I just typed up a long comment and it got lost in cyberspace some where... basically the gist of what I said was, I really don't like BD packaging at all, but this packaging isnt too bad, although I don't like the blue stripe on the top either.

I will be getting this set and unloading the the old EE box set and continue converting my DVD collection into BD. Plus 80-ish dollars isn't that bad of a deal, being that I think I spent more than that on the EE sets, since i bought them individually, for about 30 dollars each I think. And since I am American, I got to mail in for the EE box set cover (sorry Val, I had to get that jab in there!)

Yeah, I thought the price wasn't too awful for the quantity and quality of what's being offered. Plus, if you preorder, you'll get whatever the lowest price Amazon has on it between when you preorder and when it releases.

Well I'll be a true blu (pun intended) American here and offer the red maple leaf a deal.
You want one Val?
Who says it can't go to Canada?

That's very big of you, Thrand.

Later on tonight, I'm going to try and see if it will actually allow me to pre-order the item. I've ordered plenty of stuff from Amazon.com before, but never a pre-order, so I need to see if it will work before I look for alternatives. It may yet show up on Amazon.ca, but it will be at regular price, although from them I would get free shipping.

I'll tell you what. After my super waste of gift cards on the last round, I'm gonna pass on this. Then, once Best Buy is stuffing advertisements down my throat Christmas 2011 for "Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray for only $19.99!!!! Buy it quick or we'll take your right arm and first born son!!!", then I'll bite.

If it's still available, though. Like I said, the "limited" bit scares me. I can't not own this if it exists, so I could never cope with losing out. Might as well preorder if I'm going to have it eventually... better ASAP than later.


The inside of the packaging looks good, don't get me wrong. And I'm sure the box would be tolerable without the strip. In fact, I'm not sure if it's just dark or discolored in the prototype shots on Amazon but the individual plastic cases themselves look black. I hope that's accurate, because it totally looks great with the sepia-toned labels on the inside.

Good news: Amazon.com allowed me to place the preorder while using my Canadian address. The total cost was $102.05 US, including shipping and import fees. With the loonie currently at nearly three cents over the greenback, the cost to me will be $99.26 CDN. Not bad.

If this hadn't worked, I was considering having it mailed to a US PO Box that my nephew has at the Washington State border, which is only about a half-hour drive from where I live. Barring that, I think Thranduil would have gladly mailed me a copy + shipping.

I have a feeling this box set will eventually be available up here, but I'm betting the price point will be around $125 CDN. Even with free shipping from Amazon.ca, it would still cost more. Silly.

[quote=""Fingolfin""]I'll tell you what. After my super waste of gift cards on the last round, I'm gonna pass on this. Then, once Best Buy is stuffing advertisements down my throat Christmas 2011 for "Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray for only $19.99!!!! Buy it quick or we'll take your right arm and first born son!!!", then I'll bite.[/quote]

$19.99 HA! I just read an article about how Amazon is killing Best Buys sales on electronics as well as everything else.

$19.99 will happen when the Hobbit gets past its first release perhaps.
How you gonna play the trumpet without a right arm?

There's always ebay, too. I could get it dirt cheap on there a few months after the release.

Unless it's limited and everyone's making a lunge for it, then it'll be hella-e xp ensive.

(again, I'm not saying I completely buy that, but still... it's not worth the risk)

Preordered it just now. I can't really blame them for "double dipping". They did warn folks that the extended versions would be forthcoming.

I'm not too concerned with the packaging. Ever since I got Lost on Bluray as a complete set (the most intense disc packaging I've ever seen...) I don't worry so much about how my movies are going to look on the shelf.

[quote=""GuardianWolf""]I'm not too concerned with the packaging. Ever since I got Lost on Bluray as a complete set (the most intense disc packaging I've ever seen...) I don't worry so much about how my movies are going to look on the shelf.[/quote]

Sorry to go off-topic here but I noticed that Amazon has that Lost blu-ray set on for 40% off until March 12th. How do you find it? Is it worth it? I've never seen a single episode and was debating picking up the entire set.

