Lord of The Rings: FOTR 4K Blu-ray Review - Good HDR, But...

We review the HDR presentation of Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of The Ring in the 4K Blu-ray trilogy boxset using the HDR toolkit on the Canon DP-V2411 professional reference monitor, and found peak brightness reaching 1000 nits, but little evidence of WCG (wide colour gamut) use.
We analysed the 2-disc Extended Edition (EE) of The Fellowship of The Ring.
Buy from Amazon here*: geni.us/lotr4k
Warning: This video contains spoilers for LOTR: FOTR.
*Disclaimer: This is an Amazon affiliate link, from which we may earn a small commission with each qualifying purchase to help us purchase more 4K Blu-rays to review. Our analysis and opinion are never influenced by potential commissions.
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[@flaviantropy]

Vincent is never late, nor is he early... He arrives precisely when he means to.

[@zakkwylde5545]

*reviews precisely when..

[@tazzydnc]

You’re a wizard Vincent!

[@vincevirtua]

what she said *ping* ..

[@chrisalbrecht7360]

😂😂😂#Gandalf

[@jonmango]

...always within 2 minutes *ding (hehe)

[@PurpleHaze06]

You're the only youtuber doing a proper objective analysis of 4K HDR releases that I know of - everyone else is very subjective and anecdotal in their approach. I think they're super valuable to the community, as it's great to have somebody holding Hollywood feet to the fire exposing the lazier releases in this way. If you stop doing them will be a shame but hopefully somebody else can get hold of one of these monitors and carry the torch.

[@turfoid7899]

I agree. He has a pretty impressive toolkit too. *insert inuendo joke here lol

[@agentjtravel_walkthru4205]

Agreed!!!!!

[@LELABODEJAY]

not the only one, but yes the only one that use 30 000 monitors. But there are so many other tools to do it. Analysis are good but opinions are more discutable to my point of view.

[@Sonickrunch]

My biggest problem with this is max luminance isn't the only aspect of HDR that matters though, but I'm not sure how you would test it, but imo the colour "dynamics" are much more obvious and in this case, there are some scenes that look good, but I think Two Towers and King were produced much better.

[@hdtvtest]

@@Sonickrunch Exactly. We do objective measurements in our 4K Blu-ray analysis, not subjective impressions of "dynamics".

[@ES-qy2ju]

Soo this HDR goes bright when there's some magical light. And is conservatory on everything else. I'd say it's a proper creative use of HDR

[@VargVikernes1488]

It's tasteful and respectful towards the original vision.

[@radry100]

I think the reason is more that this is specifically mastered for home cinema and Oleds. Thus there is no point is mastering brighter than 400-600 nits full screen.

[@uniform1313]

@@VargVikernes1488 Yes, I'm sure this was done for very specific reasons...they probably didn't want to change the color palette at all...just brighten lighting.

[@Marqjosh]

Is it worth upgrading from the Blu-ray version? I’m using a 4K tv with only 630 peak hdr brightness anyway and a ps5 or Xbox series x to play the disc.

[@uniform1313]

@@Marqjosh Yes, of course. The overall transfer is way better....supposed to be one of the best 4k releases ever...whole different ballgame.

[@Foxanic]

Thank you Vincent for the detailed explanation. Don’t listen to those who only want a quick answers without understanding the technique behind. Don’t change 🙏🏻

[@andrewg2679]

Love watching your HDR analysis, crazy the studios wont send you a copy. If I was trying to sell UHD HDR BluRays, I would aim for a HDTVTest Vincent Platinum, Gold, or Silver sticker of approval on the case.

[@primad77]

They won't send him review-copies because he is dead honest and will call dog shit for what it is! All power to him! Please don't change!

[@tyo101]

Your work on these technical analyses is greatly appreciated, thank you. Please do not feel any pressure to produce them, especially if it is a great effort for you to do so.

[@4thewin759]

Excellent review. I would love to have the next 2 reviews! Hopefully your traffic analysis makes it worth your while!

[@isme86]

Vincent, we really appreciate the HDR reviews you do. There is really no alternative information source on the application of HDR in UHD Bluray releases. Your work is greatly appreciated!

[@jabbapl]

I usually browse YT anonymously but for such fine work You deserve all the credit. I really hope You do more UHD BR reviews. This is very helpful and hopefully puts more pressure on distributors to actually put some hard work to deliver us content which is worth our money.

[@PrairiePolarBear]

Excellent! Love your technological reviews of 4k movies Vincent! Keep up the great work and Merry Christmas from Canada!

[@budthecyborg4575]

So that was Sauron's key, only Mordor has Wide Color Gamut.

