjoying watching them again, so that's good.]
Since the extended are on 2 discs, does that mean they may even look slightly better than the theatrical since they can split it in half and put less compression on it?
My dude that was one of the best reviews I have seen on TH-cam. Im a huge collector of 4K films & probably have close to 100 of them & while I definitely have my favourites, You absolutely sold me on this ☺️ Will definitely be picking this one up.
You know it's going to be good release when Films At Home tells you that "Your neighbors are going to be calling you and asking you if your house is okay because it's going to sound like there's explosions going off inside your house." 😂
It depends on the film but I personally love old film grain especially on older films as it makes it look like a moving painting and a real snap shot of the period
After watching another video on this BD set (th-cam.com/video/I3Z58uiwcME/w-d-xo.html) I can confirm to you and you'll hate me for this. This is a 4K Upscale of the Blu Ray release. Thats why you can't see any film grain because the HD version was upscaled to 4K and had DNR applied to it. They didn't do native 4K because it would be too expensive and time consuming to rescan the Film negatives in 4K and recreate every edit, special effect and sound mix from the original master version. The video I linked explains it in greater detail.
This is biased review, as you are a fan, so many epithets used in 18mins, so it does not matter how bad in quality it *would* actually be. It has its flaws actually. Can't be considered as a review of pluses and minuses of this version from the technical point, as you will enforce your opinion as a "fan" to buy it either way. 🤷♂️
Finally a review of the 4k version, thank you👍This is the carrot to get my home theater/garage finished. So slow right now, building a garage from foundation and up to second floor.. 😅
Sounds like quite the project. I’m thinking about doing the same to my house down the road. Garage with a room over it to move my stuff out of a converted bedroom I’m using now
"video games" Yes that two towers ps2 game was awesome I already have the BluRay extended box set so i might stay with them for a while... Edit: but I'll definitely save some money for this eventually, i was 4 when i saw the first one, and i have similar experience like you, godamn theses films a great
I can’t believe you glossed over how bad some of the shots looks with the DNR. The elephants look really bad… same with some of the characters’ faces (Legolas in a few scenes comes to mind)
I have one of the first 4k TV set so it’s 4k SDR and a “basic” Atmos setup (5.1.2) but dude I’m so excited about this..the moment the steelbooks were available for preorder I immediately bought them and I was right since 48 hrs later they were all sold out... cant’wait for this to arrive in my mailbox!
Not a 4K kinda guy myself. My collection is complete with the remastered Blu-ray extended trilogy that was quietly released in 2021 upon the 20th anniversary of Fellowship. Absolutely phenomenal set.
You've haven't seen nothing yet until you see the 4K releases on physical media, not streaming. If you have a 4K TV, then why not upgrade the movies to 4K? That's the purpose of having a 4K UHD TV, is to watch 4K movies and other content.
LOL goes to show how he doesn't even actually check thoroughly on these discs. It was reported that other "reviewers" received their copies today. No way one can give a thorough review on these in a matter of couple hours.
The color palette is terrible. The colors looked faded and washed-out. The clarity of the picture and sound was good. But, the lack of color was really bad. I was really looking forward to seeing Hobbiton and Rivendell in 4K.
I prefer LOTR wholly. Aka how Tolkien intended it to be - not 3 parts because the publisher wasn't going to risk such a massive book. Lotr is lotr, to me. Sorry if I sound pretentious. 😅👌
@@Jayme_Roy Indeed. It's not like modern fantasy trilogies that often stand on their own but have sequels. It's just one epic awesome tale split in three. You don't sound pretentious to me. :-)
I try and watch all three extended editions every Christmas and now trying to decide if this year it's the 4k versions I watch...the review is going to make it hard to resist!
The best thing about this release is that the Blu Ray Trilogy has come down to under 20 bucks 😁😁😁. Give it a few years and this 4K Edition will be less than 20 bucks as well. 4K is good but not that good that you have to spend ridiculous money on it when it comes out new like this set is. I enjoyed the review by the way and give it a like. I do also have a 4K HDR TV and Surround Sound Home Cinema set up. But no way would I spend silly money like this on this Trilogy. 4K Movies on Blu Ray should cost a couple of quid more TOPS! and nothing more. By the way the DVD is still by far the best release cause it's the only one that includes all the extra hours of bonus content. Why they cannot include them on the Blu Ray is beyond me because the disc holds a hell of a lot more information.
My only critique would be the packaging I feel they could have been a bit more imaginative with the 4K box set similar to the Xenomorph Head & Phantasm Sphere sets. Maybe the one Ring or The Tower with the Eye of Sauron set could have been a cool limited edition 4K release?
I know what you mean, but to be honest as someone who collects films I much prefer nice tight packaging over some big disc holding eye sore. They just store better and are far more practical
Another great review Jeff. Can’t wait to pick this up. I knew it would be something special as long as Jackson was on board. I’m with you on steel books. I’ve never really understood why people gravitate towards them. Difficult to store and Scratch magnets as well. Keep up the good work
Hey guys, I love the lord of the rings and I recently purchased the 4K ultra hd versions. But I ran into a problem. I have ps5 and that doesn’t do Dolby vision or hrd10+. I want the best experience. Is the Dolby vision/hdr10+ that much better than the regular hdr? I don’t wanna buy another blue ray just for that if it’s not worth it. Thanks again for the help. I’d really appreciate it
I mean, you're going to get subjective opinions because ultimately everyone will have their own idea on what is and isn't better. DV and HDR+ both use higher bit and color depth so you're not getting the absolute best out of your new TV or the 4k UHD disc without them. But there is another conundrum. What TV do you have? Some TVs say they can do DV and/or HDR10+ but in reality they do a very poor job of it. This is why we see so many people on reddit and elsewhere complaining how HDR is too dark and doesn't pop off their screens. There really is more to it than a simple "Is DV/HDR10+ better or worth it". So much of it comes down to your display and whether your display has the required nits and color depth to truly take advantage of it. If you do have a quality TV I'd say it's worth it to look at a dedicated player because in reality, even though both the Series X and PS5 can play 4K UHD, they are near the bottom as far as quality playback goes. Ultimately only you can answer the question on what you should do. Do you want the absolute best quality you can get, or are you happy with what you have?
