Lord of the Rings extended editions NOT in 4K HDR

Im in Denmark too, its really weird. When I go on to my macbook, my copy of Hobbit An unexpected Journey Extended edition, show as HD version in my library (all other middle earth films have upgraded to 4K), but when I go to the store page and find it there, it shows as 4K(but it doenst give me the option to re-buy so its not a new copy), although I dont actually know how to check what version the playback is, since there is no quick menu on the macbook as far as I know.

I believe its the same on my apple TV, but I am gonna have to check that when I get home.

From my experience, if your library copy says 'HD' then it will only play in HD (i.e. it's an accurate label). If it says '4K', then devices capable of playing 4K content will stream the 4K version (I can tell if LotR is 4K by the remastered image, but I'm less certain for The Hobbit).

But yeah, endlessly annoying that the TV app on Mac has no kind of Inspector like QuickTime does. Even the library's List View only shows 'HD', even when 4K is available (and even when filtering 4K content!)

Very curious about this as well. I already own all 6 films EE in HD. I see Vudu has the 6-film bundle on sale for $50, and I’d like to buy it there and have it sync to iTunes. But it seems like this is a gamble at the moment.

It’s odd that the VUDU app has all 6 EE movies that I own in 4K but only display as HD in Apple TV and iTunes.

I’m not buying these again. Especially since next summer there will be yet another release.

How much money do they need from us? Jeez

I have found a weird workaround. On my Mac all six EE films are listed in 4K but on my phone, iPad and Apple TV only 3 of them are.

However, if I start watching one on my Mac so it appears in ‘Up Next’ area of ‘Watch Now’ on my Apple TV, it will show it as 4K when continuing and then pressing the menu button on the TV . But starting the film on the Apple TV it shows HD.

Something has gone wrong with the upgrades of these films

Oh my god..... my family and I did a Hobbit marathon today and just finished, and then I tried your workaround and it worked! I wish I'd known this morning! (Though there is a small chance that I did watch AUE in 4K as I started it from Up Next and could well have previously been testing it on a Mac...)

I now have a different issue with AUE — my mother is slightly hard of hearing and pretty much always needs subtitles now, but AUE doesn't have English subtitles in either HD or 4K! Luckily she's seen the film enough times before to follow pretty well but she still found it hard. Desolation and Five Armies both have them!

Here in NL they've finally all upgraded my copies to 4K HDR, I checked an hour ago on my MacBook and they were still HD, checked just now and saw they got upgraded. It looks like they're busy with getting it sorted around the world now.

I bit the bullet and bought the 6-film extended edition collection on Vudu for $50 and it looks like all six films immediately synced via Movies Anywhere and shows up as 4K on all my devices in iTunes/Apple TV apps. 👍

On my Mac, the extended versions are listed as being 4K. I’m in the US. On my Apple TV 4K box, they are not. i called Apple and they couldn’t seem to figure it out. The call dropped and they didn’t call back.

On a whim, I tried buying the extended edition trilogy for $25. Nothing additional showed up in my library of purchased movies but now each of the three films is 4K.

I suspect that the iTunes team somehow forgot to mark the individual films as being upgraded and only upgraded the bundle.

I’m going to call back tomorrow and ask for a credit for the $25.

What I discovered was that Apple only upgrades your movies to 4K that you bought from them. I didn’t buy The Lord of the Rings trilogy from Apple. I bought DVDs and got an iTunes code with them. That’s why I had to pay again for the 4K versions.

I did buy The Hobbit movies from them so those were all upgraded to 4K for free. I just wish the three different people I spoke to at Apple thought to ask if I had bought the movies from Apple. That would have saved a lot of time.

I’ve been desperately trying to get the 4K upgrade for the LOTR EE since they have been made available in December but no dice until I read your post and tried it by myself. It worked ! Thanks for letting us know :)

I’m in Mexico, and the iTunes Store here has upgraded my three movies (extended versions) to 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, so I expect any time soon they will upgrade them in all stores worldwide.

Same here. I suspect a glitch in the Matrix

That would be up to the studio. Apple does not own those.

I haven't seen anything about the extended editions being released in 4K HDR yet.