[@remic2902]

What a great review ! Please more 4K reviews. I love it. We need it. We need you. Thank you so much for this hard work.

[@GoffredoMarocchi]

Please keep doing these reviews, this was a very useful and very honest (and independent) view of the movie transfer to 4K HDR. Best HD TV channel by far!

[@randomdriver]

I really like these HDR movie analyses. Please do not stop making them. These gives so much info what is really going on with the film. Like in case of the Blade Runner 2049 I was wondering is my tv broken or what is happening.

[@PSYCHOV3N0M]

I hope you'll also do reviews for The Two Towers and The Return of the King.

[@alliejr]

Peter Jackson, himself, supervised the remaster of ALL the movies, including the Hobbit movies. They were all remastered to the same standard and all color-corrected to be consistent with one another and to play as if they were one long movie that was filmed at the same time with the same technology-- even though the movies were made over the span of almost 20 years with different technologies.

[@AdamH7]

I would say they're to the same quality

[@TomlinsonHolman52583]

I would say Fellowship is the best looking of the three. More lively colors and slightly more grain.

[@battfinkz]

They are all outstanding, absolute joy to watch (and hear, the atmos sound mix is probably the best I've heard)

[@Dulk9]

@@battfinkz I would say Hobbit Trilogy looks horrible with it’s fake CGI crap. LotR effects are way better, mainly because they are mostly practical.

[@filupmarley]

I find these HDR analysis videos extremely valuable. Keep up the great work Vincent!

[@TomlinsonHolman52583]

Nice to see our Panasonic UB9000 HDR10 Metadata screen hitting around the same numbers as your findings. I hope someday consumer tech will feature HDR analysis tools like the Canon DP-V2411. Thanks as always, Vincent.

[@davemathews5704]

Thank you Vincent! Some of us watch these on nit starved projectors. Your detailed gamut analysis (close to rec709) help give us peace of mind to watch without color filter engaged to help get as many nits as possible for that HDR pop without loosing much color throughout movie. Also nice analysis of real (but judicious) use of HDR. (just updated JVC firmware to get latest tone-mapping capabilities, and your detailed analysis shows it will be utilized well, thank you again!) Bring on the Balrog!

[@agentjtravel_walkthru4205]

Well I appreciate your hard work! Thank you for sharing your findings and examples.

[@craigschray4486]

Wonderful job sir! Thank you for your time and efforts to give a great analysis. I will definitely be checking out your other reviews.

[@albinsellden8615]

"How many sex jokes can you come up with?" Vincent: "Yes"

[@PhilArnold001]

would love to get your take on the other two films in the series!

[@KRIL89]

Same I hope he does them. The colors could be better also since they went to digital colors for the next two movies. Idk what that means but Peter Jackson said that haha

[@Mindseas]

Ditto!

[@elliotrosen9842]

Same here!!

[@destroy-erase-improve9106]

Love your 4K reviews. Hope you continue doing them. Thanks for your efforts Vincent

[@Bakenojo10]

Thank you for the work you put into your video's! I can always turn to you for accurate and comprehensive information instead of the normal "fluff" by some other "KZbinrs". Thanks again and FYI I just got my set of 4k LOTR delivered so will be enjoying them in the near future!

[@setaside2]

Brilliant, concise, and enough for me to know that my interest in the 4K edition is back to actual. I appreciate that. Subscribed. Sorry I didn't find your channel, earlier. Well done, sir.

[@ApacheRambo]

Please do the rest of the movies in the series! Thanks for bringing this info to the table, you’re awesome and I appreciate the hard work you put into these videos very much. Thank you !

[@SyFyJoe]

I enjoyed your 4k hdr review, Vincent! If you keep posting them, I'll keep watching them.

[@isak6626]

I really appreciate these videos. They complement the other more subjective 4K reviews out there.

[@bae9212]

Good review, Vincent! Appreciate your enormous effort and work! Please keep up!

[@CIasslc]

Please more movie reviews, what you’re putting is very unique and no other channels review movies with such expertise and information

[@ThereisNOpandemicWAKEUP]

Thank you for doing this review! I hope you are able to do the rest

[@elliotrosen9842]

THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS!!! I know it takes a lot of your time but I so appreciate the spectacular HDR analysis that is simply not done by anyone else. Could you please keep doing these as time permits. I find the information very valuable - please & thank you!!

[@Gump24601]

Love your work Vincent and the detail you've provided. Hopefully this review will generate enough traffic for you to warrant reviews for the rest of TLOTR movies, maybe even including The Hobbit trilogy!