@@mikek5631 right now I have a Samsung t90 qled. It has hdr 10+ but no Dolby vision. When I play the lord of the rings movie, I’m able to enjoy it In hdr and Dolby atmos. But I wanted to know if the Dolby vision is that much different than regular hdr and if it’s worth getting a 200 blue ray player capable of Dolby vision. In the future I plan of getting an OLED with Dolby vision capabilities but most of the shows/movies I typically just stream off Netflix or hbo max. Thanks for your help.
Are you sure this is a 4k scan and not upscaling. There seems to be some discourse a kit whether any *official* information ever claimed it was a 4k scan. This TH-camr has a recent video essay on it. Really upsetting tbh bc that was a big reason I bought it. th-cam.com/video/zkNFZkUHeKQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=gs348qhDrdb920wW
One must pay close attention before buying any home media releases, since this has started to become common practice with AI algorithms and other mediocre technologies.
This movie is less than 20 years old and I this would be the 4th time buying the entire thing. I guarantee this will not be the last. I'm not sure what the next tech will be for this(could be some non-physical format in the future) but this is no way this is the last time we see this. This is why I don't keep large collections since I would always be replacing them every 10 years at least. With that said enjoy! Original Versions DVD Extended Versions DVD Extended Versions Bluray Original/Extended Versions UHD Bluray
![[UNCUT] “บอสณวัฒน์” ลากไส้!! ใครหนุนหลัง "แม่ตั๊ก ป๋าเบียร์" I คนดังนั่งเคลียร์ I 30 ก.ย. 67](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QlD7mU2KKRk/mqdefault.jpg)
***Quick note - due to some editing I did, the part about special features left out the fact that this set doesn’t have them, only the Middle Earth collection will. This is just the movies and extended editions.***
Yeah, I can see what happened now. Does end up being rather misleading as it stands.
@@leighhaynes yup that’s on me. Didn’t realize I cut that part out. Apologies
I want to buy the lord of the rings collection but I’m worried I will miss out on these fantastic steelbooks. I guess I can’t have everything thou. I’m going to wait for the middle earth collection
@@leohaddad9225 The Middle Earth collection will mostly repeat the extras which have been released previously. The Costa Botes docs were only shot in SD so not much can be done with them. There is a rumour that each film with get one new piece of bonus material.
@@leighhaynes I never actually got the lord of the rings on physical ever. Never owned the movies. So it’s ok if they repeat the special features. Btw I wish they had a massive 4k box set for Harry Potter
Nine Discs were given to the race of men, who above all else, desired quality.
Nice
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone who grubbied them up with their dwarven ale and dick cheese
*exhales*
Lol you win sir
A chance for Disc, captain of formats, to show his quality
Lotr is the second best trilogy of all time
surpassed only by lotr extended edition
I got them on apple tv
I dunno, I prefer the theatrical.
@@thefilmrookie3099 really? Whys that?
There are a lot of inconsistencies in the theatrical that bother me, not that the extended is perfect but at least better (imo)
I'm a huge LOTR fan, and I didn't care for the extended at all. It was drawn out, tiresome, and completely screwed with pace of the theatrical
@@Rapunzel879 if you’ve read the Silmarillion it’s really fun watching the extended editions with all the references put in
Once you go extended lotr you never go back.
I'm in the vast minority of thinking the theatrical versions are better. I think it just flows a much nicer.
@couldn't think of a username I would say the reverse. The fellowship does not add a great deal in the extended edition. The two towers adds some very crucial scenes with Faramir, crucial for his character - they should not have been cut in my opinion. And there's some extra nice stuff too. And the return of the King adds almost an hour of scenes, including actually showing the conclusion of Saruman, which again, should not have been cut. So I suppose if the goal is a very short movie, the fellowship extended might be the best, but I would say the other two gain more from the extended versions.
Unless you're a die hard collector like I am, and feel like you must own EVERY format of LOTR. lol
I actually started with the extended. I've never seen the theatrical. And I'm okay with that lol. It's my favorite trilogy and I watch it at least once every year.
I've only ever seen the extended version since they were in theaters. Though I've found this trilogy has gotten to be a real slog to get through after having watched it so many times over the years. And every time the movie feels like it's starting to drag, I can tell it's always in one of those extended scenes. And so I may look at the theatrical version.
I don't always watch "Lord Of The Rings" but when I do
.....so do my neighbors.
I don’t get it....
@@themaker2475 only way to watch this movie is LLLLLLOOOOOUUUUUDDDDDDD, to the point your neighbors hear it
Lol this guy gets it lol! My surround sound on max
They're lord of the rings. That alone made me place a order right away. I love this series more than star wars. So stoked to watch in 4k
Well especially these days given Star Wars is essentially a nerfed franchise.... Well we can always go back and watch Empire in 4k (though sadly Disney couldn't even get that right!). Thankfully Warner and Peter Jackson scored a TD!
Both Star Wars and LOTR are magical movie experiences. I do not think one is better than the other.
@@bighands69 they shouldn't be compared as couldn't be more different both are great
@@bighands69 It's a matter of taste. To be fair the "acting" in the original Star Wars trilogy (and the prequel trilogy for that mater) ranged from bad to embarrassing. Let's just say that George Lucas can't really write compelling dialogue with layers. Star Wars is ultimately Lucas's tribute to the serials of the 30's and 40's he watched as a kid. He just made big-budget versions with incredible (for the time) special effects. As stories however they shouldn't be taken seriously and just seen as a "space sage/light entertainment".
But one it absolutely is: LOTR.
The lack of grain is a problem, not a virtue.
There must be some tools online that can add grain to any video
The DNR is so distracting for me I might need to downgrade back to the Blu-ray. The digital effects also stand out way more.
The DNR is honestly a dealbreaker for me. Such a shame for what could have been a perfect release.
