Our friends at TV Squad let us know that TNT will be airing all three Lord of the Rings movies December 15th. This will be the network television debut of the third film in the series, The Return of the King. Unfortunately what we're not sure about is whether the HD channel will be airing
original aspect ratio 1080i beauty or
stretched widescreen upconverts. As the films have yet to make their debut on HD DVD or Blu-ray we're keeping our fingers crossed but given TNT's history with stretching content we can't assume anything. The films will also be available for HDTVs via VOD, but that's no assurance as when the
Star Wars trilogy aired on Cinemax it was OAR, but cropped on video on-demand, so they may be different. We appeal to our readers, does anyone know if the
previous Lord of the Rings films shown on TNT were native or upconverted, and if there's any way to tell which these will be? Our plans for next Friday are riding on it (like we have plans).
[Via
TV Squad]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Travis Bell @ Dec 7th 2006 1:13PM
The versions that aired on Movie Central HD last year were all native OAR and real HD transfers. I would assume the same for TNT this year...
dat @ Dec 7th 2006 6:03PM
no thanks for me. one because TNT is terrible concerning HD and two, because i don't want to mess with commercials for the LOTR movies.
Maxx @ Dec 7th 2006 1:46PM
You guys need to fix the ratio of the pic of the king. It really makes you look small time. Also nice to hear about the films. Will give them a look.
Keith S. @ Dec 7th 2006 2:11PM
If you've ever turned on TNT's HD channel any amount of time, that picture is perfectly appropriate. Most of their content looks like that on my wide screen.
Philip @ Dec 7th 2006 3:15PM
Jesus, please tell me you're kidding, Maxx.
Max @ Dec 7th 2006 2:34PM
Well all I know is I will wait for the HD DVD because the HD on TNT looks like trash. I mean sometimes I think the TNT "HD" is worse than a good SD channel. So maybe I will turn it on, but I doubt it.
Mark @ Dec 7th 2006 3:40PM
Just curious what provider are you using for your HD? Because I have direcTV and my TNT HD looks incredible. Or at the very least much better then Standard Def TV.
D @ Dec 7th 2006 2:36PM
TNT recently showed Titanic in its OAR, and hopefully will do the same with the LOTR trilogy.
Keith S. @ Dec 7th 2006 4:16PM
I have DirecTV. TNT's picture quality on truely HD content is fine. The problem I have with TNT is that you can never tell from the guide what will be in true HD vs unscaled and stretched standard definition. At least with HDNet, HDnet Movies,Universal and Discovery - you know that all of their content is in HD. Not everything on HBO is HD, but they do a good job with their descriptions so you know what to expect (except for OAR)
Ken @ Dec 7th 2006 4:30PM
LOL, Maxx, I just hope you are not serious.
Nick @ Dec 7th 2006 5:57PM
I hope these are commercial free or it will take 5 hours per episode. XD
pinebot @ Dec 8th 2006 6:54AM
I saw the previews lasts night on TNT HD during the basketball game and the footage was upconverted and stretched. Not sure if that correlates with the actual programming.
MK @ Dec 8th 2006 1:50PM
RE: Star Wars HD on Cinemax VOD-
Only Episode 2 was cropped. All other films were OAR. Check it!
Irfan @ Dec 8th 2006 5:58PM
TNT "HD" movies always look like DVD quality on time warner columbus. Basketball on TNT is great, but the movies, I always thought they were just upconverting DVDs and was never that impressed.
Freshy @ Dec 16th 2006 12:27AM
I just watched a little of ROTK and it looks like a little of both, the detail looks HD (it certainly looks better than my DVD of FOTR on the same 720p TV) but it looks stretched to 16/9.