The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 3D Blu-ray Review

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I suppose one of the good things about the Blu-ray release of The Hobbit is that we do not have to get into the whole High Frame Rate argument. This at least allows us to concentrate on the movie and not get into the psychoanalysis of whether higher frame rates make for more of an emotional attachment to the movie. Phew, got that one out of the way!

Prequels do still seem to be all the rage in movie world. When we are not rewinding Batman or allowing George Lucas to produce hours of pseudo-religious claptrap about the Force, we can at least use a series where the original book is up to scratch and there is at least half a chance of producing something decent.

Peter Jackson’s relationship with Middle Earth goes back to the 2001 production of Lord of the Rings and spans the trilogy of movies that made up that series. Chronologically, The Hobbit slots in sixty years earlier and includes a small number of crossover characters, most notably Gandalf, Gollum and Bilbo...


Read the full review...
 
probably saving the good stuff for the extended edition in regards to more comprehensive extras....i thoroughly enjoyed the film in 2D although i do have the 3D version..but my upgrade to 3D hasnt happened yet!
 
I found this disc a little flat in the audio, a bit of a dissapointment really, compare this to something like willow which is much better, how could they get this wrong? Shame, which otherwise is an enjoyable film.
 
I also found the LFE disappointing compared to LOTR, just didn't have the same impact, shame.
 
A lot of time was spent in Bilbo's house, can't help but think that this could easily have been part 1 of 2 instead of a trilogy but I suppose money talks. The film was good but not up to the standards set by The Lord of the Rings maybe things will get better in The Desolation of Smaug.

Also on my Panasonic TX-P50GT50 the 3D version displayed quite a bit of crosstalk.
 
Is the firmware on your Blu-ray player up to date? I've seen a few other people complain of crosstalk. Firmware update seemed to fix it for them.
 
Is the firmware on your Blu-ray player up to date? I've seen a few other people complain of crosstalk. Firmware update seemed to fix it for them.

Frimware up to date, it is a Sony bdp-s790.
 
I don't get any crosstalk playing back on PS3 & Samsung ES8000. Might be worth reporting to Sony & see if they issue a firmware update. The more people that report it to them, the more likely they'll look at it.
I know of other people (on Amazon) who complained of crosstalk & they resolved it when they updated their firmware.
 
I have to say crosstalk was not an issue for me, but the lack of depth was. It feels very natural, just not very exciting.
 
I found this disc a little flat in the audio, a bit of a dissapointment really, compare this to something like willow which is much better, how could they get this wrong? Shame, which otherwise is an enjoyable film.

I also found the LFE disappointing compared to LOTR, just didn't have the same impact, shame.

Yes, this was exactly my experience too. A pity.

I also thought that the last scene (the fly-through the treasure room) looked very obviously like CGI.
 
Looks like the Extended version has had a significant LFE boost:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Blu-ray: Extended Edition

Like the theatrical version of An Unexpected Journey, the Extended Edition boasts a bellowing beast of a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track. There's just one -- I'd say minor, some would say major -- difference. Bass enthusiasts will notice a slight, arguably negligible boost in LFE oomph that will most likely satisfy those who were disappointed with the March 2013 Blu-ray's low-end output...The LFE channel once again struck me as forceful yet discerning, producing deep, resonant thooms and weighty booms.
 
I watched this a few days ago. 3D was about as good as it gets. Shame about the film itself, I thought it was tedious.
 
this is one of those times were i thought the theatrical cut was better than the extended edition..the extra bits could have been put in the deleted scenes, they didnt have the same feel as the lotr trilogy, and the scenes were insignificant to the the narrative. just silly scenes, so its only worth buying the extended if you want all the extras, as the theatrical is tighter and better IMHO. and what ever happened to seamless branching!!! so both versions could be had.
 
I haven't looked at the extras yet, I'm not even sure what the extended bits are? But I absolutely love the film, especially in 3D. Awesome.
 
thought it was great got projector coming tmoz and 92" screen, after seeing the desolation of smaug on the big screen i mudt have it at home! the smaug scene is just incredible on the sequel.
 
I am baffled by the reviews saying the 3D was awesome. Uh?!!!!!
It is DREADFUL. I freeze framed a shot of Bilbo leaping over a gate and his fott was lower in one frame than the other! Not proper parallax at all. EVERYONE who viewed it said it gave them a headache.

I have found that when an object moves quickly the 3D loses it. An aerial shot of Bilbo running shows him "cut into" the ground. He looks further way than the floor.

3D releases have been a mixture of amazing and appalling.

Amazing: Star Trek Into Darkness, Ultimate Wave Tahiti, Avatar
Dreadful: Prometheus, The Hobbit and Life of Pi. All three almost unwatchable on my Optoma.

Am I the only one who finds this.

By the way the Dredd 3D was stunning but the sound was way out of sync.
 
It was filmed with 3D cameras (not post production 3D) and was some of the best 3D I have seen, especially in 48 fps.
 
Im having trouble getting a decent 3D rip of my bluray to play correctly on my projector. Its 3D but its all over the place with objects seeming to go back and forth into focus and to and from the foreground to the back. Its hard to pin point but theres something odd about it and it definitely isn't right. Im going to go back and check to see if its the same when played direct off the disc, but the rip I've made and tested using 3 different programs is horrible 3D and not what I experienced in the cinema.


EDIT: I tried playing directly from the disc rather than the iso image I made and the disc is better. Im not sure why but my Dune media player must be finding it hard to play. The media player works fine with all my other 3D iso's so im not sure why. Im sending the 3D bluray back though, the camera pans too quickly for 3D at 24fps. If it gets a HFR release ill pick it up, until then Ill stick to 2D.
 
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Looking at some of the above comments, when a lot of folks playback 3d media and comment on how bad the disc is, it's not always the disc at fault..sometimes it's the components used in the setup. I found the panning and 3d fine with this disc and I don't think I'm the only one!
 
Quite possible but I don't have any problem with other 3D movies and it makes sense that panning shots would suffer if not shown as it was intended in HFR.
 
Are you not just seeing the effect of the rip leading with the right eye when the player expects the left first? Can you swap eyes on the Dune?

There are several known problematic 3Ds; Life of Pi, Prometheus and the Hobbit are the three I'm aware of.

I can swap eyes on my Mede8er.
 
That makes good sense! Life of pi looked terrible on my dune too. I'll have to check settings.
 
The 3D on both Hobbit releases is unwatchable when playing on my Samsung Player connected to an Optoma DLP projector.

There is crosstalk in most scenes and the glasses flash at ever scene change.

Both play flawlessly when I use my old PS3 instead of the Samsung

I am in contact with Samsung and are working to find a solution.
 

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