The 10-bit BDRip achieved near-Blu-ray quality at 37% of the bitrate. Banding was virtually eliminated in skies, smoke, and the shimmering light around Arwen’s rescue scene. 5.1 Why 10-bit Excels for Lord of the Rings The trilogy’s frequent use of fog, mist, and magical bioluminescence creates large areas of low-contrast pixel values. In 8-bit, the difference between two adjacent shades may be only 1–2 code values, leading to visible steps. 10-bit provides 64× more granularity, smoothing these transitions.