Got another of those waffle? 😃 Based on what DrDre said about the quality of the theatrical blu-rays vs the extended (EE, shadows) and those who have seen both projects, is there a visual difference in quality or is extended just as good now for the first movie?
The only problem with the Extended Bluray (2011) of the first movie (Fellowship of the Ring) was the color grading (green tint, slight black crush) which got fixed for the most part by DrDre in THIS release. There is simply no better way to watch the movies imo. Sharpness and detail is better than the official 4k Bluray. And I actually like the Fixed Extended Color Grading over the old Theatrical Color Grading and the new color grading present on the official 4k Disc. It still has the dreamy look with strong color tints while being more nuanced than the old theatrical grading.
The Theatrical Edition - 4k Dremastered is fine given the bad condition of the source material (DNR, softness) but it does not come close to the image quality of this Extended Release.