Here's 585 pages (so far) of the whole discussion, complete with screen shot comparisons and professional analysis (see Geoff D's posts-who is fairly complimentary to the UHD sets). Most of the analysis starts around page 420. It's one thing to say you don't mind (or even like) the DNR (which was apparently baked into the DI, on top additional work done for the UHDs), but it's just incorrect to say that it wasn't done at all, especially when the filmmaker has done it for his last project (the WWI doc) and for his upcoming Beatles project. This is as ridiculous as those who said there's wasn't a blanket green tint over the entire FOTR extended blu-ray. Have fun. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 4K UHD Extended & Theatrical (2001-2003) - Blu-ray Forum
I won a weekend in NY for the DVD release of Extended Edition boxset, got to sit in theater with a whole screening filled with fans to watch the entire film digital projected and left with a shopping bag full of giveaway stuff back in Fall of 2002!
This is not quite the shot I was looking (throughout the films, some look better than others.) Regardless, you can clearly see that the grain is gone in the UHDs as compared to the blu-rays: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers • UK Extended Edition Ultra HD Blu-ray vs. UK Extended Edition Blu-ray Again, I'm not here to argue against it if anyone enjoys the look but it cannot be argued that DNR hasn't been applied.
I was there in NY for the cast (in-person) and PJ (via satellite) screenings. I was in the front row, which sucked while watching the movie but was great when the actors came out for Q&A. I've kept my free TTT DVD set all these years. It was an exciting day.
I love the films (mainly the first two) but I do remember being slightly annoyed at how "wimpy" they made Frodo sometimes. But I think they did great with his character in the third film. However I don't think anyone will top Jackson's screen adaptation. Filmmaking as a business has changed way too much to pull of a feat like that again.
No way in hell am I going to plow through hundreds of pages of nitpicking. Again, I saw it on an IMAX screen from the second row. I saw all these films in the theater in the day, and have seen them all three times within the last year in the theater. I'm going to go with my own experience, thank you very much. Let It Be was shot on 16 mm film with available light for TV and They Shall Not Grow Old was literally shot on battlefields, using very low sensitivity film stock at less than 24 frames per second. Both needed noise reduction. The Lord of the Rings films were shot with state-of-the-art film stocks with optimum lighting. I did not see a loss of detail, and I saw it on a huge screen from ridiculously close. I was close enough to see the texture of the fabric of Galadriel's dress.
Ah! Here's a great comparison site that uses these cool "sliders" so you can go over the images at your own leisure. Scroll through the whole pages looking at the comparisons, especiailly the one of Samwise and the one of Eowyn standing outside the Golden Hall where the Rohan flag tears off and tell me information hasn't been lost in the UHDs: UHD Blu-ray Kritik | Herr der Ringe - zwei Türme (4K Review, Rezension) EDIT: This is the one I was looking for. Check out the shot of Eowyn standing outside as the flag tears off and see what happens to the detail in the mountains in the UHD. All of the detail in the mountains disappear entirely! That is the damage that too much DNR causes to an image. EDIT 2: Sorry, but the site is not in English, but it's the images that matter.
Fair enough (I wouldn't want to either, but see my post above. It's a cool site with sliders over the screenshots.)
Yeah, I used to be a reviewer for blu-ray.com and they had fairly advanced screengrab tech that they sent me. It was quite a PITA to choose several different screegrab shots to include with each review. Yeah, I remember thinking a similar thing about Dune after being thoroughly unimpressed with first the David Lynch film and then the miniseries. I thought there would be no way to do the book justice and I would just have to live with these attempts. Hope I'm not jinxing the Villeneuve film to be released this year, but from the previews I've seen and everything I read, it will far exceed the previous adaptations. Someone will eventually come along to supplant Jackson's adaptations of Tolkien.
I love Lynch but HATED his/the studio's Dune. It does look like the new adaptation will best that. As for a better LOTR down the line...I'm not so sure. While I understand the issues that some have with liberties that Jackson took, I don't think anyone in the 21st century will have as honest approach to the material as he and his team did (nor a dedication to practical effects). But time will tell. ...on the other hand, I wouldn't mind someone having another go at The Hobbit.
