Did anyone else pick this up? I got it on the twelfth about two minutes after the store opened in the morning. I only watched it last night as my brother really wanted to see it too and he's back home for Thanksgiving break now. I thought there was supposed to be mostly added battle scenes, but I hardly noticed any of that. I haven't checked through all the extra stuff yet. That'll keep me busy for awhile.

I really enjoyed this over the first one as I it explained these characters in more detail. Good for us that havent followed the books. I am not sure about the added battle sequence as I was too blown away by the inprovement in sound, over a already wonderful orig. track. But, the DTS-ES again is, clearly, superior. I kept turning my head backwards from the discrete use of the rear surrounds. Its such an improvement over the matrix DD-ES version. Cant wait for more!!

I don't have rear surrounds in my setup and I still like the DTS. It just seems a little clearer with the speech. I don't think I'll be getting rear surrounds for quite a while even though I really want them. The extras in here were very nice, not where I expected them to be, but I still enjoyed them quite a bit. So glad I waited for this release.

I still wish there was some sort of volume leveling function so that there is not so much of a difference between the whispers and the big explosions. I have a lot of fun with the remote then. It's not just this movie, it happens in everything. There is something for this on my DVD player (Toshiba SD2200), but it doesn't seem to do anything with the optical connection. Only when I still had the stereo analog going to the TV.

LOVED THIS! My wife got the 5-disc with the bookends set for me for my birthday. We watched it over the long weekend and could not believe how much better the added material made the movie. Every now and then my wife keeps commenting on how much more she enjoyed the long version. Plus, the DTS soundtrack was pretty kick @$$.

urghhhhhh.

Holding myself in ...trying to 'make do' with my ratty first out version.......

I saw the "WB" preview special on the Two Towers last night. The show was okay, but the shots from the new movie look amazing! The scope of this movie seems much larger that the first one, if you can believe it.

------------------
Benjamin King
benjaminking@yahoo.com

Well if you want to be a purist about collecting DVDs you should own both versions. The first is the orginal theatrical release version which you MUST own and the second being what the director would have released had the studio not wanted to cut the time down, so you MUST own that one to. Or at least thats what the voices in my head keep telling me!



------------------
m-mmeyer
GO TWINS
My DVD's

Or at least thats what the voices in my head keep telling me!
Mine comes out of the speakers it says: My preciousssssssss my precioussssss new DVD go and get isssss for me !

IMHO, The remix and clarity of the soundtrack on this version pretty well smokes the first release. I don't know why but I had a hard time understanding the voice dialog in many of the quiet scenes throughout the first release, Voices just sounded muffled or muddy at times. No problem with this on the new release. The bass which was way overblown for home listening at normal levels is toned down and integrates very well. ( I thought the original bass track was to overpowering at the theater also )
BTW, I just hooked up a new Marantz SR-7300 and the DTS-ES soundtrack is great. I thought I had a problem while watching this movie, All of the sudden I hear crackling and sizzling sounds coming out of the left speaker, Then I realized that it was just the sound of the fire in the fireplace on the left side of the scene I was watching. Excellent steering of sound throughout this flix. Pretty cool, I had never heard these kind of micro details before. I had only listened to the LOTR-SE DD-EX track through the 1050 so I can not compare DTS the performance to the 7300. But this DVD set's clarity and mix on the DD-EX soundtrack also sounded better running through the 1050 than the first releases mix. The bonus stuff is better, but the additional footage and sound alone make this a great disk to own.
BTW, the 1050 has happily retired to SACD and HT service in my office.

------------------
My train wreck
My modest HT . .

my understanding of the extended edition was that it wasn't necessaraly the "directors cut" of the movie. I'm pretty sure that Jackson stated that the theatrical cut of the film WAS the directors cut. The extended edition is the "for you LOTR geeks out there who can sit through a three hour and fourty minutes of film" cut. (I'm not knocking it at all...I know it may sound that way, but I am not making fun of the run length). I've yet to pick it up (due to a matter of too little time to sit through a full 3:40 of film.)

