Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Since I prefer the theatrical versions instead of the extended cuts I bought this and I'm very glad I did. Here is some info about this bluray edition: PACKAGING: The nine discs that make up this set come housed in a beautiful embossed slipcase. The cover art is holographic so the ring design shimmers and flashes brilliant colors as the light changes. Sometimes it is a firey red, sometimes emerald green, royal blue, golden yellow or deep purple. It also produces a multi-color effect. It is quite striking and a very attractive design. The discs are housed inside the slipcase in two bluray keepcases. These cases have the same design as the slipcase although they do not produce the holographic effect. The first case is thicker than standard and holds the three feature films on bluray and the three discs of supplemental materials. The discs are securly held in place in the flip type holders and the holders have slots for a thumb or finger to help release the disc after the center hub is pressed. The art work on the discs is identical to the artwork used for the initial DVD release of the films although the bluray logo has been added to the feature films. The second case contains the three digital copies of the feature films and is in a standard size keepcase. Artwork on these discs is almost solid black with an indistinct design barely visible. FUNCTIONALITY: This may be one of my favorite aspects of this edition. Loading time on these discs is lightening fast. I was watching the film within 30 seconds of inserting the disc in the player. After a 5 second FBI warning screen the menu pops up and you are ready to go (unless you want to change an audio option or turn on subtitles - audio options are only English and Spanish). THERE ARE NO COMMERCIALS, NO FORCED TRAILERS and NO ADVERTISEMENTS TELLING YOU HOW WONDERFUL BLURAY IS!!!!!!! Thank you Warner Bros./New Line. The bluray discs are BonusView enabled and the pop-up menu is discrete and easy to navigate. Main menus feature music from the film and a simple and elegant design. The discs are also BD Live capable and will take you to the WB BD live site. PICTURE QUALITY: What can I say other than the picture quality is spectacular. I had read several advance reviews of this release and didn't really know what to expect since the reviewers opinions went from "epic fail" to "stunning" so I'm glad I found them to be breathtaking and gorgeous transfers. Color is vibrant (the shire has never been more vivid and beautiful) and detail is for the most part quite sharp and crisp. Fabrics stand out very well and leaves of trees, patches of moss, designs on weapens etc are remarkably clear. Black levels are spot on throughout, very deep, and shadow detail is excellent. I did notice a couple instances of noise a few times but these amounted to less than 30 seconds total so I don't think that is bad for a 9 hour plus film. I also noticed a "strobe" effect once or twice but it lasted only for a few seconds. Some viewers may find the color to be too saturated and may want to adjust their settings accordingly. The colors and contrast are really jacked up on this but I found it to be to my liking. Although the picture isn't entirely perfect, it comes pretty close. AUDIO QUALITY: The dts HD Master Audio soundtrack IS perfect. I don't see how anyone could complain about this. It's flawless. Dialog is clear, music is balanced and sound effects are spectacular. This is a truly immersive experience. Your rear speakers will stay busy during the entire film and your subwoofer will get quite a work out. I felt a strong breeze coming from my subwoofer from across the room many times and it was literally shaking the windows (and I was only listening at about a third of the volume possible). I don't know what more anyone could ask for from a surround sound experience. It is among the very best I've heard for a home theatre. BONUS MATERIALS: The new bonus material consists of high definition trailers for the films (including a lengthy "super trailer" and two LOTR games trailers (also in HD). These features are presented on the bluray discs. The 3 standard definition discs of supplemental material are identical in every way to the bonus discs that came with the original theatrical edition DVD release so if you own those versions, you already have this stuff. Nothing new whatsoever. I'm very glad it is included in this set as now I can give away my DVD edition and still have the documentary stuff etc. There is over 6 hours of behind the scenes, interviews, music videos etc. included in these discs and they gave me more information than I needed about the making of these films. BOOKLET/INSERTS: There are several inserts included in this set and they are housed in the Digital Copy case. The helpful one is a six page fold-out booklet that has small color photos from the film and includes discriptions of the contents of each of the bluray discs and the three bonus materials discs as well as a short synopsis of each film. There is an insert for the LOTR BUD K catalog trying to sell you knives and swords, an insert for the Aragorn's Quest video game, a $10 off discount coupon for selected LOTR merchandise and an instruction sheet on how to use the digital copies. FINAL THOUGHTS: If you love the original versions of LOTR then you will want this edition. If you only want the EE then skip it. If you are concerned about poor reviews concerning the quality of the transfer I don't know what to tell you. I thought they were excellent. Peter Jackson approved the transfers for this bluray edition (you can watch him discuss it in an interview that is easy to find on YouTube) and said he thought they looked fantastic. I think so too. I watched these films on a Sharp Aquas 50inch LCD with a Philips 1000 watt home theatre system and thought they looked and sounded incredible. Perhaps DNR and other enhancement issues some pro reviewers have pointed out are only apparent on larger projection systems. They looked good to me. I consider this set to be a good value at the price almost all retailers are selling it for ($60 - $70), which is in line with what three individual bluray discs would cost. The MSRP is too much (as is always the case with bluray discs) but I'm unaware of any retailer selling it for that price. As far as I'm concerned, this is the last edition of LOTR I will have to buy (at least until the next "look how perfect and much better this is" new format comes along. This one really is a BIG step up in quality from the DVD release. While I watched the Extendeds once, I think the films are much better in these versions so I guess I'm one of the few (at least on Amazon) who is really happy with this release.