The completed, combined product was then transferred to 35mm. Rather, LOTR's live-action footage was shot on a variety of 35mm cameras, then immediately transferred to digital formats for the sake of preservation and digital VFX work. 4K Blu-ray often doesn't guarantee that every pixel is filled with raw, filmed imagery, as fueled by modern filmmaking equipment like Red 8K cameras. But newcomers to the format should know what they're in for. If you watch on an Xbox and pay for a Dolby Atmos license, you can access virtual surround sound using any headphones, which is a neat, low-cost trick.The past few years have seen more classic and acclaimed films receive 4K Blu-ray launches-and these are arguably the finest way to reproduce a director's original vision in home theaters. PlayStation 4 does not.ĭolby Vision is optional, and it adds a a mild boost to HDR metadata, but none of the listed gaming consoles can translate Dolby Vision metadata.
Some recently launched consoles (Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Xbox One X, Xbox One S) work with the format. Hardware?To play 4K UHD Blu-rays, you'll need a compatible Blu-ray player and a 4K TV with HDR-10 capabilities. The Hobbit set is six discs in all: three theatrical film versions, and three extended cuts. The LOTR set weighs in at nine discs, with each theatrical run fitting on a single disc, and each extended edition being split into two discs.
All of the sets (launching December 1 at retailers) include each film's theatrical and extended edits as separate discs, along with a streaming unlock code to access the films' 4K versions via Movies Anywhere.
Pay more, and you can get the same discs in slightly fancier packaging, but not with any additional discs or video content. Just ahead of the United States' Thanksgiving break, I received both trilogies' standard 4K boxed sets, each with a gargantuan $90 price tag.
(Should image quality be your jam, you might even want to start with the newer trilogy in your 4K Blu-ray player of choice.) Filmstock, respected and retouched Oh, and the three Hobbit films have gotten the same treatment, if you're into that sort of thing.
If previous Blu-ray releases had you anxious about Jackson and Park Road Post Production's color-correction philosophy, rest assured that 4K Blu-ray's full HDR canvas has done wonders for all three Tolkien classics. This year, after countless DVD and Blu-ray releases, box sets, and special editions, Peter Jackson's acclaimed trilogy has finally gotten a home version at four times the previous pixel resolution-and it's as beautiful as I'd hoped for. It's the exact kind of series that fans have hoped to one day see on 4K UHD Blu-ray for pristine color reproduction and utmost image quality. Ever since its early '00s conclusion, The Lord of the Rings film trilogy has remained the ultimate collision of nerd scrutiny and filmmaking excellence.