“Gets a little grainy on the original Blu-ray”
Laughs in VHS copies
I'ma watch these with my GF. If she doesn't like them, I'm breaking up with her.
She's never seen them? How old is she?!
@@rosstee shes 30 and has never seen them. like i said...if she dosent like them she can go to hell LOL
@@Insane247714 Slightly older than Jeff! Lol, yes if she somehow doesn't like these incredible films you would be left with no option...
When Return of the King ended and the first thing my girlfriend said was "Okay, so why did Frodo have to leave?"...I knew that we were not destined to be together.
Don't fall into cultish behavior for a movie lol. A really good set of movies but still separate from real life.
My only issue with the 4K versions is that the editing team removed the film grain and made the films look more digital. Which makes for a lot more issues, it makes the effects stick out a lot more because that clean 4K image without the grain just doesn’t blend with the effects from that time. The HDR is incredible, but I still prefer the Blu-ray’s because the grain issue.
Wonder why he didn't mention this
100% true
@@XenomorphLV426 he's a shill
“How faithful they are to the books”
*Tom Bombadil will remember that*
Lol cutting him was such a wise decision. Would have confused the hell out of the audience.
Sorry Tom. You're a great addition to the medium of books but had to be cut for the medium LOTR was being adapted to. If it helps, let's just say Peter Jackson is Tom.
Who was he?
@@Justusson Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow! Bright Blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow!
I was watching another review talking about how scrubbing out the grain you're actually losing detail. And that that's also a big indicator of dnr going on due to lack of grain. Seriously, who likes dnr? It's a bummer that this set has it. He also was showcasing screengrabs comparing the blu ray to the 4k set. Several of the 4k screenshots just looked wax like and some details even lost like the tip of Gandalf's staff completely missing in one of the scenes. He also pointed out that there's evidence that it's not a direct 4k copy from the original film. They simply kept saying it's a 4k restoration which is open to interpretation.
Yeah, there seem to be different reviews. Doesn't the eventual experience depend a lot on your television, DVD player / console and sound equipment too? Screen shots will never show you the exact experience you will have at home...
@@AudioEpics Yes but in these screenshots you can tell the difference between bd and 4k and they removed grain, changed coloring of certain scenes and the missing detalis between the two are striking. Also the cgi and miniatures stand out a lot to the point of being distracting
2K transfer. 4K restoration can mean anything. It would cost too much and take too much time to do a 4K scan. All the post processing effects would have to be redone from scratch
Hey man. I know I’m coming to the party late on this. I watch your reviews and for the most part I feel you do a good job on them. On these I have to disagree whole heartedly. These transfers are nowhere near as good as they should be. Their is no grain because they overused DNR to scrub it from the film. Fine detail suffers severely in landscape shots and in some scenes characters look very waxy. The use of DNR in the TTT and RoTK is very aggressive and it leads to soft shots outside of closeups and even some artifacts here and there. These are better than the blu rays for sure just due to color timing. But they are by no means excellent 4K discs in my opinion. These movies deserved much better treatment. It’s like the wanted to give LoTR movies a digital look to match up better with the Hobbit movies. It’s unfortunate that this was not mentioned in your view as it’s plain as day visible to me and it’s a problem for the release as some others have pointed out.
I just purchased the set myself and noticed this from the beginning. The soft, waxy look of most facial shots stands out like a sore thumb. Thank goodness I got this at a huge discount because it is definitely not worth paying full price.
This opinion is regarded as true. Why would you erase the grain, it doesn't make sense.
I will have to review it myself but from the screenshot comparison it doesn't look good.. but it may still be a great experience due to great sound and the fact that Dolby vision is great.
Can't believe Jeff is not all over the DNR, he is normally so on to this crap. Disappointed 😒
Thats why not worth 57 K!
The extended versions are the real versions to watch. It’s just crazy to me that I watched the movies growing up and the first time that I watch the extended versions were when I bought the Blu-ray box set when it came out several years ago. I didn’t really expect much of the extended I thought that they would’ve just added a few scenes I had no idea that they added like dang near 40 minutes to each movie.
No the theatrical versions are quite literally the "real" versions, and Peter Jackson agrees. The filmmakers spent years of their life flawlessly editing the scenes together into a perfect example of cinematic pacing. The extended editions crap all over it, all of those 40 minutes where cut for good reason. Almost all of the new scenes are narratively pointless, often they conflict with the atmosphere of what has come before or after and some of them are actually BAD. You need to hear Gimli taking about an orcs "nervous system" ?? You think that's a good line and not jarring at all? You think we need a scene on what Eowyns stew tastes like? Or Gandalf brainlessly illuminating a canyon of Mithril in Moria, 5 seconds after saying they would have to remain in darkness.
The Theatricals are indeed the better films. They are the films that won Oscar’s, and absolutely what I recommend for first time viewers. However, while the Extended editions are flawed in terms of pacing etc, that are some really great additions that really do a lot of world building and you just get to spend more time with these characters which to a lot of people makes these editions the preferred, which I understand. And while I have some gripes with the extended editions it’s the only way I can really watch these films. I heard someone put it like this: the theatricals are a perfect cinematic experience, while the extended’s are an incredible journey. Just depends which one you want to have. I think a cut of something somewhere in the middle would be nice, but that’s my opinion.
@@zechariahhall97 the extended versions have bad scenes, the real versions do not. it's not very complicated.
I’d say yes they do have some bad scenes, but also some really great ones in my opinion. It’s a more flawed experience but there’s also some good stuff you’re missing out on. The depth you get with Boromir and Faramir, the additional scenes between the fellowship, the additional moments in hobbiton, the action scenes have more time to breath (the elephant sequence in the extended is mind blowing), the death of Saurmon, and on and on. There’s great stuff. But on the other hand everything with the army of the dead that’s extended is pretty bad, as well as the mouth of Sauron. I’m 50/50 on that. The effects weren’t finished to put out in that state.
@@zechariahhall97 extended fellowship is still a good movie, but the extra scenes actually ruin two towers and return of the king. the whole epic tone is crapped on with pathetic cringe jokes
They put the theatrical edition, and someone said,
"What about Lord of the Rings?"