Here's a bit of good news from the Digital Bits to qualm some folks' fears: the word "Limited" has been removed from the box:

[font=arial, helvetica, courier, *]Now then, we've got ONE more quick Lord of the Rings Blu-ray update. Warner still hasn't provided answers to our questions about some of the finer technical details of the release, but they HAVE sent over revised cover art for the title this afternoon. As you can see, the words Limited Extended Edition have been replaced by simply Extended Edition. I'm told the inside of the packaging may change as well, so we'll post new images as they come in...

By the way, the studio tells me that Amazon pre-orders on the title are already e xp loding - so much so that Amazon's servers were tested pretty heavily yesterday handling all the transactions. Somehow, we're not surprised... [/font]

Bet you anything that box set will be commonly available in Canada then. I'd still bet my life I wouldn't find it for cheaper than the Amazon preorder price though.

You know, it almost sounds like they 'accidentally' put 'Limited' on the box on purpose. I'll bet they got a zillion preorders from people freaking out like we did, and now they just pull the 'Limited' part out, ending the panic, but all the preorders are in and the money is theirs. Clever? I think so...

[quote=""GuardianWolf""] I can't really blame them for "double dipping". They did warn folks that the extended versions would be forthcoming.[/quote]


Well I don't think the issue here is double dipping so much as triple dipping. This is undoubtedly the version I want and have been awaiting, which is why I held off from buying the cruddy theatricals. But the whole "limited" thing as previously advertised really got me skeptical of a "triple dip". Now THAT would annoy me (however, if that next set be the 3D version they plan on doing, I wouldn't shed a tear over missing out).

Val, I'm a hardcore Lost fan. If you think I'm a LOTR fan, that's only a fraction of the devotion I have to Lost. I saw every episode the first night it aired for the full 6 years.

It's a very different show. Being such a huge fan and having been on the ride the whole time I can sum it up for you quite simply. Lost is a story about the characters. The sci-fi/mystery nature to it is really secondary. If you like character development, then Lost is for you. Unfortunately it's not the kind of show you can watch an episode of to determine if you like it. Even a full season doesn't really capture the show. Every season is fairly different from the prior ones. I highly recommend the show. It's easily the best story I've ever heard.

To bring it back on topic, 'Limited' is just a marketing word to make consumers feel special. I don't e xp ect this to be truly limited in any way.

[quote=""Valkrist""]You know, it almost sounds like they 'accidentally' put 'Limited' on the box on purpose. I'll bet they got a zillion preorders from people freaking out like we did, and now they just pull the 'Limited' part out, ending the panic, but all the preorders are in and the money is theirs. Clever? I think so... [/quote]

That's not impossible, but when something is a preorder, you can cancel your order in a heartbeat—your card isn't charged until the thing ships. So unless they were just trying to set a record for preorders vs. actually selling the thing, it wasn't much of a scheme.

I noticed that the (*&*&# forum software again stripped the image out of my post, after initially showing it. What the H-E-double-hockeysticks is going on?

I guess when it comes down to it, I really don't want them that bad. If I can get a good deal somewhere down the line then I'll buy, but my only Blu ray player is my PS3 and my TVs aren't fancy. I'd just assume watch my LotR EE DVDs, the quality is just fine for me.

[quote=""Fingolfin""]I guess when it comes down to it, I really don't want them that bad. If I can get a good deal somewhere down the line then I'll buy, but my only Blu ray player is my PS3 and my TVs aren't fancy. I'd just assume watch my LotR EE DVDs, the quality is just fine for me.[/quote]

Yeah, if you don't have a pretty big TV, you would not be able to tell the difference. I do have a big screen, and the DVDs look very good, almost BluRay quality on it. Which, I suppose, begs the question, why am I upgrading? And I suppose the answer would be, I...just...can't...help...myself.

Anyway, I think I will hang onto my DVD EEs, even though I buy the BD EEs. They hold too much sentimental value for me to get rid of them. Plus, the packages look so cool on the shelf.

