Is the LotR 4K remaster a failure?

[Bigrob]

Swings and roundabouts. Yes I admit to deep diving on there for info about Blu-ray releases but the scrutiny that those discs go under can be extreme.

Good example is the Total Recall 4K UHD. The macroblocking on the mars landing scene is barely visible on my set up (LG 2018 4K panel with Dolby Vision). And I say barely because I've yet to see it after multiple times of checking that scene.

I'm more concerned with the bass anemic Dolby Atmos track in all honesty. But that won't get a bad word because Dolby Atmos.

[marin888]

 

Warner has posted a video on YouTube behind the scenes with director Peter Jackson overseeing the remastering process in 4K of all three of these “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy of films as well as “The Hobbit” trilogy.
In this video, he admits a lot of things that back up what I’ve felt all along.
So, Peter Jackson in this video says at a few points during the video these exact (or near to exact) statements:

       
“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.”
       
“One of the things we found, which we weren’t really expecting, once we converted The Lord of the Rings films to 4K and HDR is the imperfections of the visual effects started to show.”
       
“You know, visual effects technology has advanced a lot in twenty years and when they become, you know, ultra crisp and sharp through the 4K process we realized that some of the shots were not holding up too well.”
       
“So, we got the opportunity to go back and, you know, remove and paint out any imperfections.”

https://highdefdiscnews.com/2020/12/02/t...ay-review/

[zoidberg]

I have to say the blu forum thread is an absolute joy. My favourite theory is the UHDs are supposed to look like 65mm.

As is well known (and probably been mentioned in this thread already) FotR was part DI, part lab timed for the theatrical release. The full DI was completed some time later and somehow botched for the EE release. The initial DVD release was an IP scan which was then recycled for the blu, hence the old 'magenta' tint. TTT and RotK were 100% DI so all home releases came from the DI. So the fact they look different now on UHD is immediately revisionist nevermind the Amos track. What's funny is that a near universally-loved set of films has been homogenised to look like a, ahem, less well-loved set of films (even PJ admits it). 

 I watched all 3 LotR in the initial run over 3 years in the same cinema (in the same screen which had Dolby EX, the mixes were beasts) and each one had stuff which looked great and stuff which looked janky. It seems to be quite a common thing for a film to make release barely by the skin of it's teeth ('the print was still wet'), which then is beloved by everyone except the filmmakers who only see the flaws/cut corners/bodges/'tricks of the trade' necessary to get the film out. Once the dust settles, they get tinkering and can't understand why people don't like the changes they made.

[deleted user]

Honestly I'm fine with filmmakers "improving" on their films. Hell, I'd love to see 1977 Star wars with completely remastered VFX by today's standards, that'd be a blast! Not the janky special edition remaster, but something truly impressive.

However, whenever this is done, I think the original unaltered version should be included on a separate disc. Otherwise you're just erasing history.

It would be awesome to have one crazily remastered version and the original to compare to. They could go crazy with the remaster doing fancy stuff without angering anyone who liked the original. It would be like a fanedit with a multimillion budget and a fun way to revisit an older movie without losing the older movie.

[zoidberg]

They did that with Star Wars lol

[deleted user]

They did that with Star Wars lol

Yeah but later didn't release the original in true quality. Such a remaster should always be the secondary version of the movie in the grand scheme of things.

Also the remaster wasn't really good, technology wasn't far enough yet. Should be redone today with state of the art tech. That'd be incredible.

[zoidberg]

What is TFA if not a 'retelling' of ANH with today's VFX

[pipefan413]

What is TFA if not a 'retelling' of ANH with today's VFX

https://media.giphy.com/media/cF7QqO5DYdft6/giphy.mp4

EDIT: OK, so it fills the entire width of the... OK. I see.

[Eggman]

The initial DVD release was an IP scan which was then recycled for the blu, hence the old 'magenta' tint.

So that's why so many of my old DVDs, like Harry Potter, lean towards magenta! It's kind of charming; its the sepia tone of the 21st century. It's definitely preferable to the awful teal wash that plagues every other transfer these days. Any idea as to why IPs have that effect?

[pipefan413]

So that's why so many of my old DVDs, like Harry Potter, lean towards magenta! It's kind of charming; its the sepia tone of the 21st century. It's definitely preferable to the awful teal wash that plagues every other transfer these days. Any idea as to why IPs have that effect?

Have a look at PDB's thread about "Project CRT"... I don't think it has anything to do with the IPs but rather the fact they were graded on (and for) CRTs. I could be mistaken, of course, but I don't think so.