Just a heads up that Amazon is now taking pre-orders for the triology on Blu-ray for 69.99, I'm not sure when the actual release is.

I am now officially resigned to begin shopping for a Blu player.

Amazon LOTR BR pre-order (theatrical edition). Extended edition BR

Sweet. For such a good and demo-worthy series, it's about time.

They'll be good demo material, but it's kind of lame that they're only releasing the theatrical versions at first. I imagine the extended editions will be much further down the road, so they can get as many people as possible to buy twice.

No shocker there, Charles.

That seems to be the standard sales model now-a-days.

Not at all. I'm not really upset, though, as I became less of a fan the more I watched them.

I'm not that concerned about the extended version, as good as the movies looked on DVD if they do the Blu-ray versions with the same care they took on the SD versions they should be spectacular.

This is the point in the thread where I mention that I've never seen any of them and everybody tells me they can't believe it!

I can believe it. You have too much Buffy to watch.

I don't know about the EE version, but the regular has been posted on Amazon for a while. The latest rumor I've heard for it is it will be out in time for the Christmas shopping season.

I've only seen the extended cut of the first one.

I've never seen teh extended cuts of any of them, although I own the DVDs.

I guess I am the only one looking forward to the lossless audio . What audio format are they using Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master?

I usally find these formats to have better overall clarity and superior dynamic range. The surrounds seem to come alive more too . If there is one movie that can take full advantage of the transfer to Blu-ray and high-resolution audio is this LOTR series.

One ring. Three movies.

One
One remote to control them all!

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Picture...howViewpoints=1

Check out the Amazon comments

I got the email from amazon today as well. I won't be buying the theatrical versions though. I guess I have to keep waiting. Bummer.

The extended versions made already long movies, more too long. I'll probably be cool with the theater cuts.

I’m usually disappointed with extended versions of just about any movie. LOTR’s extended versions are the exception. I much prefer the extended version over the theatrical.

I enjoy the series, but wouldn’t consider myself a fan. All my friends are though, so I’ve sat through them several times. They’ve all been dieing to see them on BluRay. Oh boy….here I go again.

I'm onboard with this too.
The extended versions of LOTR add a bit more detail to the movies without being obnoxiously boring or useless (if the extended version of Phantom Menace made the pod racer seen any longer i would head out for dinner while the scene was playing only to come back later knowing it was finally nearing an end).

I was a big fan before the movies were released and I was impressed how true to the books they were able to remain while cutting so much stuff out. Extended is the only way to go.

I've also been holding out for the Harry Potter blu-rays. They look appealing to rev the speakers with, but figure it's only a couple more movies to wait out to get the whole big box at once.