The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Extended Versions) - 4K Filmized Remasters with neutral color grading (released) — Page 8

As MJBenito is not responding for a long time. I kindly ask if anybody would be able to provide links please.
😃

I understand. Thank you for taking the time to clarify it to me.

These look great! I have a question (in multiple parts).
I am a little confused as to what source(s) you used for upscale, is it the original Blu-rays, the new remastered Blu-rays (1080p or 2160p), or a hybrid of both? Additionally, if it was the remastered Blu-rays, did you fix the DNR artifacts prevelent with the remastered Blu-rays? E.G. in Return of the king, when gandalf and Pippin have dismounted Shadowfax in the Minis Tirith’s courtyard, Shadowfax’s ears get left behind when he moves his head & The top of Gandalf’s staff goes in and out of extistance (these are visible in the caps-o-holic screenshot comparrison link I included: https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=502&y=284&d1=5245&d2=15009&s1=49011&s2=156558&l=0&i=2&go=1 You can see it to the right of his head, and the error is present in both the 1080p and 2160p remaster)? Have these issues been replaced with upscaled and re-coloured original Blu-Ray footage? Again, this looks fantastic and is not meant as criticism, and apologies if it is read as such.

As far as i read it in this thread, he used the remastered UHD.

Wow! There are no overly smooth or buttery looking faces here which I’d expect to see with the upscaling process. I couldn’t find it in your previous posts, so my question would be: how did you manage to avoid this? Is this an AI setting or something? Or is this actually a simple thing to avoid?

Regardless, fantastic work on the colour grading. The shot with the ring in the snow on Caradhras where the snow is actually white as snow will forever remain chef’s kiss.

I must say this is quality work, anyway we can watch this amazing release ?

This is amazing work. I absolutely love seeing the different visions and oftentimes superior color grading work done by fans. It’s been a while since I’ve watched the Lord of the Rings, though I’m always drifting in and out of podcast, videos, and the books. I would be very interested to see how this version stacks up to the decade plus 1080p version. Extended is the only way to go. A link to these would be very much appreciated to introduce my family (hold them hostage) to the LotR and compare the various versions dropped by dedicated fans.

I’ve been looking for this for a long time. So hard to find, thanks for making it happen and pls send me the link!

Why is this situation so crazy. These movies aren’t even that old. You would think 4k with correct color and filter would just be a given and a standard release by now. Now there are all these different versions we have to think about and you’re lucky if the good version you find is 4k and extended. It’s probably not both, Jesus

I managed to get these 4K releases and they are incredibly good, but I have to aknowledge that I was very sceptical at first!

The official 4K remastered releases have an excessive DNR, and the following post from DrDre is the best depiction of what I mean: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1504039
Of course, the official 1080p remastered ‘regular’ blurays inherited this flaw as they are basically just downscaled versions with SDR color conversion.

So, taking these ones as source and applying the effects depicted in OP sounded really odd and awkward (4K AI upscale, grain filter addition & subtle color correction). However, the result totally blew my expectations!

The AI upscale filter preserved most details without blurring the image too much, the artificial grain addition brings back some ‘texture’ absent from the original material, and the color correction (while still not 100% faithful to the original one from theatre releases) looks much more ‘acceptable’ and close to the original 2000s feeling intended back in time.

Everyone’s taste may vary. There are still unavoidable flaws: background Shadowfax floating ghost ears when reaching Minas Tirith palace terrace, almost B&W dream sequences (this decision from the studio pisses me off and is totally unacceptable IMO), but indeed MJBenito made the best 4K EE remastered versions available, WAY better than the official ones!

MJBenito, this post and review is a huge THANK YOU for your work and your dedication to this project! I managed to ‘rebuild’ proper FRENCH SRT subtitles (both forced and complete), along with proper named FRENCH chapters. Feel free to contact me if you are interested, and want to implement them in an eventual future update.

Once again, thank you so much. You rock!