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The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King - 4K Dremastered (Released!)

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This thread is dedicated to a 4K upscale and AI remastering of the 2009 theatrical bluray release of TROTK. While I generally like the new HDR color grade of the official 4K release, the excessive DNR has scrubbed away a lot of detail. So, this here is my attempt at creating a 4K version of TROTK (and the other two films) that does have the clarity, detail and fine layer of grain we come to expect from a 4K release. I chose to use the 2009 bluray, because it has the theatrical color grade, and it doesn’t suffer from black crush like the extended bluray release.

Also available: The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring - 4K-Dremastered & The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers - 4K-Dremastered

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Lord-of-the-Rings-The-Fellowship-of-the-Ring-4K-Dremastered-Released/id/99018#1504015

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/The-Lord-of-the-Rings-The-Two-Towers-4K-Dremastered-Released/id/99019

Here are a number of screencaps from TROTK 4K Dremastered:

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One of my favourite shots in the film:

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Compelling results across all three films, especially in the scenes that suffer the most from DNR in the 4K release. It’s sad we see superior results from a compressed 1080p source upscaled with AI compared to what the creator and studio produced with access to the best available materials.

I also like the new HDR grades overall (TTT not so much, doesn’t fit the tone), just sad about the scrubbed detail.

Forum Administrator

MTFBWY…A

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 (Edited)

Jay said:

Compelling results across all three films, especially in the scenes that suffer the most from DNR in the 4K release. It’s sad we see superior results from a compressed 1080p source upscaled with AI compared to what the creator and studio produced with access to the best available materials.

I also like the new HDR grades overall (TTT not so much, doesn’t fit the tone), just sad about the scrubbed detail.

Yeah, I would be ashamed if I were Peter Jackson, but my guess is that he is really pleased with the way the 4k-Bluray turned out so he does not care.

One major problem is that the 2k-DI, which all releases are based on, already has some horrible DNR applied so you cannot get rid of it unless you rescan the camera negatives. My dreams would come true if someone decides to rescan the original camera negatives and VFX-negatives in 4k.

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Does anyone have the latest 1080p Dremastered files?
Apparently, DrDre lost the files and the links are now down.

Exophase

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Please send a DM, I’d love to see this 😃

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May I please ask for a link to download these theatrical editions? I sent DrDre a pm, but haven’t got a response.
Thanks very much

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snotovitz said:

May I please ask for a link to download these theatrical editions? I sent DrDre a pm, but haven’t got a response.
Thanks very much

I sent you a reponse just now. Because there are quite a few requests, I generally check my mail box about once a week.

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DrDre said:

snotovitz said:

May I please ask for a link to download these theatrical editions? I sent DrDre a pm, but haven’t got a response.
Thanks very much

I sent you a reponse just now. Because there are quite a few requests, I generally check my mail box about once a week.

Thank you very much for your amazing work. I’m sorry if I came across as impatient. All the best; you are a hero.