Oh definitely. Besides, isn't this ULTIMATE COLLECTORS' forums???? I never sell stuff


I own two versions of the films as it is, and am looking forward to making that three. I have three versions of Gladiator and seven versions of Blade Runner, for example. I love collections (especially for movies I adore!). I'll never sell any of them.

[quote=""Olorin""]That's not impossible, but when something is a preorder, you can cancel your order in a heartbeat—your card isn't charged until the thing ships. So unless they were just trying to set a record for preorders vs. actually selling the thing, it wasn't much of a scheme.[/quote]

Yes, Olorin, but how many of those people are now aware that the "Limited" label has been pulled, huh? The Amazon photo is still the old one.

This will be my third version of this trilogy as well. I have the very first DVD release of the TEs. I knew back then there would EE editions, but I was so excited about the films, I just had to own them before the better versions ever came out. Even though I only watched them once, I don't regret owning them. As a collector, they are the first 'edition' of these movies to be presented in this medium, and they are a different version of the EEs and therefore valuable for that reason alone.

Like Sed and Olorin, I'd sooner part with my right arm than with any of my LOTR editions. We are "collectors" after all.

I always say I am going to sell dvds that I have BDs of, or that I have more than one edition of, but I usually don't. And with all the talk about the packaging and meaning of the original LOTR EE Set, I may have to hold on to mine as well... ultimately it is part of the LOTR collection I have rather than the DVD collection.

on a side note, I still do want to sell off the Star Trek TNG Cast movie dvds one of these days whenever I get around too it

OK all of you who preordered LOTR EE BD.
Did you get a confirmation email from Amazon for your order?
I got an email from someone with a gmail.com address thanking me for my order of LOTR DVD.

Before I copy and paste that email here in this forum I'd like some feedback from you guys.

I went straight to Amazons site to place my order after I read Sed's post about the EE BD collection being available for preorder. I did not get an email from Amazon announcing it and then click on a link within an email.

Within seconds of placing my preorder, I got an email confirmation from Amazon. I looked it over, and it looked genuine, with all the details of the order in place.

If something seems fishy to you (and indeed it does,) I would forward that email to their customer support to verify what is going on. This may be way off target, but you did order direct from Amazon, right? Not from one of the independent sellers that also list on the Amazon product's main page but slightly below the actual item from Amazon?

I figured out what happened, so don't be alarmed guys.

I made another order from Barnes & Noble for Ralph Bakshi's LOTR DVD which was coming from a separate vendor. It was that vendor who sent me this email and created the confusion.

Once I figured it out I sent that vendor an email to let them know it would really help if they mentioned themselves as the separate vendor working with Barnes & Noble because I was getting email from B&N confirming my order.

It was a mistake easily made by me because that vendors email was so vague.

Anyway, no worries, all is resolved.

Ha ha Sed, you're worse than me! I did force myself to let of of the LOTR TE DVD set once it came out on BD, and my VHS and LD of Blade Runner (and many other flicks) are long since history. I do still have the 5-disc Blade Runner Final Cut DVD set, even though I have the BD set of the same thing now. I keep the DVD set in the briefcase box that all the goodies came in, while the BD sits in the shelf with my other movies.

I think the LOTR DVD EE box will get moved into my library and sit in a bookcase or something, to free up some space in the DVD/BD shelf.

I was thinking of doing something like that... move my EE DVDs in the leather book look to more of a display section by my LOTR helms and replace them on the dvd shelf with the new BDs

^ Yeah, I was going to say those EE DVDs would look great next to the props and stuff. They're so attractive and book-like.

OK so reading up on this there are supposed to be 5 discs for each film. so:

Disc 1 - Extended Film
Disc 2 - Appendices
Disc 3 - Appendices
Disc 4 - Digital copy (most likely)
Disc 5 - ????

what is disc 5? have i missed something?

I would say it's a typo but for the fact that the new image posted at TORN definitely shows 5 discs per movie:

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2011/03 ... mazon-com/

[quote=""Elvenguard13""]OK so reading up on this there are supposed to be 5 discs for each film. so:

Disc 1 - Extended Film
Disc 2 - Appendices
Disc 3 - Appendices
Disc 4 - Digital copy (most likely)
Disc 5 - ????

what is disc 5? have i missed something?[/quote]

Disc 1 - Extended Film part 1
Disc 2 - Extended Film part 2
Disc 3 - Appendices
Disc 4 - Appendices
Disc 5 - Digital copy

More than likely...