"You already have it."
"We have one, yes. What about SECOND Lord of the Rings?"
BOOM! 4K Extended.
Well done
" I don't think he knows about Second Lord of the Rings Pippin " 😁 lol
We're pretty close to "Elevensies" aren't we? OG Theatrical DVD + OG Extended DVD + Blu- Ray for both, that's a lot of hobbits.
You keep repeating it's a 35mm to 4k transfer which is clearly false. It's a 2k upscale with loads of DNR that ruins details. Even the tip of Gandalf's staff is missing due to DNR. Also, if you thought you could give your subs a nice workout, forget it. They got rid of the frequencies below 30 Hz. It's just ridiculously bad.
That's what I would have loved to hear in a review, but this channel seems to be more about "wow this is so great and amazing".
I get Peter Jackson's stated desire to make all of the movies look like part of a cohesive whole. My instinct, then, would have been to apply a grain filter to the Hobbit series rather than take away the grain from LOTR! Why edit the good movies to fall more in line with the shitty ones?
On top of it all, it seems that the process was automated. I saw another video in which DNR really messed up, and even left digital artifacts on the screen. Egregious shit too ended up on the screen, like the top of Gandalf's staff disappearing into the background in one shot, due to the automated process deciding it was digital noise to be scrubbed away! In that same shot, Shadowfax's ears create ghost artifacts in the background that remind me of video game glitches.
Ordered the steel book versions from Best Buy, super stoked to finally check these out in 4K‼️ Thanks for your early review Jeff !
Oh yeah! I’ll probably be doing a video on them as well! Come check it out!
I am more excited for this than i was for the ps5 release
I'm the same with my Series X. I've been waiting for this boxset for sooo long 😁
Gotta give Sony and Microsoft props. The fact that they managed to create such a frenzy of excitement without any games is crazy.
It doesnt have Dolby vision tho
@@newandroid14 oh shoot, I meant the ps5
@@thelegit969 ahh... that's a shame. Tbh even the Blu-ray player on the Series X doesn't support Dolby Vision. I use my 4K Blu-ray player for playback (Panasonic UB820... amazing player) 😁
got the steelbook set on pre-order from best buy - expensive month for collectors!
It wasnt availabel in my country... Im so pissed
I'm waiting for them to be available on the UK Amazon but as somebody who doesn't live in the UK, I can't ever tell whether they're just not available to be exported or not available at all. For me it just shows it's not available for pre-order yet with no price set either. Hopefully it'll get sorted out soon, ordered normal versions locally but I keep refreshing the Amazon listing for the steelbooks daily, lol.
@@mr.rapter4517 Some shop in my country seems to sell them when they release on the 3th and 17th of dezember. I pray for all fans to get the steelbook. The normal version looks kind of cheap to be honest. It would be nice so see what the 2021 bundle looks like...
Mine is arriving tomorrow, the money came out for it about an hour ago from amazon. The amazon exclusive back to the future is coming in a week, and tremours on I think the 19th. And cyberpunk on the 10th and tenet on the 14th I think lol and at the start of the month my MCU 4k set came. Very fucking expensive few months for me.
i got john wick but wasn't able to get that or matrix trilogy steelbook damn
I was excited before but now I'm really psyched. I just put together my Dolby Atmos system a couple of weeks ago and LOTR is why I put holes in my ceiling.
Those holes will be worth it
Awesome, congratz. I recommend giving Godzilla King of the Monsters and the 2 Bladerunner movies a whirl. Those are great atmos movies. Blackhawk down is also a thrill.
This guy always rips other 4K transfers for having DNR yet praised this LOTR 4K as perfect when this trilogy probably has the most DNR out of any 4K out right now. I personally don’t mind DNR but just felt he is being hypocritical with his 4K reviews. Like he doesn’t even mention the DNR once in this review but will dedicate whole reviews to why DNR is terrible for other videos.
I noticed that as well; I think one shouldn't be dogmatic about DNR use though. If it works, it works, and if not, no biggie. But here, I have to agree, I'm not convinced by the use of DNR and I might have to stick with my Blu Rays until they fix it in the future.
I don't trust a lot of TH-cam reviews anymore.
I was thinking the same thing while watching this review. You can tell he's too emotionally invested in this series to give it an unbiased review. It's pretty common opinion within the home cinema community that Two Towers 4K has some of the most egregious DNR in any 4K UHD out right now even still.
Fellowship of the Ring is one of my favorite movies ever!
yep, the best one in the trilogy hands down imo
Agree.. it is my favourite of the books and also for me the film adaptation of Fellowship is the closest one to the book IMHO....
It's the only one that doesn't make me need rage hard at changes that didn't need to be made.
@@Chelios__ I tend to agree hard to beat the first film such a masterpiece and sets up the story perfectly. Although the Return of the King in terms of sheer epicenes may take the cake either way LOTR is the best trilogy ever it wont be beaten.
@quikgamer I wish I saw the trilogy in theaters but I was only a baby when fellowship came out
He crapped all over the Inglorious Basterds 4K since it's a 2K upscale. But this mess was also upscaled, full of DNR and has horrible color grading - yet, it's one of the greatest 4Ks out there... Haha.
Wrong. I crap on Inglorious Basterds because it looks like crap. Peter Jackson and his team put a ton of work into this release and it looks great. Now leave my channel and go back to your shitty forums.
@@JeffRauseo You overexagerated in your review...
@@davidseleznova3199 True... The film looks like shit... I'm sticking with the blurays
@@JeffRauseoSo! You got critcized and you can't have a disscusion like a normal person. Well that is not a great way to do. Becouse what ever you are saying. So is this a bad remaster whit DNR
December releases are going to be hard on my wallet
LOR, Hobbit, Total Recall, Leon the Professional, Tenet, Coming to America, and more.
fyi, BT already has 4k version of Total Recall.
@@jasonedwards5363 chernobyl
Akira
@@jasonedwards5363 what's new about Leon? I already own the 4k release, is there something new besides maybe a Steelbook?
