(Updates in Red Below) Today is the day! At 3pm ET (worldwide), Peter Jackson will be sharing an exclusive peek at ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug‘ and answering previously submitted video questions from fans worldwide. The staff here at TheOneRing.net will be covering the event but we wanted to share a few tidbits of information before the big event…

1. Limited Access

hobbit_auj ultraviolet code

The live event is limited to holders of an UltraViolet™ code, available by purchasing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which is in most locations now on Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack and 2-disc DVD Special. Users should go to www.thehobbit.com/sneak at 3pm ET and enter their code to participate. According to James Nesbitt, an ‘edited version will be archived for later viewing.’ If you are unlucky enough to live in an area where the film has not been released on Blu-ray/DVD yet, at least you know you’ll be able to see the event at a later date. If you read the fine print on the sheet included in your Blu-Ray/DVD however, it does say ‘Content may not be available after 5/24/13.’ This is what we call ‘covering our butts’ with fine print. Our expectation is the content will be available.

The broadcast will be in English only and last no longer than 1 hour. 

Attention UK Ringers: Thanks to Ringer Morgulvortex for sending along this info…

If you pre-ordered The Hobbit (Blu-ray or 3D Blu-ray) from Amazon.co.uk before today a code will have been sent to your e-mail address. Even though it’s being released in April!!!

Also we have a different website to view the live event; http://wwws.warnerbros.co.uk/thehobbitpart1/sneak/

2. Technical Requirements

According to more fine print….

Users should have a PC with Windows 2000 or higher or Mac computer with OS X 10.3 or higher and a high-speed internet connection, and Adobe Flash Player 10.0.22+ plug-in. Browser should be Firefox 1.1 or above, Internet Explorer 7.0 or above, Safari 1.0 or above, Google Chrome or Opera.

Mobile users should have iOS 3.0 or above or Android OS Version 3.0 or above or devices with a Flash plugin.

3. Start Time

The event starts at 3pm ET – Click here for a full list of the start time in your region! [Start Time]

4. Fan Questions

Peter will be answering previously submitted fan questions. These questions were required to be in the form of a video and submitted by March 19th. There is unlikely going to be a ‘live’ component to interact with Peter, but we do know the official hashtag for the event is #Hobbit2SneakPeek. Update: You can also tweet questions LIVE to Peter Jackson using #askPeterlive. So tweet away!

We of course will have loads of fans hanging out in our live chatroom, Barlimans. [Connect to Barlimans]

5. So what will we actually see?!

Bottom line, we’ll probably see a condensed trailer of some sort. We can expect to see our first glimpses of Legolas, Tauriel, Beorn and maybe Bard. We did see quite a bit of Smaug in AUJ, but we don’t believe we’ll get a full reveal of Smaug at this point. (Although it would be amazing if we did!!) 

Since WB is hoping folks continue to buy copies of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and log in with their UltraViolet code to view this sneak peek, we can deduce we won’t see this tease in the form of a trailer until May/June in front of a big WB summer release.

6. What about TheOneRing.net’s Coverage?

During the event, you can join our staff in Barlimans to chat during the entire event. We will also be tweeting along with #Hobbit2SneakPeek @theoneringnet.

Immediately following the event, our staff will be compiling our comments and posting a comprehensive analysis of everything revealed.

You’ll want to stay tuned to TheOneRing.net for the next day or so as we digest every single detail!

So we’ll see you at the big event!

Jump over to www.thehobbit.com/sneak!