I really doubt that since the movie itself is on Blu-ray, not DVD. The original EEs spanned two discs to avoid compression, but a single BD has enough space for the entire feature. It would make no sense and would be extremely annoying to have that forced intermission on a Blu-ray.

[quote=""Valkrist""]I really doubt that since the movie itself is on Blu-ray, not DVD. The original EEs spanned two discs to avoid compression, but a single BD has enough space for the entire feature. It would make no sense and would be extremely annoying to have that forced intermission on a Blu-ray.[/quote]

Yeh it wouldn't make any sense considering the Avatar collectors extended edition features 3 version of the film on the one disc totalling to about 8 - 9 hours of film and i think the blu-ray quality was pretty good

Well it depends on how the disk is authored, if they do seamless branching than that would save disk space, but if they include all of the commentary tracks as well that is were the space will become an issue. I for one would really like it to be one disk but it wouldn't be a deal breaker.

I'm pretty sure that I read that the movie would be on just one disc. However, Warner's press release should be out in a few weeks, and then we shall know.

Yesterday the DVD/BD fan sites were rumoring a June 28, 2011 release date, because someone had spotted that date on Best Buy Canada's site (there you go, Val). However, by the time I looked at BB, the date had been changed to Dec. 31. Obviously the date is only a placeholder. I would be very surprised if they put this out in June...that's very far ahead of Christmas.

[quote=""Olorin""]Yesterday the DVD/BD fan sites were rumoring a June 28, 2011 release date, because someone had spotted that date on Best Buy Canada's site (there you go, Val). However, by the time I looked at BB, the date had been changed to Dec. 31. Obviously the date is only a placeholder. I would be very surprised if they put this out in June...that's very far ahead of Christmas.[/quote]

Not to mention 18 months ahead of the Hobbit.

It's official...June 28 is the day it's coming. And it will truly be one box set to rule them all. The question about 5 discs per movie? The movie itself will be split over 2 BDs, for the best quality imaginable. The other three discs will be DVDs: 2 discs comprising the original Appendices discs from the DVD boxes, and the 5th disc will be the Costa Botes doc for each movie.

Still not enough? They have struck a new master for FOTR, as there were a few complaints that it didn't look as good on BD as the other two movies, in the TE set that came out last year.

Here's the post from the Digital Bits (warning lots of gushing...but all of it merited):

[font=arial, helvetica, courier, *]Well... the big news today is that Warner Home Video has finally officially announced the The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition on Blu-ray Disc. Just as we reported last week, the official street date is June 28th (SRP $119.98). Here's what's most interesting: This IS going to be a 15-disc set. I suspect this next part is going to cause some controversy, but we're actually VERY glad of the decision: Each film is going to be split over 2 BD-50s, and all 4 of the DVD commentaries for each film will be included as well. I've already had a couple e-mail complaints this morning from readers that they'll have to get up and switch the discs, but here's the deal: splitting the films over 2 discs will give the video and audio more room to breathe on the discs. We think it's ABSOLUTELY the right decision for these films, as it will allow for less compression, and should allow for the very best possible looking and sounding image, provided WHV does their mastering work right. And we have good reason to believe this will the case: Their official press release confirms that The Fellowship of the Ring (as you'll recall the film everyone complained about in the theatrical Blu-ray set, quality-wise) has now been given a new transfer, remastered from the original 2K digital files! Audio will be English 6.1 DTS-HD MA.

