Amazon Services LLC via Amazon Prime Video has
The Lord of The Rings Trilogy: Extended Edition (4K UHD Digital Movies) on sale for
$14.99.
Thanks to Community Member
KayOttik for sharing this deal.
- Note: Eligible Prime members may apply earned No-Rush Shipping credits to this purchase (check balance).
Includes- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) (2002)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) (2003)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition) (2004)
Top Comments
I had my DVDs die, so I did research to see what is the best version to get.
Extended 4K HDR version (20th anniversary remasters): These were based on the HD masters, but they added heavy noise reduction that erases the film grain and fine detail (waxy people, buildings, and landscapes), and the Fellowship is particularly bad with reduced highlight detail. They added a white filter and vignette to flashback scenes across all three films. Color is ok but a bit desaturated (especially Fellowship), scenes like the Mt Doom preamble are pale and don't look hot. Audio quality is great, with Atmos height channels and good bass extension.
HD (BluRay) Extended edition (2011): superior detail to the 4K version, best way to watch TTT and RotK, authoritative bass DTS Soundtrack. No noise reduction, the fine film grain is classic and allows the fine detail to come through. However, Fellowship is particularly bad, there's a green tint washed over the image (you even see the title sequence having a dark green background instead of black, and this lasts the whole movie), and there's less details in the bright highlights than the DVD release; for an SDR release the dynamic range is even less than the DVDs. Everything in the Shire and Rivendell scenes has less color pop, desaturated in addition to being green.
Then, there's the HD Theatrical release. Shorter runtime, more loose ends, you get to know the characters and their backstories less, no "appendixes" bonus content, but... these are still great movies, and you get the original color like the cinema and DVD releases, no detail blurred away, no digital artifacts, original dynamic range, and of course for people being introduced to the films for the first time the runtime is less intimidating and the pacing is quicker. Of course this isn't a consideration for digital copies, but it's worth mentioning the theatrical versions of the movies movie fit on one disc each.
Oddly enough, I haven't seen any YouTube dissertations on the production quality of the 4K HDR Theatrical release. It's almost like passionate people view the extended cuts as the definitive editions
Hope this helps at least one person. Note: I don't know if they've tried to remaster it again since 2020, but since they can't seem to access whatever master was used for the theatrical version and the extended scenes from before they added the green tint, it seems like we're just going to get copies of copies from now on.
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!
45 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank Eguy5555309
I had my DVDs die, so I did research to see what is the best version to get.
Extended 4K HDR version (20th anniversary remasters): These were based on the HD masters, but they added heavy noise reduction that erases the film grain and fine detail (waxy people, buildings, and landscapes), and the Fellowship is particularly bad with reduced highlight detail. They added a white filter and vignette to flashback scenes across all three films. Color is ok but a bit desaturated (especially Fellowship), scenes like the Mt Doom preamble are pale and don't look hot. Audio quality is great, with Atmos height channels and good bass extension.
HD (BluRay) Extended edition (2011): superior detail to the 4K version, best way to watch TTT and RotK, authoritative bass DTS Soundtrack. No noise reduction, the fine film grain is classic and allows the fine detail to come through. However, Fellowship is particularly bad, there's a green tint washed over the image (you even see the title sequence having a dark green background instead of black, and this lasts the whole movie), and there's less details in the bright highlights than the DVD release; for an SDR release the dynamic range is even less than the DVDs. Everything in the Shire and Rivendell scenes has less color pop, desaturated in addition to being green.
Then, there's the HD Theatrical release. Shorter runtime, more loose ends, you get to know the characters and their backstories less, no "appendixes" bonus content, but... these are still great movies, and you get the original color like the cinema and DVD releases, no detail blurred away, no digital artifacts, original dynamic range, and of course for people being introduced to the films for the first time the runtime is less intimidating and the pacing is quicker. Of course this isn't a consideration for digital copies, but it's worth mentioning the theatrical versions of the movies movie fit on one disc each.
Oddly enough, I haven't seen any YouTube dissertations on the production quality of the 4K HDR Theatrical release. It's almost like passionate people view the extended cuts as the definitive editions
Hope this helps at least one person. Note: I don't know if they've tried to remaster it again since 2020, but since they can't seem to access whatever master was used for the theatrical version and the extended scenes from before they added the green tint, it seems like we're just going to get copies of copies from now on.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Digital doesn't really take full advantage of "4k" especially on the audio side.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!