For the purists out there though, I read a lot of complaints that DNR got rid of the film grain and some of the detail. And that by making these films look like The Hobbit trilogy, a lot of the film magic is gone.
No film grain... is not good. That worries the hell out of me.
Supposedly they upgraded all the CGI to 4k that's why it doesn't look terrible
Surely the revier would not not if they have been changed as he says hes such a fan
They did 4k scans of the VFX from the film, so they did not re-render it. Just scanned it in 4k. Should still look great though.
Not exactly. They didn't alter any of the CGI or do any upgrading....but they did go back as far into the process as possible, to find the earliest 'finished' material for the CGI, and they re-scanned THAT in 4K in order to have the highest quality source possible.
They re-scanned all of the original footage and all of the original VFX shots in 4K, created a new 4K Digital Intermediate, and completely re-did the color grading in HDR 4K.
They basically 're-finished' the movies after going back to the original material.
Many 4K Discs just take whatever 'master' the original film currently exists in, whether it be a 35mm negative or for most modern films, a 2K master....and just do a 4K scan/upscale/upsample of it onto a 4K disc.
For example, Endgame was finished as a 2K master. The 4K disc presentation is just that 2K master upsampled to 4K. It looks really good, but is not "True 4K" so to speak.
Sonic was finished as a 4K master. The CGI within it was only rendered at 2K, but the final mastering of the film was done at 4K.
By doing what they did with Lord of the Rings....re-finishing the movies in 4K resolution....it takes a 20 year old trilogy and puts it on a completely modern playing field in terms of the visual and audio presentation. Took a LONG time and plenty of money, but it literally results in the greatest trilogy of all time looking and sounding better than it ever has(and better than many modern films) for the next generation.
@@ChrisPeteG i was with you till the end and you remark about greatest trilogy of all time lol..first part a masterpiece but 2 and 3 dont come anywhere close..some of the worse cgi ever
All shot and produced to 35mm film.
Resolution is greater than measly 4K.
I've just watched them... And they look horrible... I'm sticking with the BluRay's... I'm so dissapointed.... (It seems, online, that i'm not the only one)
Watching Ride of the Rohirrim on 4K was truly one of the most incredible things I’ve experienced. It brought me back to seeing it for the first time in theaters. Shook my entire house and brought a tear to my eye
Hey Jeff did you happen to catch Boutique Blue Rays review of the the 4K LOTR. He has bit of a different take than you do. He says its not a 4K but 2K upscale and is full of DNR processing hence no grain plus some other things were scrubbed out as well.
Whats your thoughts?
@@mv28 So boutique has more of an informed insight to these things? His video definitely seemed to point out several flaws.
@@NYC_Goody IDK, Boutique seems like a nitpicker.
Sure the lack of grain may be controversial, but it's not the end of the world. For LOTR, I think the smoother picture actually works pretty well.
Except for that thing with Shadowfax's ear, I haven't noticed anything all that wrong with the image.
Plus, I don't know why he doesn't take into account they may have scanned the negatives in 4K, and THEN smoothed it out.
@@adriannn3720 I can't remember what he said and am too lazy to scan the video again but he showed and made a strong case showing that the lotr trilogy actually isn't a legitimate 4k transfer.
@@NYC_Goody He says that it's a 2K upscale, because a native 4K scan of the original film negative would have far more film grain. Which is fair, but then why wouldn't they have scanned in 4K, and THEN DNR-ed it? It's perfectly possible,
@@adriannn3720 didn't he also show on imdb or something that it was confirmed an upscale?
Restored by Weta Digital. Supervised by Peter Jackson. Warner only distributes. BIG detail to note. Weta is THE powerhouse behind every aspect of these films.
The CGI blends well with the live action because this new 4K scan was done on the filmout negative. The CGI was given film grain when it was printed to film, melding live action and CG.
And going by the review on The Digital Bits...it seems that the brand new 4K HDR Color Grading was utilized to blend the CGI into the live action EVEN MORE than ever before, beyond just the matching film grain...the fine details of the color and contrast too.
You would be surprised how often the 'color grade' of a CGI effect within a scene is the make-or-break on it looking real or not.
Most CGI effects look 'real enough', but the biggest tells is when they don't look lit/colored properly to be fully integrated into the live action shot around them, they don't look properly part of their 'world'.
That isn't something typically decided by JUST the CGI model and the quality of the render, but by all of the fine-tuning of the color grade and everything that goes with it.
As soon as I heard "Brande new 4K DI with new HDR color grading"....I knew that even without altering/upgrading the CGI effects themselves....that every VFX shot in the films would just be kicked up a few notches in terms of overall integration into the live action.
So did they take the digital scenes and transfer them to 35mm film and then back again?
@@bighands69 yes
2K digital --> 35 mm --> 4K digital
Isn't LotR a 2K upscale in this case?
@@adriannn3720 lot of debate around this. I'm no expert, just regurgitating what I've read online.
My best guess is that it's somewhere between 2K and 4K
The lord of the rings trilogy is incredible, everything is just perfect. The Cast, the score , the locations, the design choices just EVERYTHING. Can’t wait for this release!
Perfect? Have you even read the books?
@@ttfidrat multiple times through but as far as movies go , imagine the movies we could have got had they been made at a different time by someone else
@@ttfidrat Can you live without trolling? Have a positive mind for heavens sake.
They're great movies and I'm super nostalgic about them (30+ years old so I was a kid when they came out at the cinema). But if you're an avid LotR fan, they're also far from "perfect". They miss out on a lot of what makes LotR special in the first place, like Tolkien's vivid depictions of nature. The journey through Woodhall to Crick Hollow and onwards to Tom Bombadil and the Old Forest is the best part of the entire book, but it's barely even in the movies.
@@rainisneat I love that stuff but I also understand the limitations of the movie medium , the fact that Hollywood gave Peter 3 movies to make this story in is a miracle enough, cuts had to be made I suppose
Not a grain hater... Filters that remove grain remove detail as well.
