The Middle-Earth Limited Collector´s Edition (4k, Extended and Theatrical Cuts)

Product detailed description

Package includes 15 discs

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Extended Editions

6x 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

• Feature films in 4k Ultra HD (3840 x 2160)
• HDR (HDR-10 + Dolby Vision)
• Aspect ratio 2.39:1
• Original audio in Dolby Atmos
• 6x BD-100 (triple-layer UHDBD)

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Theatrical Versions

3x 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

• Feature films in 4k Ultra HD (3840 x 2160)
• HDR (HDR-10 + Dolby Vision)
• Aspect ratio 2.39:1
• Original audio in Dolby Atmos
• 3x BD-100 (triple-layer UHDBD)

Will I get native 4k Ultra HD?

Yes. First, a bit of history: all three films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy were shot on traditional 35mm motion picture film, with VFX sequences rendered at 2K and recorded back out to film. Each installment was originally mastered and distributed in 2K as well, meaning that during their original theatrical runs, The Lord of the Rings films were screened from distribution elements derived from a 2K digital intermediate (even when projected on film prints).

For the 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray release, however, the studio returned to the original camera negatives, scanning both the pristine 35mm camera footage and the first-generation 35mm VFX film-outs in 4k. This process produced a brand-new 4k master handled by New Zealand's WETA Digital. This new 4k master offers not only higher resolution than the theatrical release prints (and, consequently, previous Blu-ray releases), but alongside sharper detail rendition, it also features a fresh color grading that leverages WCG and HDR on UHDBD, expanding both color gamut and dynamic range.

Since this is a full-fledged, ground-up 4k remaster, it is safe to say that The Lord of the Rings has never looked this good in any of its previous iterations — neither in theaters nor on Blu-ray. Furthermore, as is customary with remasters of this scale, it's fair to assume that the individual films in the trilogy will never look better than this.

You can read about how the studio created the new 4K masters and why the new transfers promise a massive upgrade over the Blu-ray editions on the Blu-space.cz blog.

The Hobbit Trilogy - Extended Editions

3x 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

• Feature films in 4k Ultra HD (3840 x 2160)
• HDR (HDR-10 + Dolby Vision)
• Aspect ratio 2.40:1
• Original audio in Dolby Atmos
• BD-100 (triple-layer UHDBD)

The Hobbit Trilogy - Theatrical Version

3x 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

• Feature films in 4k Ultra HD (3840 x 2160)
• HDR (HDR-10 + Dolby Vision)
• Aspect ratio 2.40:1
• Original audio in Dolby Atmos
• BD-100 (triple-layer UHDBD)

Will I get native 4k Ultra HD?

Peter Jackson is something of a tech enthusiast, so when he was given a virtually unlimited budget to shoot The Hobbit, he decided to use it to secure the most advanced recording technology of the time. All three installments of The Hobbit were therefore captured through the lenses of Red Epic digital cameras, which recorded raw footage in 5K resolution.

Because the entire trilogy contains well over six thousand VFX shots—scenes with computer-generated effects—the master had to settle for 2K resolution, as rendering those effects in 4K would have been several times more expensive, technically demanding, and time-consuming. The final master therefore topped out at 2K as well, meaning The Hobbit is upsampled for its Ultra HD presentation. Even so, a substantial improvement in fine detail rendering can be expected over the original releases. First, the material takes advantage of the slight resolution bump between Full HD and 2K; second, a studio upscale is higher in quality than upsampling from Full HD; third, the films benefit from modern HEVC compression; and fourth, they can lean on the advantages of expanded color and luminance spaces via WCG and HDR. An extraordinary leap in quality can be expected from HDR in particular, as Peter Jackson is known for his emphasis on contrast, sharp specular highlights, dramatic skies, and striking lighting overall—elements that truly shine in HDR. Simply put, The Hobbit has never looked this good at home, and visually it actually surpasses most theatrical screenings from its original cinema run.

If you are wondering whether The Hobbit could also appear on UHDBD in HFR (High Frame Rate), the answer is no. The Hobbit was shot at 48fps, a frame rate that the UHDBD specification does not support—and worse still, consumer TVs wouldn't be able to display it either. The film is therefore presented at the standard 24fps. By the way, we wrote about HFR on our blog Blu-space.cz.