In terms of extras, essentially ALL of the outstanding features produced for the original Extended Edition DVD releases by Michael Pellerin have been carried over to the new set, and they also now include the excellent behind-the-scenes documentaries created by Costa Botes for the subsequent Limited Edition DVD releases of the films. So essentially, each film will get 2 BDs, plus you'll get the 2 Appendices DVDs for each film (from the Extended Editions) and the Costa Botes documentary for each film on its own DVD as well. 2 BD + 3 DVDs = 5 discs for each film x 3 films for a total of 15 discs. Each Blu-ray will be BD-Live enabled. There's no word in the press release about Digital Copies, but we've heard that you may also get download access to digital versions of all three Extended films as well, through an online link and a passcode in the packaging. The first Blu-ray for each film will also include an HD trailer for Microsoft's The Lord of the Rings: War in the North - The Untold Story videogame, which launches later in 2011. And each film will have its own booklet guide to all the special features. Here's a look at the final packaging for the entire set...

From the studio's press release: "Based on the length of each extended edition feature film and in order to present each film in the highest possible picture quality, each film is presented on 2 Blu-ray Discs." Let me just personally say, BRAVO! You will NEVER hear me complain about a decision that results in better quality. Period. My only complaint about the Avatar: Extended Edition Blu-ray was that the whole thing could have looked even better if Fox had spread the film over 2 discs to allow for less compression. That WHV has done this, and done it with Lord of the Rings of all titles, makes me incredibly happy. The films split over 2 BD discs for maximum presentation quality? A NEW 2K transfer of Fellowship?! This is now officially the BD set I'm most looking forward to this year. And yes, I know there are no new extras, but the extras on the DVDs were exceptional and I'm glad to have them all carried over here. Plus, with filming The Hobbit having just FINALLY commenced down in New Zealand over the weekend, it's not like Peter Jackson has time to work on new content. However, given that these discs are BD-Live enabled, I wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of live event from the set of The Hobbit, or official sneak previews down the line. In any case, don't doubt for a second that when both Hobbit films are completed a few years from now, there will eventually be a massive 5-film box set with all-new content for all of the films. In the meantime, I can't wait to get my hands on these discs. Matt and I already have a 12-hour marathon planned for the day this set shows up on my doorstep. Anyone care to join us? OUTSTANDING!!!
[/font]

And here's the official press release from WHV, courtesy of DVDFile.com:

LOTR: Extended Editions Confirmed

It's official, kids: The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition will come to Blu-ray on 28 June. The full press release:


"Following last year’s successful Blu-ray premiere of the original theatrical versions of The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy, Warner Home Video will release all three of Peter Jackson’s visual masterpieces in their extended editions on June 28 as a stunning 15-disc Blu-ray collection, The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition (Blu-ray).

One of the most magical, intensely spectacular epic adventures in motion picture history comes alive when these extended editions e xp lode onto Blu-ray with unsurpassed high definition picture and sound. Sound + Vision Magazine ranked the 2010 release of the Trilogy as #5 in their Top 10 Blu-rays of the Year, noting that it was one of only two releases to earn five stars for sound and calling it “breathtaking.” Now fans can see and hear the extended trilogy at home the way it was meant to be seen, on Blu-ray Hi-Def. Based on the length of each extended edition feature film and in order to present each film in the highest possible picture quality, each film is presented on 2 Blu-ray Discs.

The Lord of the Rings franchise’s popularity continues unabated, with pre-sales response soaring. The official Facebook page (facebook.com/lordoftheringstrilogy) has reached more than 4 million friends and boasts an average 1M comments per post. The page includes updated insider information, Trivia Tuesdays, Caption This! posts, clips, trailers, sweepstakes, promotions photo galleries and more. Also featured, a new application that will allow fans to generate their very own ‘Elvish’ name, to be available soon.