This video feels insane to me, considering this was the only review I watched before my set came in my expectations were high, I was imagining a Lawrence of Arabia quality transfer, only to be completely confused after watching them. How come you didn't mention all the DNR, the fact that it's likely a 2k upscale, the digital artifacts? I would imagine that stuff would put you off but you couldn't find anything to complain about, as you said. Just curious, I rewatched this video after finishing the set and to say this is the best 4k blu-ray actually made me laugh, what gives? I get that you're a fan and all that but people put a lot of trust in your opinion.
I love the videos btw, not a lot of good 4k br channels out there. You personally sold me on the Columbia classics set, usually it's reddit that does that and not youtube.
This is definitely not a 2K upscale.
i came back here because of the same reason and wondering if someone has the same question like you. I watched this "review" a couple of weeks back and told my self to buy the two boxes. But then i did a bit of research and "Films at Home" is telling smth totally different then everybody else. LoR is 85% rubbish in the 4k version. No need for an upgrade from 1080p BluRays
@@kappy0405 th-cam.com/video/I3Z58uiwcME/w-d-xo.html 5:30 says otherwise. This video also has screengrabs of how the 4k version looks like it loses some details and looks waxy. Seems like a informative video to me.
Agreed. Him saying "the grain is there, but you just can't see it" screams heavy DNR.
The 15 people who downvoted this video shall not pass
They fell.
He is not honest in this video about 4K aspects of this collection, so its kind of biased in this review (fanboyish), people who tested it probably didn't liked it. Even I see that he used reference screens from 1080 BD in this video. That is an argument for a "dislike", from a perspective, don't you agree ?
Because of this release I went over my head and bought a new TV, so I do hope they're worth it!
What!? This is one of the worst 4K adaptions of movies ever. Shame on you. Way too much DNR, way too smooth, so much less grain. The blu-ray version is so much better.
These are AI upscaled Warner releases, the Hobbit trilogy is also the same. Just to save some bucks.
unfortunately there is definitely some dnr issues with this transfer.
Im just glad they did DNR, my old 2012 blu rays look way to grainy on a 4k TV.
@@scottyee707 the dnr scrubbed a ton of detail away from the image.
@@scottyee707 go on capsaholic and compare cgi and high detail shots from two towers and return and then tell me the dnr restoration is good
Including the theatrical versions is pointless. No one who buys the extended editions has any intention to watch the theatrical editions. Yet they chose to not include the Appendices DVDs... nice.
They deleted that green grain at the extended editions so now we can see at last as it was in the cinemas!
Why put the green grain in the first place?
Class!
Nice collection. Good to see they included both the theatrical and extended editions. Extended being split across 2 discs so no compromise in quality. Having no extras means most will be keeping the 15 disc blu-ray extended sets for the audio commentaries and extras. Even if most of them are only on DVD.
I had these pre-ordered, then I cancelled it due to hearing there’s another set with more special features in summer ‘21. Though after hearing this review, screw it, I’ve pre-ordered it again! I can’t wait. I don’t need all the special features. As long I’ve the theatrical and extended, with a great picture quality and sound - then that’s good enough.
Im holding on to the old Blu-Rays because the Appendixes are something special even though they're on DVDs.
the special features wont be upgraded in quality- likely to still be standard definition. so if you have those extra discs already id say its fine to pick up just the 4k movies
Lol I did the same thing...now I’m thinking if I want to have these in the steel book package or wait for the “Middle Earth” Collection next year...
The only film of this Trilogy that I would put above 2001 in terms of 4k video quality is Return of the King. The transfer is simply outstanding in every way and my favorite 4k presentation. I don't care if there is mild DNR in all three.
Fellowship also looks fantastic and Two Towers looks Grade A despite some minor flaws.
Just got a 4K OLED, Series X and a Doly Atmos surround sound system... This might be my first buy.
Damn. .surround system too? Viewing party at your place
Aaron Proctor- Do it. You can pre-order at Best Buy... $150 for 4K set or $120 for 4K steelbook set.
Same. The Dolby Atmos really enhances the immersion.
Only down side is that the Series X doesn't support Dolby Vision. so your tv will end up using a different hdr type. If you still have a one x or one s. you're better off using that one.
switching discs in the extended version seems like a mistake. quad layer and make it fit on a single disc.
The original extended versions on DVD that came out mid 2000s were already on two discs each tubby.
Never seen a lord of rings movie before but I bought this and a sound bar with atmos. I’m about to test out my tv with this. Wish me luck!
I was so nervous to click on this thumbnail but so relieved!!! I can’t freaking wait to see these!!
When I heard Peter was overseeing everything, I knew we would get the best.
Oh grow up!
@@sneakyp1484 grow up? What did he say that was childish?
Uve allrdy seen the films 19 years ago
Just got this for $55. Thanks for the review. I'm going to make the leap to 4K: going to get a 4K TV and player
Shooting on film looks so much better!
The DNR ruins it for me
As a lover of the films since they came out being around the same age as you, I only ever over the years watched the 2000s extended editions DVDs all this time. I never even upgraded to Blu Ray. Now I'm heavily considering finally upgrading to a 4k player just for these movies alone. I'm sure the upgrade from being used to seeing it on early 2000s DVD to this will be mind-blowing.
It will be absolutely mind-blowing. This is almost like a 3rd version of the films. Not George Lucas Special Edition type of alterations happening....but the process of going back to all of the original material and re-scanning it at 4K, re-finishing the films in 4K with brand new HDR color grading....it basically gives the films a completely modern and pristine 2020 post-production process.
The Trilogy was originally finished with film-scanning and Digital Color Grading technology of 2001-2003. State of the art at the time, but woefully outdated by modern standards.
This would have been like....if after the Trilogy was filmed and all of the CGI was done, they put everything in an archive and said "Wait until 2020 to finish everything else" and then the movies got to be finished with completely modern tech.
Avengers: Endgame exists as a 2K master. It was completely finished at 2K resolution. The 4K Disc is an upsample of that 2K Master.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy being newly color graded and finished at 4K resolution means it now exists as a 4K master that is better than almost every major modern blockbuster. Every MCU movie, every Harry Potter movie....all of them are always finished as 2K masters.