[@prototime]

This analysis is awesome! Thank you. Would absolutely love to see you do a similar analysis of The Two Towers and The Return of the King!

[@KayD__o]

Thank you soooo much for this Vincent! These are my favourite movies. I feel like this trilogy is so important and has been so influential. I really hope you do the other two! Thanks again :)

[@danielpledger939]

Thanks Vincent, hoping to see the rest of the trilogy analysed could you possibly talk about the colour grading too?? X

[@scottsmith8546]

Excellent job Vincent, these are some of my favorite movies...and I for one am glad to see you doing this HDR review. Thank you.

[@crazytacticsdave4017]

Very much like the HDR analysis videos. Thanks.

[@MattyDante]

Yes to videos for The Two Towers and The Return of the King. And I appreciated you doing the analysis of the Extended Edition of the Fellowship of the Ring. Top notch video as always.

[@SephirothWins1]

Would love to get your analysis of Dolby Vision for this since its one of the few films that comes with it. Are there noticeable differences between HDR and Dolby Vision for these films?

[@hddanman7263]

Do you know if that monitor does or doesn't have Dolby vision?

[@ES-qy2ju]

probably not much, maybe in scenes where it exceeds 600 nits DV deal better with highlights

[@MrDestroyedSoulx]

Don't a lot of 4K movies have Dolby Vision on them??

[@rbaz9454]

"its one of the few films that comes with it" what? I have 20+ 4K Blu Ray movies and they all have Dolby Vision

[@ShMartinJo]

@@rbaz9454 He’s still right though. Physical movies tend to get less support on Dolby Vision than their Digital counterparts.

[@mrchrisliddell]

We truly appreciate the in depth analysis!

[@erazorCTF]

Vincent it is totally important that someone serious reviews all those 4K HDR titles in depth, there is no other source like you for this. If you can afford it in any way, please keep doing it.

[@mrmorot]

Thank you for spotting the DNR/Edge Enhancement. For me that was a deal breaker and I had to return the set. If a 4K set has less detail in the image than the older, previous edition, there's no point rebuying for me. I was really disappointed.

[@TomlinsonHolman52583]

The strength of these 4K Blu-ray's is nice HDR and very high bit-rate (100Mbps at times). But I share your opinion on Jackson's liberal use of DNR. Terrible choice in my opinion, as a lover of analog film.

[@C--A]

@@TomlinsonHolman52583 One day probably after Jackson is long gone The LOTR trilogy will get properly remastered. Without any digital noise reduction or edge enhancement. Plus an actual 4k scan of the original film negative.

[@mrmorot]

@@ReGo001 The DVD is too low a resolution to even matter in this discussion. If you want proof that this went through DNR hell, check out caps-o-holic. The extended Blu-ray is grainier, but it has way more detail than the UHD.

[@MarkTallen]

I enjoy these videos, Vincent and I find them fascinating. I do hope that you continue making them. I'd like you to do an analysis on one of The Hobbit 4KUHD movies. I appreciate that it takes up a lot of your time but you do the best HDR and WCG tests for us 4k film enthusiasts.

[@ManWhoLostTooth]

Vincent don't give up on this series! You are doing good work and people WILL notice! With the influx of 4K HDR capable displays around the holidays I'm sure the views will start to pick up.

[@trashken]

Great HDR review. Keep up the good work Vincent!

[@AlainSutter1337]

Thanks for your analysis, and as always good work. Also props for discovering the HDR issues on Cyberpunk 2077. I was changing settings and couldn't get satisfied at all. Your Vid about it explained why 😅👍🏻

[@andrewlau9583]

awesome stuff Vincent. I suspect these videos will get more popular with time but thank you whatever you choose to do next

[@tracemontgomery5459]

I love these so much, I really hope you continue to do them.

[@fist003]

thanks for the video Vincent. i do wonder if there's any difference between physical blu ray and streaming version of movies.

[@BenArcher]

Please keep up the HRD analysis, its the only source for this info, and so valuable. I'll share it more I promise! I'm joining your patreon now!

[@Uber_Xeno]

Hang in there, V. As more people acquire good quality 4k/HDR TVs, these videos will become more and more useful to more people. Don't give up on these yet.

[@forsakenV12]

Now this is a proper analysis!! Well done. Just subbed :)

[@sirishgauni]

love your HDR analysis videos! if possible please do compare the remaining two films of LOTRs

[@AndreeMarkefors]

Interesting! I wasn't aware of this little 'review series' and will check out some of the rest for sure!

