I was at a friend of a friends over the weekend and he was showing LotR-Two Towers on his 46 inch 180p LCD TV. He said the verion he had was 1080p and it very much looked it. It was also 2:35:1 AR. I guess it was on 2 DVD DL discs in the AVCHD format. He wouldn't say where he got it, but someone else said 1080p AVCHD movies are all over the Internet.

Anyone else have any insight? I was amazed at how good it looked. I have no clue what the bit-rate was or actual size, and I did not think to ask if it was the EE or not. I didn't know 2:35:1 versions existed in 1080p.

Is this the future for PS3 owners?

I should note it is very frustrating waiting until who knows when to shell out big bucks for my verion of LotR (not even the EE) in 1080p, and this Bozo already has it for free.

I was at a friend of a friends over the weekend and he was showing LotR-Two Towers on his 46 inch 180p LCD TV. He said the verion he had was 1080p and it very much looked it. It was also 2:35:1 AR. I guess it was on 2 DVD DL discs in the AVCHD format. He wouldn't say where he got it, but someone else said 1080p AVCHD movies are all over the Internet.

Anyone else have any insight? I was amazed at how good it looked. I have no clue what the bit-rate was or actual size, and I did not think to ask if it was the EE or not. I didn't know 2:35:1 versions existed in 1080p.

Is this the future for PS3 owners?

I should note it is very frustrating waiting until who knows when to shell out big bucks for my verion of LotR (not even the EE) in 1080p, and this Bozo already has it for free.

He could have a recorded from cable version, and converted to AVCHD.

The peak bitrate for AVCHD is 18mbs (heard that they changed specs to 25mbs, but not sure on that one)

The peak bitrate for AVCHD is 18mbs (heard that they changed specs to 25mbs, but not sure on that one)

Perhaps you are thinking of AVCHD camcorders (18Mbps peak) verses HDV MPEG 2 camcorders (25Mbps peak)?

Mastering an AVCHD disc from other sources might be less constrained, but don't quote me on that.

And yes to the OP, no doubt this is taken from a broadcast. That would be the only way currently to aquire an HD version of LotR's AFAIK. And no doubt it would have been broadcast at 1080i and deinterlaced which is less than ideal. It won't hold a candle to the blu-ray edition when it finally does arrive.

Greetings

Yes, but until that happens, it is infinitely better looking than the blu ray version. :D

Regards

Greetings

Yes, but until that happens, it is infinitely better looking than the blu ray version. :D

Regards

LOL I have the HD broadcast version recorded on D-VHS and I can gaurentee that as of right now, it looks and sounds better than any BD version. I got it off one of the premium channels so it has no commercials and at that time, I don't think they (comcast) were doing bitrate sharing. In any event, looks and sounds really good. However, if/when the BD version comes out, I'm buying it

LOL I have the HD broadcast version recorded on D-VHS and I can gaurentee that as of right now, it looks and sounds better than any BD version. I got it off one of the premium channels so it has no commercials and at that time, I don't think they (comcast) were doing bitrate sharing. In any event, looks and sounds really good. However, if/when the BD version comes out, I'm buying it

I was also fortunate to get the Starz HD Extended version of The Two Towers on DVHS, several years back when the pipelines where not being overstuffed. This version looks excellent, and I've said this before... the BD version will have to be on top of its game to improve dramatically upon this. Of course I'll be buying the BD version when it arrives, what hardcore AVSer wouldn't?;)

The peak bitrate for AVCHD is 18mbs (heard that they changed specs to 25mbs, but not sure on that one)

Perhaps you are thinking of AVCHD camcorders (18Mbps peak) verses HDV MPEG 2 camcorders (25Mbps peak)?
The AVCHD format has included bitrates up to 25Mb/s from the start, but no devices were available that used the highest rate. Early camcorders used something like 12 Mb/s and got mediocre reviews; recent ones like the Canon HF100 use 17Mb/s and look quite good. A new Canon (HF11) is coming out that has the full 25Mb rate.

The Lord Of The Rings recording was probably from Dish Network; they use AVC for their hi-def movies that can be converted to AVCHD, and recording setups are available (look in the AVS HDTV Recorders forum for R5000HD for details).

He could have a recorded from cable version, and converted to AVCHD.

The peak bitrate for AVCHD is 18mbs (heard that they changed specs to 25mbs, but not sure on that one)

What I saw fit on to 2 DVD-DL discs (17 GB total?), so I doubt the bitrate was that high.

Also, is there anywhere in the world that broadcasts 1080p over cable? My bet, as many of you have said, is that it was 1080i and re-encoded to 1080p. I was amazed at how smooth many of the action scenes looked though.

What I saw fit on to 2 DVD-DL discs (17 GB total?), so I doubt the bitrate was that high.

Also, is there anywhere in the world that broadcasts 1080p over cable? My bet, as many of you have said, is that it was 1080i and re-encoded to 1080p. I was amazed at how smooth many of the action scenes looked though.

Peak bitrate isnt the same as avarage bitrate. I could encode a movie an a CD that peaks 40mbs (if the CD could handle it is another question) as long as the avarage bitrate dont get to high.

But lets calculate.

179 minute movie (with a DD448 track) gives us 12,2 mbs as an avarage bitrate on 17gb.

Peak bitrate isnt the same as avarage bitrate. I could encode a movie an a CD that peaks 40mbs (if the CD could handle it is another question) as long as the avarage bitrate dont get to high.

But lets calculate.

179 minute movie (with a DD448 track) gives us 12,2 mbs as an avarage bitrate on 17gb.

Just made a quick call. I was told it was the 221 minute version (isn't Two Towers EE 223 minutes?), so now its even less.

...of course now I am even more jealous/upset. I heard that the EE versions were not coming to Blu-ray only the theatrical versions.

Just made a quick call. I was told it was the 221 minute version (isn't Two Towers EE 223 minutes?), so now its even less.

...of course now I am even more jealous/upset. I heard that the EE versions were not coming to Blu-ray only the theatrical versions.

Well, we should be happy if they just release any version on BD. Even if I prefer the theatrical version of Fellowship.

As for AVCHD, if you want to save some space encode anamorphic 1080 (1440*1080) and save 25% space and bandwith.

Well, we should be happy if they just release any version on BD. Even if I prefer the theatrical version of Fellowship.

As for AVCHD, if you want to save some space encode anamorphic 1080 (1440*1080) and save 25% space and bandwith.

Excellent point about the 1440*1080. I actually do that with my home movies. My Sony camcorder only records as high as 1440*1080, so it makes sense.

179 minute movie (with a DD448 track) gives us 12,2 mbs as an avarage bitrate on 17gb.
Most satellite movie channels in the USA barely allocate 12 Mb/s for their MPEG-2 HD movie channels, and they often reduce them to 1280x1080 versus the original 1920x1080. The MPEG-4/h.264/AVC satellite channels probably use less than 12 Mb/s, or the companies would not have spent the money to switch to AVC at all.

There are a couple versions of LOTR 1080p floating around on the Internet. Some are indeed recorded broadcast cable versions of the movies, usually from HBO HD which actually broadcasted in OAR and without commercials.

However I don't think FOTR EE was ever broadcasted, so all the versions of that one I've seen are stitched together from the DVD and the cable broadcast, so some scenes are in SD and others are in HD. TTT EE was broadcasted so that one's available fully in HD. I don't know about ROTK EE though, I never got that far.