Consider this childhood raped in advanced.

Hmm... that goes against everything New Line and Jackson has said. I don't see it happening. If there is a "bonus" disc - it might be something similar to the Indy bonus disc @ Best Buy. I don't think they would repackage the EEs (beautiful sets) just to add one more disc.

Not to mention, if they are going to make the box available to current owners of the trilogy, they might also make available this "bonus" disc as well. I can't see them screwing over their fans, after all the promises... "your investment in the EE are safe..."

I bought both EE gift sets for FOTR and TTT. I don't think I would get anything repackaged because I think the current packaging for the EEs is beautiful. The only time I'll be dipping into my wallet again for something other than the original EEs is when they release LOTR in HD-DVD. I MUST have that when it comes available!!!

This is upsetting. If New Line screws us on this, I WILL BE PISSED... really...

I could see this happening. There has to be some kind of incentive to sell a box set of the EEs when most people already have them.

Yeah, but double-dipping on a $90 investment is harsh. Especially when some of us own the theatrical versions too. I don't think it will happen (for New Line's sake).

I won't be double-dipping on any future editions of these films until HD-DVD.

That is, except for the double-dipping I've already done by buying both the theatrical and extended editions of each film.

The idea of these movies on HD-DVD excites me. I really haven't even looked into the new format(s) yet, but about how much data can they hold, supposedly? Would it be possible to have the entire trilogy edited together on a single disc? Just cut out all the titles and credits (except for the very end), and you have one hell of a great movie.

Caiman, it's going to be a long time before these are released as HD-DVDs.

Yeah, I know. But it's never too early to start looking forward to it.

Yes Caiman , I am with you in this.It will be sooner than you all think a HD-DVDs are available in Japan.

Late 2005, early 2006. I'm sure this one will be one of New Line's first HD titles.

I was watching a Fellowship trailer on the theatrical release DVD and I noticed a short snippet of Legolas firing arrows towards the camera while two of the hobbits were running in the background. Sadly, it was not in the EE and thus might be put on this bonus dvd that's supposed to come out next year. I just hope New Line continues to please the fans and somehow make it available to people who already own all the DVDs.

ditto

Well, the HD-DVD format as accepted by the DVD Forum kinda... well, it sucks.

At HD resolution, it will hold LESS than the current DVD. Yes, kids, that's right - in some ways it's NOT AS GOOD as the current DVD, and it's certainly worse than Blu-Ray (or the same) in every conceiveable way.

However, I forsee hybird resolution discs - HD for the main presentation and then standard definition for the extras - that way they could pack more on there. Will that suck? Yeah.

So with HD-DVD it's not so much a matter of putting all three films on a single disc as much as even being able to put one WHOLE film of this length on a single platter. Expect 2-disc sets for awhile of any film over 2 hours in length (with no extras) until they get the dual-layered HD-DVD out the door.

It's nothing to worry about, though - by the time HD-DVD hits the market there'll be something better developed. The Blu-Ray group isn't going to be sitting on its hands either.

If there's a format war, whoever has the better initial titles will win.

This information is false. You'd think this forum would be an authority on HD-DVD, but I have a feeling most people around here are just in denial about it. HD-DVD (AOD) is enormously better than the current red-laser DVD format, and in most ways, better than the Blu-Ray format. I'd go into details, but this is not the appropriate thread. But here's a hint: disc capacity isn't NEARLY as important as everyone makes it out to be.

Disc capacity is just one factor - but the AOD/HD-DVD uses an inferiour compression format than Blu-Ray does, meaning that not only does HD-DVD have less disc space to work with, but the compression format means that the video takes up MORE space on the already crowded disc.

I've seen the Blu-Ray demo and have read the specs of the AOD/HD-DVD. Perhaps another thread discussing the pros and cons of each would be warranted, although I have yet to find ONE plus for AOD over Blu-Ray (technically speaking - the one huge plus it has is that it's the format supported by the DVD Forum).

Actually, HD-DVD (AOD) will utilize a high efficiency codec (either H.264 or Windows Media 9), while Blu-Ray will only support MPEG2. Because of this, even though HD-DVD dual-layer discs will only be 30GB (instead of Blu-Ray's 50GB), they will actually be able to hold more audio and video than Blu-Ray's counterpart.

jough- didn't we already discuss this? Blu-Ray might have been a contender for the home video market if they didn't jump on the bandwagon so early. Now they are stuck with MPEG2, and they will most likely see a fate similar to Sony's minidiscs (niche market, high-end recording).

There are many advantages to HD-DVD over Blu-Ray, and I'd be happy to discuss it another thread. There are just so many inaccuracies and misconceptions out there right now. Trust me folks, there are GOOD reasons why the DVD Forum picked AOD over Blu-Ray. Their membership includes over 230 companies. They ARE the industry.

We did discuss it, and you were wrong then and are still wrong. But that's a discussion for later.

From Video Business:

I can see how the phrase "Blu-ray's higher-storage capacity would allow studios to pack far more high-def programming onto a single disc than the HD-DVD standard" could be confusing.

The demo of Blu-Ray's HD video used the MPEG4 format - so I don't know why you think they're "locked in" to MPEG2. Perhaps you're thinkng of AOD, whose demo used MPEG2 compression.

That's a nice (bias) quote, but the specs don't lie.

From the Guzzlefish forums:

Not enough hyperbole to be funny. Once ROTK EE comes out, the EEs will have "over two hours of footage not seen in the theaters" already.

Just seeing the 18 discs, lined up like that, cracks me up. It's pretty ridiculous.

i dont know maybe it's me but i will get rid of dvd's i have just to get the box set, i always prefer box sets