[@marchismo8514]

Other 4k bluray disk reviewers give insightful opinions but that's all they are at the end of the day, opinions. I am extremely thankful that you have produced quantitative analyses of these disks. 4k HDR movie viewing can become an expensive hobby, however, through your videos I feel a lot more comfortable in my purchasing decisions of these disks. Please don't exert yourself unnecessarily (for this exercise at least) but please do keep up this excellent work.

[@andreheppelthwaite660]

Thank you Vincent for all your detailed 4K Blu-ray analysis, I really appreciate it but, if I'm honest, only for the movies I'm interested in and not as much as for your display reviews. But, I do hope your extensive effort could be acknowledged in a commercial label scheme such as Andrew G suggested previously in his comment. Looking forward to the next LOTR's reviews, fingers crossed..

[@Chrisabled]

Thank you Vincent. Very nice video! An analysis of the other Lord of the Rings movies and the Hobbit trilogy would be very interesting.

[@ExileOnMainStream]

Thank you for the video, appreciate your work Vincent

[@JoshsBookishVoyage]

I am very appreciative of this video. It is extremely well done and informing.

[@bjaurelio]

Great video. This is the one I've been waiting to see. I found the HDR very impactful on my C9. In a dark room, the HDR was quite bright in some scenes.

[@Melinon]

I was hoping to see this review in particular, so I appreciate you taking the time to do it. Overall though it's probably going to be of limited interest, unless there's something special about the HDR presentation of a movie to spend much time analyzing.

[@bighands69]

It would look amazing on a large screen though in the home. I going to be getting an 85 inch TV especially for HDR movies.

[@tomekkrr7806]

Thanks Vincent. Please continue with this. Always appreciated

[@Brozay401]

Great video. I could do with some advice. Im considering buying an LG CX 55 for gaming, but when i do my settings for gaming can i have seperate settings for watching tv and films and do i need seperate settings?

[@dubster82]

Great video, I appreciate your analysis videos and I hope it better educates people about actual high DYNAMIC RANGE and what good implementation looks like over people that are convinced for HDR they just need an LCD outputting 10000 nits. If we're doing requests I'd like to see Marvels Guardians of the Galaxy 2. If I recall the director James Gunn is a big fan of HDR and TV's to have true cinema mode implementation. On that second movie I think I read he had to convince the studio to let him film in native 4K HDR, because up until then they were against it I think. He also tried really hard to go for stunning visuals on that movie over the first and it'd be interesting to see how it stacks up in your opinion.

[@hypojames]

Excellent video Vincent. Thank You

[@TRC_WA]

Looked amazing on my 77 CX...

[@naderzein2435]

I love these analysis Vincent.

[@TheSwartz]

Thank you, I do enjoy these analyses. This tipped the scales for me, and I just ordered it.

[@DS-nh2yf]

"It's not often that I want to be in handcuffs" *ding I don't know why, but I find this channel funnier than any standup comedians right now.

[@sebk2669]

great analysis, as always

[@jarodreddig63]

Cheers Vincent. Already own these on DVD and BD ( original version and separate extended versions). And I’ll be getting these on UHD disc too!

[@wenchinatrenchcoat8459]

This was most pleasantly informative. Thank you.

[@Aeong]

Yes please keep doing these analysis! I definitely want to see an analysis of the Two towers and The Return of the king. And if you need to make the analysis shorter give it a try. I personally don't care to much for the wide colour gamut parts and I care much more on max and minimum brightness for example.

[@dmunro9076]

Please review the TTs and ROTK! This was a very interesting and informative review. Thanks!

[@wongd12]

Awesome work from this talented multi-lingual reviewer. Would it affect my purchasing decision? not likely. I'm still using a pioneer plasma 1080P (isf calibrated), but i appreciate the craftwork of these reviews. Had it not been for Vincent, I would of assumed that 4K HDR transfer on the front cover of the blu-ray packaging actually meant that. From Vincent's reviews I now have an understanding of a HDR container with SDR content (a poor transfer). Thanks for opening my eyes.

[@adriannn3720]

Even if the HDR is bad, the 4K will probably still outperform the Blu-Ray, due to the higher bitrate, better compression codec, and higher resolution.

[@OldDood]

I liked the 4K re-Release of these three films. What I had to do to view it the 'Best Way' for me anyways was to change the picture from Movie Mode to Standard Picture. The films were 'Too Dark'. Especially when they were in Moria. Standard Picture 'Brightened' it up just enough to see it a LOT more clearly. BTW: I own a Samsung Q80T (55")

[@DasTechGuy]

While I agree, a review of The Two Towers and The Return of The King would be fantastic I would actually prefer a review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to show the advancement of time and technology on how consistent the color grading could be across all six redone films! Keep up the amazing reviews!

