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The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Color Restoration (a Work In Progress)

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The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Color Restoration

Hello to all fans of the Peter Jackson’s trilogy!

Unfortunately, all official Blu-ray releases of The Fellowship of the Ring suffer from many problems: in the Extended Edition ugly green tint throughout the entire course of the film, in the Theatrical Edition the overuse of both digital noise reduction (DNR) and artificial sharpening.

To restore the colors of the Extended Edition I had to create more than 4000 LUTs! I used the Dr. Dre’s Color Matching Tool, Adobe Premiere Pro CC with the plugin Voukoder, MeGUI and AutoOverlay AviSynth plugin.

Some scenes from 44rh1n’s release (he doesn’t mind):
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/44rh1ns-The-Fellowship-of-the-Ring-Extended-Edition-Color-Restoration/id/61952

44rh1n said:

Dwalin used my grades of the extended scenes, but went even further by completing a shot-for-shot regrade of the rest of the theatrical footage from the extended Blu-ray as well (unlike my release, which uses the theatrical Blu-ray for those scenes).

I haven’t watched it yet, and I haven’t done a side by side comparison with the DVD yet either. So I can’t yet verify the integrity and consistency across all of its shots. But a quick scrub through of the film looked pretty good to me! (There are a few shots that I noticed have some banding and other compression artifacts though.).

I think it’s really cool that there are multiple restorations out there now! Hopefully Warner/New Line will see our demand for a proper release!

I also removed the green tint in the Extended Edition of The Two Towers.

I am currently working on a new version of the FOTR using Remastered Blu-ray as the source in some scenes.

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/LOTR-EE-color-re-grade/id/61304

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Very Interesting. 😃

“Get over violence, madness and death? What else is there?”

Also known as Mr. Liquid Jungle.

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Gorgeous examples! Can’t wait to see this when it’s finished! 😄

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Well done, Dwalin, good work! Looking forward to seeing more updates when available. 😃

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This is all that I’ve ever wanted. I’ve always wanted to see in 1080p HD blu ray quality the extended Shire sequences but without the very annoying green tint. Looking forward to your completion of this project. Everything looks excellent so far 😃

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I have good news - available for download Hybrid HDTV - Web-DL Open Matte Amazon.
[link removed by moderator]
It’s not my release, it’s another person’s work. I didn’t even know there was an HDTV Extended Edition.
Hybrid HDTV - Web-DL Open Matte Amazon - https://pp.userapi.com/c846120/v846120633/7bdd0/2Hxn2IyZlJo.jpg
LOTR EE color re-grade - https://pp.userapi.com/c846120/v846120633/7bdda/c87UnGZF56k.jpg
DVD EE - https://pp.userapi.com/c848636/v848636546/a690/ZRVKZ5KDqRY.jpg

Direct links to downloads aren’t allowed per forum rules. — Jay

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/LOTR-EE-color-re-grade/id/61304

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I think you’re going to have to take that link down, but can you tell me about what’s in that release? I cant find the amazon version anywhere else.

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Dwalin, is that link you provided your finished product of your color grade, or no?

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Dwalin, I would encourage you to continue with your color grading. I looked at the video quality in the link that was taken down compared to your grade of the first 20 mins, and your work is far superior to that in the link. Please do forge ahead and don’t give up. You have much to be proud of with the progress and results you have achieved thus far!

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I found that torrent HDTV, the description says that the moments from the extended edition are taken from the DVD. Then why are the colors different? Were there different DVDs?
Of course, I will continue to work with the DVD I used before, as the other one has only scenes from the extended edition.

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/LOTR-EE-color-re-grade/id/61304

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No, I do not believe there were different color graded versions of the EE DVDs. The color grade in the HDTV EE looks similar to your re-grade, but your work is producing a better product. Whoever created that HDTV torrent did not rip the disc at a sharp resolution either. Your finished product, by comparison, is sharper and better colorized. Keep up the good work! 😃

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What Nate said. The hybrid download is crap, and it looks like whoever ripped the EE DVD did something to the color (either accidentally or intentionally) to screw it up. Your match is vastly superior.

