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!