You would have to go to a Nolan movie to find modern films that will surpass the new standards that LOTR has been raised to with this brand new 4K master.
Damn, my wallet is going to hate me but I must have them on 4k and that steelbook set! Not so much with the hobbit lol. Thanks for the review!
I own this set, and i have to say the DNR is way to much on this 4k release. Now, i don't mind "some" DNR, but this is ridiculous. I'm suprised almost nobody is talking about this, i guess many are blinded by their love for the films. This could have been so much better, but they ruined it tbh...
Soo looking forward to this! Would love to see a 3 way comparison between DVD, Blu-ray and UHD. As well as the green-blue tint issue with Fellowship extended Blu-ray and now the new transfer. Also would like to know how the use of HDR is besides some of the scenes being darker.
I bought the trilogy largely on your review here, and I cannot agree with your assessment. I'm new to Blu-ray of any sort, and even an upscaled DVD looks great to me, but I can certainly tell that the LOTR 4K Blu-ray boxed set is nowhere near being a great transfer. I haven't watched the original Blu-ray discs, but I'm quite happy to accept that there is a big improvement here in areas of colour balance etc. but the picture is nowhere near having the definition and detail that I've seen elsewhere and would expect of 4K.
Really? I still think they’re amazing. Color is incredible and detail was much improved in many areas, although there are a few low points for sure.
@@JeffRauseo To be fair, I was only going from my own memory of what they should look like! Then I saw another review that agreed with me, so I didn't feel too crazy! This is why we have social media. I didn't really buy it because you said so. I wanted to buy it and you said that would be OK! lol [I am still enjoying watching them again, so that's good.]
@@periurban it’s a really huge improvement over the Bluray though. Those were so bad!
@@JeffRauseo I picked up a cheap copy of the first Hobbit film on Blu-ray. I thought it looked great! Much better than LOTR so far!
its a 2k upscale
I'm glad I found your channel, you talk a lot about quality something I really appreciate
Since the extended are on 2 discs, does that mean they may even look slightly better than the theatrical since they can split it in half and put less compression on it?
My dude that was one of the best reviews I have seen on TH-cam.
Im a huge collector of 4K films & probably have close to 100 of them & while I definitely have my favourites, You absolutely sold me on this ☺️ Will definitely be picking this one up.
Have seen about half of Fellowship of the ring and my opinion this was amazing on 4k.
Already got my steelbook pre-ordered!
You know it's going to be good release when Films At Home tells you that "Your neighbors are going to be calling you and asking you if your house is okay because it's going to sound like there's explosions going off inside your house." 😂
It depends on the film but I personally love old film grain especially on older films as it makes it look like a moving painting and a real snap shot of the period
After watching another video on this BD set (th-cam.com/video/I3Z58uiwcME/w-d-xo.html) I can confirm to you and you'll hate me for this. This is a 4K Upscale of the Blu Ray release. Thats why you can't see any film grain because the HD version was upscaled to 4K and had DNR applied to it. They didn't do native 4K because it would be too expensive and time consuming to rescan the Film negatives in 4K and recreate every edit, special effect and sound mix from the original master version. The video I linked explains it in greater detail.
This is biased review, as you are a fan, so many epithets used in 18mins, so it does not matter how bad in quality it *would* actually be. It has its flaws actually. Can't be considered as a review of pluses and minuses of this version from the technical point, as you will enforce your opinion as a "fan" to buy it either way. 🤷♂️
Finally a review of the 4k version, thank you👍This is the carrot to get my home theater/garage finished. So slow right now, building a garage from foundation and up to second floor.. 😅
Sounds like quite the project. I’m thinking about doing the same to my house down the road. Garage with a room over it to move my stuff out of a converted bedroom I’m using now
Oh I'm SO excited for this release.
Just watched your minimalism video. ☺️
@@valerieyoder oh thank you so much :)
@@ElliotCoen So did I
This is a poor transfer. Image is soft. Terrible
"video games"
Yes that two towers ps2 game was awesome
I already have the BluRay extended box set so i might stay with them for a while...
Edit: but I'll definitely save some money for this eventually, i was 4 when i saw the first one, and i have similar experience like you, godamn theses films a great
I can’t believe you glossed over how bad some of the shots looks with the DNR. The elephants look really bad… same with some of the characters’ faces (Legolas in a few scenes comes to mind)
I'd imagine they all have similar image quality, seeing as how they were all shot back to back
They weren't, watch peter jackson behind the scenes 4k
That case is T H I C C
I'm so excited for this review. This is the set that'll convince me to finally FINALLY make the leap to 4K.
Thicc?
You’re crushing it - 51k already 😂. Happy Thanksgiving
I watch the Trilogy every Christmas. Just bought 85" 4K tv and will now watch 4K version.
I'm waiting until that special edition coming next summer! Love your detailed review!
Did you really compare the battle of Helms deep to got? 💀
I have one of the first 4k TV set so it’s 4k SDR and a “basic” Atmos setup (5.1.2) but dude I’m so excited about this..the moment the steelbooks were available for preorder I immediately bought them and I was right since 48 hrs later they were all sold out... cant’wait for this to arrive in my mailbox!
Not a 4K kinda guy myself. My collection is complete with the remastered Blu-ray extended trilogy that was quietly released in 2021 upon the 20th anniversary of Fellowship. Absolutely phenomenal set.
You've haven't seen nothing yet until you see the 4K releases on physical media, not streaming. If you have a 4K TV, then why not upgrade the movies to 4K? That's the purpose of having a 4K UHD TV, is to watch 4K movies and other content.
Those version look better any since the 4K was an AI upscaled treatment.
@3:55 Loads of special features? I thought this release was movies only. Do you have that link for the details?
Yeah these are just the movies, no special features
I'm also looking for the link that was mentioned in the video, and I'm not seeing it.
LOL goes to show how he doesn't even actually check thoroughly on these discs. It was reported that other "reviewers" received their copies today. No way one can give a thorough review on these in a matter of couple hours.