Someone was kind enough to post the link from above via translator. It works well (translates as you scroll down the page). It's a fair analysis of the UHDs, describing the good and bad. Google Translate For me personally, in short, I like the "new" (?) colors of the UHD but hate the (over)use of DNR, and I don't think it was a 4k re-scan but rather a 2k upscale. Regardless, it's what we get. I 'm hoping someone just fixes the color timing of the blu-rays so we can have the colors of the UHDs but the detail of the blu-ray.
I just checked out those images you mention and, indeed, so much texture appears to be simply erased leaving the picture bereft of realism. It's appalling in that particular example and it's sad.
Yes, thankfully. TTT is a bit of a toss-up but I like the UHD colors for FOTR and ROTK. Seeing FOTR without that awful green tint is a Godsend. Never forget, friends. Never forget:
I've got the 4k, the Blu-ray, the DVD and AppleTV and the films are definitely scrubbed of all grain. It's similar to the new 4k OT of Star Wars and Terminator 2 actually, I guess some people are fine with but others look at it and think, "How could this get approved?" I think there are some shots in LOTR that are done better than others but if you have seen the film before the DNR then it should really stand out that it's missing and the films aren't particularly grainy. I went to see the extended trilogy last year on the big screen and the grain was barely noticeable when projected. I suspect it's a trend that came about because of streaming, the old transfers I think are still on Netflix and they are block city in terms of compression.
Ironic given that 4k is supposed to have "more detail", etc. etc. Unfortunately many UHDs have done this, including Akira and Terminator 2. Then again some UHDs finally fix the DNR or encode issues from blu-ray editions (Die Hard, Predator (I think)). All-in-all, it's best to do some research before plunking your money down. But in the case of LOTR I still plan on getting the UHDs eventually.
That's probably the worst DNR shot of the entire three films. I was taken aback on viewing it. Thankfully it doesn't last long, but it is still a bit puzzling how they could approve that shot.
Personally I'm not to sure I like the new color grade for the 4k version, I think for the most part it's more modern looking and I don't hate it but I think the older color grade has a lot more character. It especially stood out to me in the end of The Two Towers which seems to have a sort of brown monochrome wash all over it. The original has more of a colder bluer bias and a bigger range of color in the scene as well which I think works better for the tone, the rest of the two towers looks pretty good but the end isn't very good. I know people are complaining about a "green tint" on fellowship of the ring or something but I guess it wasn't something that bothered me all that much, though I tended to watch the iTunes version which was an HD version of the DVD grade I think. They must've done a generic punch up for the blu-ray just to distinguish it more from the DVDs.
I adore the FOTR grading and most of ROTK, mostly because I never really liked the beige/pink blanket over a lot of the shots (although I know stylistically why they did it). But it was kind of blase to me. TTT I'm on the fence about though, I liked the "cold, blue bias" (as you say), it was fitting for the mood, especially the Frodo/Sam/Gollum scenes. As for the green tint in FOTR: that can rot in Hell . I'm so happy to see it gone. (Green snow and clouds? ).
Yeah the green tint frankly looked like a mistake. I refrained from buying the Blu-Rays because of it.
It was. You could see it suddenly switch off in the middle of the end credits. It was a total boo-boo that they tried to play off.
I bought the extended versions on bluray a few years ago, but it's still the extended DVD from way back that I watch when I play Fellowship. I just cannot abide the colour on the bluray, it bugs me beyond words. The outside shire scenes stooped looking like a buoyant spring day and changed the mood, it was ruined for me. The Moria scene in that place where they fight the cave troll lost all colour nuance and ended up looking more like b&w. Not to mention the stupid-looking snow, indeed. Awful. Everybody makes mistakes, sith happens, etc., and I have a lot of tolerance for that. But it's the fact that it was passed off as "artistic choice" that I personally resent. They should've corrected it, pressed new discs and arranged a replacement program. That would've been the right thing to do. But since they chose to treat the paying customer as though they're chumps, trust is broken and I'm not buying blindfold anymore. No more collecting their stuff. They'll get my money again when they put out something worth getting, and I don't think the 4K discs are.