My point is that my understanding was that this was the cut of the film made explicity for the LOTR fans out there...of which Jackson was one. The theatrical cut was the cut he submitted to the theaters with very little comprimise (with the exception of the gift giving scene...which was edited out for pacing issues). The theatrical cut is the cut Jackson made with the knowledge that everyone in the world would see it...and couldn't sit through EVERYTHING that he wanted to put in. Cutting a film down is part of film making, deciding what goes and what stays is in the directors hands. It's when you are forced to cut things that are out of your hands and then decide to re-release the film with your original intent and artistic interpretation that a Directors cut is given to a film.

A true "director's cut" happens when the director submits the film that he wanted to make, and then has to edit it in order to satisfy either the studios...er..discomfort with the film (see Batman Beyond's directors cut), time constraints (see the Abyss director's cut), the ratings board (see the directors cut of Robocop...it's original cut would have recieved an X rating due to excessive violence.)

In some cuts...I actually prefer the theatrical cut over the directors cut. For esample: "Army of Darkness Directors Cut"...what the $#&^ was that ending...and come on. "I'm not that good". It HAS to be "Good, Bad...I'm the guy with the gun." Geeze Sam, even a hick in ND knows that.
Or the "Blade Runner Directors Cut" WTF? The film just stops, and that crap with the Unicorn "vision" to me had nothing to do with a side plot, but rather just Scott trying to drop a camio scene from "Legend" into this film in order to get some extra cash for that project. BLECH.

Anyway...Tust to clarify.

Not making fun, just saying this isn't a directors cut, as it is an "exted cut" made for Tolkenites.

Did I miss something? Did someone say this was the Director's Cut?

Yep, it's in M-Meyers post.

I just had to much spare time on my hands. Sorry if I steped on toes.

You still making do, SLL? Or did you go get bigger and better?

Still making do. Had to spend most of my free time moving pieces in and out...950's...STB's....TV's etc.

Just saw The Two Towers last weekend...and am fixing to bug out now (just now getting to Harry Potter II!

When I get back in tonight I'm going to listen to my 'Blue Dot'!!!

Howdy Folks,
Please help me verify my 950 decoding of this DVD. I have "No LFE Output" when I select DTS-ES from the DVD audio menu. If I have front speakers set at "large" there is no subwoofer output at all. If I set front speakers to small the sub has output.
When I switch to DD-EX same set-up the LFE works properly w/front spk. at Large.
One other quirk, my 950 does not obtain the signal or "Flag" when DD-EX is selected on the DVD, I have to manually push the DD-EX button on remote. It will,however display the DTS-ES discrete 6.1 when selected from DVD audio menu.
Should I have posted this in the "950 Forum"?
OH Well
Thanks if ya'll check this out for me,
Mike in North Carolina

It should be outputting LFE regardless of speaker size settings..

and as far as the manual engaging of the DD-EX, I can't help ya there

------------------
Play it LoUd!!

LOTR is definitely my reference piece for my system. It's extremely demanding on a sound system, and is excellent at revealing flaws.

As someone pointed out, the dialog is tough because of all the bass contained therein. In fact, having bought this disc and being unsatisfied with the dialog intelligibility, I re-equalized my entire system to address just that problem (what a pain!) and afterwards, it sounded great.

If you're having trouble making out the dialog, you may want to consider altering your crossovers or repositioning any subwoofer(s) you may have. Many of the characters, Gandalf in particular, tend to have a lot of material in the 80hz range, which is bang-zip middle of where the THX standard for a crossover is.

I keep meaning to re-watch this disc with my new DVD player and my new Model 770 amp. If I do, I'll post my impressions.

Jeff

P.S. Just to be a booger, let me say this: DD-ES? DTS-ES? Who needs 'em? I'm using Logic 7 all the way, baby! [ ]

Jeff