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https://yadi.sk/mail?hash=UMJYIvWv129ItfSlNajMFZCe5HdTvN80zKH82YxF%2BjA%3D
https://yadi.sk/mail/?hash=FcjTCdq%2FYV5OKe1GRHXbgUFs0dW9r%2FJr5shnbPsmLRQ%3D
https://yadi.sk/mail/?hash=%2BC%2FmEjfrIEE4m6xiDcusDyEwLrewujkv1nORjyHMdnc%3D
You played Edain Mod for The Lord of The Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of The Witch-king?
Need your help. Please help me understand how to use the plugin for AviSynth Auto Overlay-master. This plugin can help me to speed up the color correction process with the help of automatic color matching.

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/LOTR-EE-color-re-grade/id/61304

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I’d help but know pretty much nothing about AviSynth myself. Might want to make a new post about it over in the Technical Help section.

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Dwalin, I recently re-watched your 1st, 2nd and 3rd color regrades, and I have some thoughts to share with you. I own both the EE DVD trilogy and the 2009 theatrical (non-EE) blu-ray trilogy. I have compared numerous screen shots between the DVD and Blu-ray, and there is very little (if any) differences between the two. I did notice that the DVD seems to be cropped tighter on the sides than the Blu-ray. They are the same frame just a different crop factor. See the screen shot comparison below:

EE DVD vs. Theatrical (non-EE) Blu-ray: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/115898

Since the Blu-ray and DVD seemed to be similar in their color grade, I proceeded to use the Blu-ray to compare to your color grading since they are closer in sharpness. Regarding your 1+2 grade, in the first shot of “The Lord of the Rings” title just before the words fade into view, you can see a darkish-yellow color appear and then the title fades in. Immediately after the title fades out but before it goes completely black, you can see the darkish-yellow remnants of the color and then it goes completely black. See the following screen shot comparison:

Blu-ray vs. Dwalin grade: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/115899

As I proceeded to compare my Blu-ray to your color grades, I seemed to see a consistent slight brightness and yellow tone all throughout your 1st, 2nd and 3rd color grades. See some screen shot comparisons below:

  1. Bushes are too yellow—Blu-ray vs. Dwalin grade: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/115903
  2. Grass is too yellow—Blu-ray vs. Dwalin grade: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/115905
  3. Differences in waistcoat colors—DVD vs. Dwalin grade: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/115906
  4. Bag End grass is too yellow—Blu-ray vs. Dwalin grade:http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/115907
  5. Yellow Bilbo—Blu-ray vs. Dwalin grade: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/115910

Other than the overall slight brightness and yellowishness in your grades, I can definitely see that your video files are much sharper than my theatrical Blu-ray. Well done! Let me know your thoughts on this when you can. Cheers!

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Dwalin said:
I don’t know why the first movie of the greatest film trilogy in a genre of a fantasy suffered. About the shortcomings Blu-ray the Extended Edition of Fellowship of the Ring you can talk endlessly, but one advantage it has is the frame contains more detail than the Blu-ray Theatrical Edition. I’ll try to fix the colors of the Blu-ray Extended Edition of the Fellowship of the Ring with Dr Dre’s Magical Color Matching tool. You can rate the first 20 minutes of the film right now: https://yadi.sk/mail/?hash=ntlkYS9kaZIEKwxBya4rR2gldzhM8ZKESkVt1od1qEU%3D.
I apologize if something was unclear, I do not know English and translated in the online translator.
Link to my group where you can see frame comparisons: https://vk.com/public167345612

Looks like we’ve been operating on the same wavelength, Dwalin! Just goes to show that restoring the original color is important. I just completed my own restoration. What do you think? https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/44rh1ns-The-Fellowship-of-the-Ring-Extended-Edition-Color-Restoration/id/61952

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Dwalin said:

I think you are a true professional in the field of color correction.

I can neither confirm nor deny any details without the secretary’s approval. 😉

Dwalin said:

It’s a pity I won’t see your restoration. I can’t download from private torrent trackers Spleen and Blutopia.

Just sent you a PM.