The color palette is terrible.
The colors looked faded and washed-out.
The clarity of the picture and sound was good. But, the lack of color was really bad.
I was really looking forward to seeing Hobbiton and Rivendell in 4K.
“..the fellowship of the ring, although it’s not the most exciting of the 3 movies”
but it’s the best film of the 3 :/
That's just, your opinion, man.
I respect your opinion, but for me Two Towers is the best.
I prefer LOTR wholly. Aka how Tolkien intended it to be - not 3 parts because the publisher wasn't going to risk such a massive book.
Lotr is lotr, to me.
Sorry if I sound pretentious. 😅👌
Can one not have favorite parts or chapters in a narrative?
@@Jayme_Roy Indeed. It's not like modern fantasy trilogies that often stand on their own but have sequels. It's just one epic awesome tale split in three. You don't sound pretentious to me. :-)
1) The Two Towers
2) The Fellowship
3) The Return of the King
My opinion.
Great Review, i might pick it up! Only got LOTR on DVD, never upgraded
You will see a huge difference!
Exactly what Ross said, you are in for quite an experience
I try and watch all three extended editions every Christmas and now trying to decide if this year it's the 4k versions I watch...the review is going to make it hard to resist!
So glad to hear this isn't a bomb an am so excited to plug this into my PS5 and go :D
PS5 doesn't support DV
@@kingcrab750 PS5 movies seem just fine to me
Enjoy!
The best thing about this release is that the Blu Ray Trilogy has come down to under 20 bucks 😁😁😁. Give it a few years and this 4K Edition will be less than 20 bucks as well. 4K is good but not that good that you have to spend ridiculous money on it when it comes out new like this set is. I enjoyed the review by the way and give it a like. I do also have a 4K HDR TV and Surround Sound Home Cinema set up. But no way would I spend silly money like this on this Trilogy. 4K Movies on Blu Ray should cost a couple of quid more TOPS! and nothing more. By the way the DVD is still by far the best release cause it's the only one that includes all the extra hours of bonus content. Why they cannot include them on the Blu Ray is beyond me because the disc holds a hell of a lot more information.
LOTR bonus content is all the bonus content you need for life. It's amazing, incredibly inspiring and very rewatchable!
My only critique would be the packaging I feel they could have been a bit more imaginative with the 4K box set similar to the Xenomorph Head & Phantasm Sphere sets. Maybe the one Ring or The Tower with the Eye of Sauron set could have been a cool limited edition 4K release?
I know what you mean, but to be honest as someone who collects films I much prefer nice tight packaging over some big disc holding eye sore. They just store better and are far more practical
Yeah the packaging is abysmal. It was my first thought after opening.
Got lucky and picked this up for $30 plus tax a few weeks ago. It's hands down my best find so far.
Can I have the digital code if you're not using it?
Another great review Jeff. Can’t wait to pick this up. I knew it would be something special as long as Jackson was on board. I’m with you on steel books. I’ve never really understood why people gravitate towards them. Difficult to store and Scratch magnets as well. Keep up the good work
Hey guys, I love the lord of the rings and I recently purchased the 4K ultra hd versions. But I ran into a problem. I have ps5 and that doesn’t do Dolby vision or hrd10+. I want the best experience. Is the Dolby vision/hdr10+ that much better than the regular hdr? I don’t wanna buy another blue ray just for that if it’s not worth it. Thanks again for the help. I’d really appreciate it
I mean, you're going to get subjective opinions because ultimately everyone will have their own idea on what is and isn't better. DV and HDR+ both use higher bit and color depth so you're not getting the absolute best out of your new TV or the 4k UHD disc without them. But there is another conundrum. What TV do you have? Some TVs say they can do DV and/or HDR10+ but in reality they do a very poor job of it. This is why we see so many people on reddit and elsewhere complaining how HDR is too dark and doesn't pop off their screens. There really is more to it than a simple "Is DV/HDR10+ better or worth it". So much of it comes down to your display and whether your display has the required nits and color depth to truly take advantage of it. If you do have a quality TV I'd say it's worth it to look at a dedicated player because in reality, even though both the Series X and PS5 can play 4K UHD, they are near the bottom as far as quality playback goes. Ultimately only you can answer the question on what you should do. Do you want the absolute best quality you can get, or are you happy with what you have?
@@mikek5631 right now I have a Samsung t90 qled. It has hdr 10+ but no Dolby vision. When I play the lord of the rings movie, I’m able to enjoy it In hdr and Dolby atmos. But I wanted to know if the Dolby vision is that much different than regular hdr and if it’s worth getting a 200 blue ray player capable of Dolby vision. In the future I plan of getting an OLED with Dolby vision capabilities but most of the shows/movies I typically just stream off Netflix or hbo max. Thanks for your help.
Thank you for the wonderful review! For me, LOTR is the best trilogy of all time!
Are you sure this is a 4k scan and not upscaling. There seems to be some discourse a kit whether any *official* information ever claimed it was a 4k scan. This TH-camr has a recent video essay on it. Really upsetting tbh bc that was a big reason I bought it. th-cam.com/video/zkNFZkUHeKQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=gs348qhDrdb920wW
One must pay close attention before buying any home media releases, since this has started to become common practice with AI algorithms and other mediocre technologies.
This movie is less than 20 years old and I this would be the 4th time buying the entire thing. I guarantee this will not be the last. I'm not sure what the next tech will be for this(could be some non-physical format in the future) but this is no way this is the last time we see this. This is why I don't keep large collections since I would always be replacing them every 10 years at least. With that said enjoy!
Original Versions DVD
Extended Versions DVD
Extended Versions Bluray
Original/Extended Versions UHD Bluray
If you'd end up on a desert island (with a working television and audio that is), this would be the only collection you needed. :-)
well worth the buy i have been waiting for this to come out on 4k for a while now
I got chills when you said this was better than 2001 and Joker, like holy shit im so unbelievably HYPED
Same! I’ll probably do a video on it as well!
Have the Best Buy steelbook set on pre order. Was already excited for it. Even more so now!