[@YehKellb]

Hi Vincent, please carry on doing these hdr analysis videos that are informative and very useful. The objective analysis is fantastic. If little kick back is returned for the effort why not consider patron followers getting to see them? Just an idea ! I would pay for objective high quality analysis. Especially when it comes to spending that kind of money on the 4K blu rays. Thanks Vincent!!

[@domobluu]

Thank you for all the work you put into this analysis. If you we're to analyse both the remaining films I'd watch it but if not, thanks anyway :)

[@buttergolem8584]

I'm really looking forward to get both triologies in 4K.

[@thenonexistinghero]

Just watched this movie on my new 4K blu-ray player last night and it looked fantastic for most part. Can't say I agree about the film grain. I can accept natural film grain if it's there, but I love a clean look in general. I do think removing natural film grain can result in the loss of detail, but I don't think they overdid it in this movie. One thing that did stand out is that some of the scenes looked a bit low-res. Mostly fairly short shots, as if they forgot to upscale them properly. But I'm not sure if it's the movie or if maybe the image quality degrades slightly if it has trouble reading or something to prevent skipping (though that does not seem likely. I'm using a Pansonic UB820).

[@sk3t1les]

Definitely would like to see a Dolby vision comparison.

[@alliejr]

Vincent. Great job! As you point out, Peter Jackson personally supervised the remaster of ALL 6 films (including the Hobbit films). I have no doubt they are all done to the same standard. Per Mr. Jackson, he wanted them all to look as if they were one continuous movie. I think there is no need for you to do the same analysis on each release. They are all the same.

[@bazman357]

Merry Christmas 🎅

[@Trojan0304]

Best 4K reviewer on KZbin, thanks for breakdown.

[@nickm8728]

Great job I like the hdr breakdowns

[@HeroOfTheDay1978]

Thank you so much for this review! I would very much like to see your review of the first Hobbit movie compared to this one rather then another LotR Movie analysis, especially since it is so much work to do it. Thank you again!

[@linearskillzz]

Thanks for doing this! Looks great.

[@dhservers]

Thank you for all the work! 👍

[@andynowar]

Very interesting! I wonder how the digital version is compared to disc!

[@username19237]

Sad to hear that it’s difficult for you to continue these types of videos. They’re my favorite from your channel. I shared this video and I hope they can generate more traffic to make the effort worth it.

[@JASONXMARIELA]

Although I understand you not wanting to do these videos much, they are my favorite videos you make

[@KhromTX]

Please keep doing HDR Analysis videos. Do Tenet next!!!

[@nusilver]

Whether or not it's worth it for you to keep doing these videos, I appreciate your insights! I have a 65-inch LG OLED that's nice for pop, but I vastly prefer watching films projected. My projector, alas, is an entry-level ViewSonic PX727-4K, which has excellent IQ but is completely incapable of doing any kind of justice to HDR or the REC.2020 color space (in fact, reds in REC.2020 turn to a burnt orange color, which, you know, sucks.) So: I watch all of my HDR discs converted to REC.709 (thanks, OPPO!), and have been targeting somewhere between 250-400 nits for the LOTR 4K discs. Thanks to your analysis, I have confirmation of what my eyes told me: there are only a handful of moments in this film that blow my luminance targets, and I don't think it's worth targeting 500 or 600 nits just to, for example, see Arwen's face a little better when she first appears, when you couldn't see it on the SDR Blu-ray anyway.

[@ziahhh]

I got a question i never seen on any tv review. How fast can you download wirelessly with a tv like a q90t for exemple. I bought the new chromecast 4k. I know i can watch netflix 4k hdr content with it since its fast enough. i was wondering If the built in wireless wifi device With a Premium tv like a Q90T you reviewed a couple of week back is fast enough to stream 4k from the tv directly. is the chromecast actually needed for 4k content?

[@SpiderMan-aa]

Is the percentage of hdr (high nits) applied to these movies very limited (few scenes)? Or is it more consistently applied throughout the entire movie?

[@Soundtracks92]

I love the HDR on Lord of the Rings. It’s bright enough when it needs to be and not too bright :) I think it’s beautiful overall. Sometimes HDR for certain movies can be too bright in my opinion, to the point of where I need to strain my eyes.

[@reflexfine8267]

I'm sick of bright HDR

[@Snskch3]

I like the analysis. Really gets me excited *ding*

[@jooelrockefeller]

Sorry im very new to this.. I bought a Panasonic ub450 and have a LG CX. It doesnt show BT2020 only Dolby etc when i play this movie. Am i doing something wrong or should i return the ub450?