This highly anticipated Extended Edition (Blu-ray) set will be released in English 6.1 DTS-HD MA audio and includes a new transfer of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring which was remastered from the original 2k digital files. The set boasts more than 26 hours of additional content, highlighted by the rare behind-the-scenes documentaries created by Costa Botes, the filmmaker given unprecedented access to the set of each production by Peter Jackson. Costa Botes was able to capture raw and riveting behind-the-scenes film footage. His unique approach to storytelling – allowing the footage to speak for itself – results in an intimate and candid backstage pass to the challenges, preparations and camaraderie that went into shooting one of the greatest cinematic adventures of all time. The feature-length documentaries, with more than four and a half hours of footage, focus on a number of complexities and circumstances that tested the filmmakers, cast and crew during the shoot, as well as a look at some of the comical antics and personal moments on the set. The Costa Botes documentaries accompany acclaimed special features by Michael Pellerin from the original extended cut releases to make this the most
comprehensive The Lord of the Rings compilation ever. (All three DVDs were honored with Saturn Award wins for Best DVD in their release years - 2002, 2003 & 2004, plus multiple trade awards).
The Oscar®-winning The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, revered as one of the most thrilling epic adventures in motion picture history and one of the highest grossing adventure film franchises to ever be created, was born with the release of The Fellowship of the Ring™, followed by The Two Towers™ and The Return of the King™. Now they are offered on Blu-ray with more than 2 hours of extended scenes that were carefully selected under the supervision of director Peter Jackson.

Out of the 30 total Academy Award nominations received, The Lord of the Rings movies won a record 17 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and 8 others for the third film. Based on the best-selling novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, Jackson’s movie trilogy is an epic journey of men, hobbits, elves, dwarves and the rest of Middle-earth’s creatures and cultures. The films chronicle the struggle of good versus evil with fantastic special effects and a strong emotional center; capturing the enduring fellowship and ultimate sacrifice while enhancing the chaos and destruction of Middle-earth.

The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition (Blu-ray) will be packaged in multi-disc elite packaging inside a premium rigid slipcase and will retail for $119.98 SRP.

Special Features:

Disc 1 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Feature Extended Edition Part 1

· The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – The Untold Story Trailer

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· Commentary with Cast

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 2 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Feature Extended Edition Part 2

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· Commentary with Cast

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 3 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part 1 From Book to Vision

· Peter Jackson Introduction

· JRR Tolkien: Creator of Middle-earth

· From Book To Script

· Visualizing the Story

· Designing and Building Middle-earth

· Middle-earth Atlas Interactive

· New Zealand and Middle-earth Interactive

Disc 4 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part Two From Vision to Reality

· Elijah Wood Introduction

· Filming The Fellowship of the Ring

· Visual Effects

· Post Production: Putting It All Together

· Digital Grading

· Sound and Music

· The Road Goes Ever On…

Disc 5 (DVD)

· Behind-the-Scenes Documentary Created by Filmmaker Costa Botes during filming of
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Special Features:

Disc 6 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Feature Extended Edition Part 1

· The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – The Untold Story Trailer

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· Commentary with Cast

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 7 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Feature Extended Edition Part 2

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· Commentary with Cast

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 8 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part 3: The Journey Continues

· Peter Jackson Introduction

· JRR Tolkien: Origin of Middle-earth

· From Book to Script: Finding the Story

· Designing and Building Middle-earth

· Gollum

· Middle-earth Atlas Interactive

· New Zealand as Middle-earth

Disc 9 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part 4: The Battle for Middle-earth

· Elijah Wood Introduction

· Filming The Two Towers

· Visual Effects

· Editorial: Refining the Story

· Music and Sound

· The Battle for Helm's Deep is Over…

Disc 10 (DVD)

· Behind-the-Scenes Documentary Created by Filmmaker Costa Botes during filming of
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Special Features:

Disc 11 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Feature Extended Edition Part 1

· The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – The Untold Story Trailer

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· Commentary with Cast

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 12 (Blu-ray)

· The Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King Feature Extended Edition Part 2

· Commentary with Director & Writers

· Commentary with Design Team

· Commentary with Production and Post Production

· BD-Live™ enabled

Disc 13 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part 5: The War of the Ring

· Peter Jackson Introduction

· JRR Tolkien: The Legacy of Middle-earth

· From Book to Script

· Designing and Building Middle-earth

· Home of the Horse Lords

· Middle-earth Atlas

· New Zealand as Middle-earth

Disc 14 (DVD)

· The Appendices Part 6: The Passing of an Age

· Introduction

· Filming The Return of the King

· Visual Effects

· Post-Production: Journey’s End

· The Passing of an Age

· Cameron Duncan: The Inspiration for Into the West
Disc 15 (DVD)

· Behind-the-Scenes Documentary Created by Filmmaker Costa Botes during filming of
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

So, I guess I know what I will be doing for pretty much the entire month of July!

