The expanded color range on the 4k Blu-ray presentation of LOTR is incredible, with luminance levels unparalleled in scenes like the opening of the Trilogy at the battle of Mordor where the One Ring glows amidst a dark army of Sauron’s forces. Furthermore, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy featuring remastered Blu-ray discs of the theatrical and extended versions of the 3 films will also be released in the fourth quarter 2021, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

The result of all of Park Road’s hard work is a 4K image that’s not just massively better than the previous Blu-ray, but better than the very best theatrical experiences during the film’s original release. Watching Fellowship of the Ring now via this new 4K master with HDR is like seeing the film for the first time again. It’s not quite perfect, but it’s so much better looking than you’ve ever seen it before, that it’s a truly thrilling visual experience. This trilogy of films now on 4K UHD Blu-ray will leave you completely overwhelmed and extremely satisfied now in Dolby Atmos. I don’t care how amazing you thought the sound was before on Blu-ray or even during the theatrical showings, this is superior and just unlike anything you have experienced this film in. Fans are going to absolutely love this and likely receive complaints from landlords, neighbors, family members, police, and whatnot for it being louder than all hell. Sorry, but that’s what makes a “demo disc” that delivers absolute reference material from the very start until the very end credits, for each and every film and each version. Gandalf’s Fall Into Darkness. The color range improvement is clearly evident when Gandalf battles the Balrog and the two fall into darkness. Not only is the imagery deep with color, it’s also sharp, making almost every frame a work of art. The visual effects of Balrog hold up wonderfully even after 20 years. So good was the film, and so much footage was there left, that it was granted an Extended edit (not a director’s cut) that is even more rich, even more involved, even more to enjoy. Awesome. Exact Runtime(s): 2:58:25, 2:59:25, 3:21:01 (theatrical) 1:45:43, 2:02:34, 1:46:39, 2:08:52, 2:07:40, 2:15:37 (extended)

Continuing on with the technical bit, and keeping it a bit separate for the extended editions of those to not become overwhelming, since they all use 2 discs for each film. The first film, “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” in its extended edition on Disc 1 is using a BD-100 (100 gigabytes) disc, 75.72 gigabytes total, and 67.4 gigabytes for that first half of the extended edition itself of the first film. The extended edition on Disc 2 is using a BD-100 (100 gigabytes) disc, 83.21 gigabytes total, and 74.9 gigabytes for that second half of the extended edition of the first film. had a lot on its shoulders; it was the first of the planned trilogy, that had already been filmed, so it had to succeed to give the next two parts any chance, and boy did it succeed. In December of 2001 (quite a different time!) the film was released to critical and commercial acclaim. In narrative terms, it is the most linear story, the coming together of the various characters that would, after this film, go their separate ways and have their own separate story elements, but here, it is all contained, so the thrust, themes and design are all together. It was the perfect opening. Bold, epic, heartfelt, emotional and engaging. All this and more. I never get tired of watching it, indeed, it seems to get better with every watch, there is so much to every scene; a truly magnificent piece of film making.

So, DNR has been applied to the new 4K DI (digital intermediate) new masters for each film, and it would seem was intended by the director himself. However, I personally don’t see that to be a dealbreaker of an issue. This still manages to hold a light amount of film grain, as I’ve seen with some other Super 35 source material when it comes to 4K. The Fellowship of the Ring was shot on 35mm film using an array of cameras including Arricam ST, 35IIC, 35III, 435, 535, 535B, Moviecam Compact, S, and Mitchell Cameras. The source for this Ultra HD Blu-ray release was made from the original camera negative which was recently scanned and cleaned up, with colour correction, at 4K resolution resulting in a new 4K DI. The disc presents a native 4K 3840 x 2160p resolution image in the widescreen 2.4:1 aspect ratio, and uses 10-bit video depth, High Dynamic Range, and is encoded using the HEVC (H.265) codec for both HDR10 and Dolby Vision. We reviewed the Region free UK Ultra HD Blu-ray release of The Fellowship of the Ring on a Panasonic 65DX902B Ultra HD 4K TV with a Panasonic DMP-UB400 Ultra HD Blu-ray player.

releases. Although the new 4K editions of all six cuts are only available in this collection for now, it's possible that they'll be offered separately in the But here’s the thing: I’ve been reviewing Blu-ray and DVD quality professionally now for twenty-three years on The Digital Bits, and 4K Ultra HD quality for the last four of those years. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 4K remaster that made quite this much of a difference over a previous Blu-ray release before. The thing with 4K is not to just go for pristine sharpness, it is to preserve the cinematic look at the same time of everything becoming a little bit more crisp.” The Return of the King: Behind the Scenes” (1:51:54 – SD) is shot like a home movie but it also includes interviews with the entire cast and crew that worked on the film.

The Two Towers: Behind the Scenes” (1:46:17 – SD) is shot like a home movie but it also includes interviews with the entire cast and crew that worked on the film. Is this one to rule them all? That depends on if you’re asking if it is 100% perfect or if it’s one very impressive experience. No, it’s not 100% perfect in terms of video quality, but it is one very unforgettable experience in 4K and most especially in Dolby Atmos. The sound mixes are truly perfect and the most impressive part of this 4K UHD Blu-ray release. That’s not to say that the video quality doesn’t come with some excellent color correction in comparison to the Blu-ray and all, but at the same time it does come with the use of DNR (digital noise reduction). Still, these films have never looked better unless you have them on 35mm and a professional projector nearby. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. Warner’s new 4K Ultra HD release includes both the Theatrical Cuts and Extended Editions of each film, the former contained on a single UHD disc for each film while the latter are split over two UHD discs each. So let’s take a look at the A/V quality of each remastered film one by one… The upgraded audio isn’t as much of a jump as it is in video, as previous Blu-ray editions already featured incredible DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 surround sound. But the Dolby Atmos capabilities expand the potential to distribute sound overhead and behind (with the right speaker system) and add other audio channel to the surround sound format.Watching The Lord of the Rings Trilogy in 4k with HDR is really like watching the film for the first time. Even though you may already have every scene memorized, the visual improvements are like candy for your eyes. Dim your lights, crank up the volume, and make some microwave popcorn for this binge-worthy home theater experience. Bilbo’s Birthday Party. Gandalf’s fireworks have never looked so detailed as they do in 4k with HDR. This is a low-light night scene that benefits from the expanded color range, so much you can almost count the candles on Bilbo’s 111th birthday cake – a slice of this particular scene that you might not have noticed before. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 4k Digital Still Video (Color Range)