NaturalMystic79

I only have an Onkyo HT660 5.1 system. I am capable of DD and DTS, but I don't have 6.1. Does it make a really big difference in having that extra rear back speaker? Will my surrounds will be able to reproduce the sound in some way or will the soundtrack/audio be lacking w/o that extra speaker? I have the theatrical cut of TTT and am wondering if the DTS track is worth it, along with the extra 43 minutes.

caesar1

All 6.1 is backwards compatible. It will play fine.

However, I found the audio lacking on the extended edition. There is nothing in the DTS track making it worthy of another $20.00.

For the extra scenes -- yes, buy it. For the audio, no.

While the film is great and the added scenes are nice, the audio on this Extended Edition is a big dissapointment to me. Particularly the DTS track.

While FOTR may have been "over cooked", this feels to be under cooked. They swung the pendulum too far the other way.

After all, this is a fantasy film with wizards and walking trees and the like. One expects lots of discrete surround use, lots of ambient noise in the surrounds, and lots of deep LFE.

You don't get this on the Two Towers. For example, check out the wolves attack scene. Nearly all of it is up front. There should be lots of surround usage in such an attack. Also, the trees when walking don't shake the earth very much (not enough LFE). While I haven't personally experienced walking tress, a nice big rumble would fit in well with the fantasy here.

Where is the ambiant sound like chirping birds, etc. Where is the deep LFE (other than a few places); where is surround usage to draw you into the world.

The soundtrack on Two Towers (unlike FOTR), does NOT, in my opinion, draw you into Middle Earth. While I'm not asking for over cooked FOTR, c'mon how about drawing you into the soundfield like on Attack of the Clones (even Terminator 3).

Two Towers is way too passive and nice for an extended version of a fantasy film with a newly created DTS track. My God, Finding Nemo blows this away audio wise, and that is mainly for kids.

I feel cheated in audio here.

I for one say: The Emperor has no clothes (when it comes to audio here).

NaturalMystic79

Wow! Thanks for the indepth description. Looks like I may just stick with my theatrical cut rather than spend $30 and get the EE. I'd consider myself an audiophile, although I only have 5.1. Since there is little to no improvement in audio, the EE won't appeal to me as much. I would say I'm a casual fan of the film. I wasn't "blown away", or anything by it. I enjoyed FOTR (haven't seen the EE) better than TTT. I felt the pacing was better. TTT felt long (yes the theatrical cut), and dragged at times. I am not huge fan of extras anyways, unless it's a movie I REALLY love. I may rent EE sometime just to see what the extra footage is like, but I think I'll refrain from double dipping on this one.

fumanstan

Personally, i think the extended editions are worth it for the movies alone.

REL77

THe extended editions are the DVDs I will recommend to any person cause they show off what DVDs can be like, why the DVD Media is such a great idea. New Line was great to decide to do something like this (it was a risk at the time). You should own the movies for what the offer. I dont have 6.1, i only have 5.1 and its still great

NaturalMystic79

HA! I just said a few posts back I wouldn't buy it at all, and guess what? I just went out and bought BOTH extended editions (TTT and FOTR). I walked into Best Buy and was hit when the big stand full of TTTs and a few FOTR. I looked in the back of the sets and saw all the extras, the DTS logo and noticed how attractive the cases were. On top of that I got FOTR for only $24.99, and TTT for $28.99. Needless to say, my DVD rack looks alot better with these two DVDs now. I can't wait to watch both extended versions of the film, marvel in the DTS sound, and check out the plethora of extras. I guess you could say I had a change of heart, considering I wasn't even going to think about buying them a couple days ago. I researched both sets and found that they are arguable two of the best DVD sets released ever, as far as A/V, movie, and extras go.

emoxley

I found the dts track to be excellent! There is plenty of LFE from my discs.
Good use of the surrounds too.
A friend came and watched it with us, and commented on both surround use and bass. When Treebeard walked, the house would shake and rumble on every step. Maybe my sub is turned up higher than average, I don't know. Maybe I got an extra good disc................
Whatever it is, I can't wait for ROTK!

colossus

Ya know, I was thinking this about Phantom Menace too. No, no, not the insipid dialogue- dude, it's awful- but the odd LFE.

Annoying moppet blows up something that looks like a BIG spaceship. whimper.

Switch to lightsaber-swing. Paint flies off my walls, my child soils himself, and the FAA calls wondering if the model rocket I threatened to launch somehow exploded. WTF???

jough

The transfer is much better on the EEs.

The audio is better (DTS).

There are seven hours of extras, NOT including the commentaries.

There are FOUR commentary tracks.

There's 43 minutes of extra footage that mostly IMPROVES upon the film.

It's selling for $25 this week in most retailers.

How is this not a "good buy"? The LOTR: EEs are among the best DVDs ever produced.