Uhhh... I'm still not quite sure why they're splitting the movies still. This is blu-ray, people. Even Return of the King's EE can fit on one disc.


If you doubt that, then why, tell me, are they including all that extra stuff + commentaries on the same discs? If you ask me, it would be all too smart just to put the entire film on disc 1 then the entire film with commentary on disc 2. Why do half and half? That makes no sense.

I'm a little baffled myself. BD tech is still relatively new and was touted as a format who's greatest strength was precisely the lack of need for having to do something like this: split a feature over two discs due to compression issues. The whole thing seems very backwards to me.

This has nothing to do with having to get up off the couch. I hope they will do a split-screen still-frame comparison between this release and the previous one, because I want to see some tangible justification for this decision. In the end it's not really a big deal at all, but I would like to see why this was done because I'm really curious. If what they claim is true, then how long before suckers like us, who just switched from DVDs to BDs, are forced to dump the format and adopt the next level of storage medium because more room is needed? Where does it stop?

Even if their reasoning was that they really upped the quality to some godly BD-trumping quality, I fail to see how two halves can still fit (first and first w/ commentary + other junk) and not the correct two halves (first and second).

I agree with Sed... but the whole movie on one disc without commentaries and put the movie with commentaries on another disc... I dont know if I dont understand, but it seems like it would take up the same amount of room on the discs if you did it this way or split up the movie into 2 halves. This isn't the days of the King of Kings on 2 VHS tapes!

Just cancelled my preorder with Amazon.com.

My local store where I usually buy all my stuff (Futureshop) now has the BD LOTR set advertised for $83.99 CDN, with an additional $10 off if preordering online for the next month, and with free shipping on all orders over $20.

So, all told, cancelling has saved me about $30. I'm glad this turned out not to be to a limited set (even though all the artwork everywhere still shows that stupid blue stripe saying "Limited",) and though it was annoying that canadian orders took a while longer to be available, it's all good now.

OK, weighing in now on the 2-BD vs. 1 BD issue.

I tried looking up some info on the BD format on Wikipedia but the article was far too dense for this layperson to decipher.

A BD holds a certain number of gigabytes of information. Whether that physical size is enough to hold a four hour movie in completely uncompressed form, I don't know. I'd say chances are, it will not, or otherwise they would not be spitting it onto two discs. If the entire thing would fit uncompressed, there'd be no reason to split it, because no additional image quality could be gained.

Since the movie is, therefore, compressed, the less it's compressed, the better it looks. By splitting it into two parts, you're cutting the amount of compression in half. It should look MUCH better than if they put the whole thing on one disc.

I can't imagine, no offense Sed, that they would ever do something like put the entire movie sans commentaries on one BD and the movie plus commentaries on the second disc. Video itself is the big bit-hog; audio takes up much less storage. So not all that much would be gained by exiling the commentaries to a second disc, especially since I suspect the commentaries are recorded at a pretty low quality anyway.

So basically, I am about 1% disappointed that the movies will be split, and 99% pleased that they opted for the best presentation possible. I couldn't possibly watch one of these movies straight through without getting up for snacks or a bathrooom break (nor would I recommend to anyone else unless they want to develop deep vein thrombosis). So all the 2-disc feature does in terms of inconveniencing me is to take away my choice of when one of my arisings from the couch will be, a very small price to pay for less-compressed video.

Here's some further news on the set, from The Digital Bits:

[font=arial, helvetica, courier, *]Now then... before we get to the release news today, we have a little more Lord of the Rings: Extended Blu-ray information for you. A lot of people have asked about the new 2K remaster of Fellowship. Specifically, a few people have wondered if WHV was cheaping out by not remastering at at least 4K. We've confirmed that 2K was the resolution of the final post-production/editorial master for the film. So unless and until someone goes in and rescans all the film elements at higher resolution, then rebuilds the edit and re-renders all the visual effects at the higher resolution, 2K is the highest resolution element available to master a Blu-ray from. And that's what WHV has apparently gone back to. Today, this kind of film mastering work is mostly done at 4K, but back in 2000-2001, 2K was standard.

A couple other comments on the set: A few readers have complained that The Appendices and Costa Botes documentaries are only included on DVD in standard definition. In other words: Why haven't they been upgraded to high-definition for the Blu-ray? Surely they were shot in HD? And the answer is no, they weren't. We've confirmed that all of The Appendices material was shot in 16x9 SD and the finished documentaries were in that resolution and aspect ratio. What's more, the Costa Botes documentaries were 4x3 letterboxed SD. You have to remember, from post-production to finished DVDs, this material was produced in the 1998-2003 timeframe. The HD transition had only just begun, and studios weren't in the habit of paying for HD behind-the-scenes material yet. I think it was closer to 2005-2006 that DVD producers really began shooting such material in HD in anticipation of high-def discs. In the last 5 years or so, it's obviously become standard practice to shoot "making of" in HD. But back then, not so much. So SD IS the final resolution of all this material. As to why all the SD bonus content wasn't collected onto BD-25s for this release, we can only assume it was done to save authoring costs. One other note: The set will include a collectible map of Middle Earth, and the booklets for each film will include a chapter listing and guide to all the extras. So there you go. For those of you've who had questions about these issues, we hope this clarifies things for you a little. We're e xp ecting more technical information from WHV on the set soon, so we'll pass it on to you here as it comes in.
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But I was wondering if, when you watch a commentary, it simply adds the audio, of if it's an entirely separate video and audio. I think that's how DVDs worked but I'm not sure about BDs.


I still find it hard to believe they can't fit the film on a BD alone, ignoring all the other crud they threw on there (videogame trailers or whatnot). Metal Gear Solid 4 fit on a bluray disc, why can't LOTR? I guess I'm just too ignorant to understand. It better be the most amazing picture quality in the universe.

[quote=""Valkrist""]I'm glad this turned out not to be to a limited set (even though all the artwork everywhere still shows that stupid blue stripe saying "Limited",)[/quote]

Not so...the artwork has been revised, even on Amazon. I think as soon as they got the pictures out showing it was 5 discs per movie, they had revised the "limited" word out of it. So that problem was of "limited" duration.

[quote=""Sedhal""]But I was wondering if, when you watch a commentary, it simply adds the audio, of if it's an entirely separate video and audio. I think that's how DVDs worked but I'm not sure about BDs.

I still find it hard to believe they can't fit the film on a BD alone, ignoring all the other crud they threw on there (videogame trailers or whatnot). Metal Gear Solid 4 fit on a bluray disc, why can't LOTR? I guess I'm just too ignorant to understand. It better be the most amazing picture quality in the universe.[/quote]

When you watch the movie with the regular soundtrack, you get 5.1 or more channels of high-quality audio. When you watch it with the commentary, you get 2.0 channels of lower-quality audio. It's a completely different soundtrack, and although the music and sound effects are still present, they are dialed way down in the mix, and it's all just 2 channels. In any case, the video stays the same.

They could fit it all on there...according to http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#bluray_capacity_video, you can fit 9 hours of HD video on a BD50 (dual-layered disc). Of course, that's a a compression determined to be the maximum acceptable. I still haven't found anything that says what its capacity for uncompressed HD video is.

Of course, there's one other factor at play here. They determine how much they're going to charge for a set by how much content they're giving you. Manufacturing a disc more or a disc less matters next to nil in terms of cost. So if they're creating a set that lists for $120 like this one, it will seem like the buyer is getting more, to a lot of people anyway, if its on 15 discs instead of 12. Sad but true....

One of the reviewers over at the Digital Bits reviewed the new BD of The Ten Commandments and said it had the best picture quality of any BD he'd ever seen, period.

And how is this relevant to the LOTR EE BD set?

The movie is split over two discs.

that must have taken a lot of rendering to bring the Ten Commandments up to BD