Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

Discuss North American DVDs and Blu-rays or other DVD and Blu-ray-related topics.
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swo17
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#476 Post by swo17 » Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:27 pm

Years from now, all you are going to remember is that you got this set for $100 shortly after its release.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#477 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:30 pm

I'm gonna be pretty depressed if I still remember that years from now.

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Peacock
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#478 Post by Peacock » Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:20 pm

From what I'd heard David, the mono track for Vertigo, or at least the HD one, is exclusive to the US release. I guess you've proven it... Sad news as are your revised thoughts on the Marnie transfer.

Noodles1977
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#479 Post by Noodles1977 » Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:00 am

"Saboteur" transfer is subpar. They could have done better even this is minor Hitch. "The rope" leaves a lot to be desired. "The man who knows too much" needs to be restored. And what can they do with the poor "Marnie"?

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domino harvey
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#480 Post by domino harvey » Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:12 am

"The rope"

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mfunk9786
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#481 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Nov 01, 2012 12:17 pm

I promise I won't post about this again, but if I see "Label Created" one more time, I'll scream.

EDIT: A guy on Blu-ray.com says he ordered it on 10/29 when it reappeared as In Stock and he's already received it. What the fuck is going on with my order?!

Strevlac
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#482 Post by Strevlac » Thu Nov 01, 2012 7:47 pm

So Peerpee, how does it feel to be vindicated about your early reviews?

Strevlac
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#483 Post by Strevlac » Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:26 pm

My thoughts:

Saboteur and Shadow Of A Doubt look fine.

Rope looks fine outside of color registration issues. I have seen much, much worse fringing in 3-strip productions. People all over are complaining about the color but I have a hunch that it's correct as the infamous Natalie Kalmus was the technicolor consultant of this.

Rear Window, The Trouble With Harry and Vertigo all look great to me.

The Man Who Knew Too Much. Well there has surely been an outcry on this one from all quarters. I'm unsure of how many of these people have actually watched it all the way through, or have ever even seen film with variable levels of fading. Or even know what film is. I think more than a few are following Robert Harris' lead, who is out for blood about it and claimed it comes from a film element that is completely oxidized, along with being the worst BD in 5 years (the life of the format?) and orders of a magnitude worse than Patton.

Well, it's not perfect. Yes there are fade and pulsing issues. Yes there is some dirt. But you know what? It's really mostly not that bad. There are stretches of the film with beautiful color and resolution. The transfer looks new to me, with no traces of digital tinkering as far as I could tell. Grain looks like grain and, save for the opticals, is fairly fine. Call me crazy but I'm ok with this one. It looks like film.

North By Northwest looks fairly good but has a bit too much digital trickery for it to look exactly like film.

Psycho is OK but also has a bit of an electronic look.

The Birds: Most people will love it. I don't. It's a typical Universal 4K "restoration" that has been heavily digitally massaged complete with grain patterns reacting to the software making it move in strange ways.

Marnie is a mess. I don't know what the hell happened to this one but that ain't film grain. It's just as Peerpee described it. He's even right about it dissapearing at the beginning of chapter 18. This one is a major botch job.

Topaz and Frenzy are both DNR'd and then edge enhanced. Color is very nice, but ultimately these two fail.

Family Plot is awful on a completely new level.

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oldsheperd
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#484 Post by oldsheperd » Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:43 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:I promise I won't post about this again, but if I see "Label Created" one more time, I'll scream.

EDIT: A guy on Blu-ray.com says he ordered it on 10/29 when it reappeared as In Stock and he's already received it. What the fuck is going on with my order?!

Mine shipped yesterday:

Image

Just kidding, Mfunk. But mine did ship yesterday.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#485 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Nov 01, 2012 11:28 pm

oldsheperd wrote:
mfunk9786 wrote:I promise I won't post about this again, but if I see "Label Created" one more time, I'll scream.

EDIT: A guy on Blu-ray.com says he ordered it on 10/29 when it reappeared as In Stock and he's already received it. What the fuck is going on with my order?!

Mine shipped yesterday:

Image

Just kidding, Mfunk. But mine did ship yesterday.
I am convinced that this is officially a conspiracy against me.

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arsonfilms
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#486 Post by arsonfilms » Thu Nov 01, 2012 11:42 pm

You're not the only one. I'm stuck in "label created" limbo too, and getting awfully irritable about it.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#487 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Nov 01, 2012 11:44 pm

Hey, and you live where I live! Maybe they just hate us geographically. At least someone's in this with me. Of course, now yours'll ship tomorrow and I'll be all alone.

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arsonfilms
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#488 Post by arsonfilms » Thu Nov 01, 2012 11:54 pm

Well that seems unlikely, although there may be something to the geography thing...

Hopefully next week we don't wind up in that bar around the corner together, crying about Fingerhut.

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Grand Wazoo
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#489 Post by Grand Wazoo » Fri Nov 02, 2012 9:53 am

I'm in Brooklyn and still in this "label created" purgatory as well. Then again mail may be a bit slow here for a little while...

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mfunk9786
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#490 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Nov 02, 2012 9:58 am

Maybe they're deliberately holding off from shipping to our areas, but that seems crazy to me. That's a lot of foresight.

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arsonfilms
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#491 Post by arsonfilms » Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:04 am

Bad news, folks...

Without warning, without notification and without any change in the status until right this moment -

The box set was just delivered.

I'm pulling for you guys, though. Maybe mfunk's box was on the same truck?

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mfunk9786
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#492 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:18 am

FedEx? As of yesterday evening (I have a service that shows what FedEx packages are headed to me because of work), nothing was on its way to me. Fudge. Well, congratulations. I knew you'd abandon me.

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Peacock
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#493 Post by Peacock » Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:25 am

Any chance of a thread split for the sake of those of us not caring about mfunk's delivery worries?

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mfunk9786
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#494 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:28 am

Sorry. I was just having fun with it. Didn't mean to offend anyone with my selfish comments. Please feel free to resume griping about how much you all hate this set.

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ShellOilJunior
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#495 Post by ShellOilJunior » Fri Nov 02, 2012 11:29 am

Back in stock at The Hut....

I grabbed one. It said I should receive before 11/9.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#496 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Nov 02, 2012 11:51 am

I tried to order it again (better to get two copies than no copies, as my order remains in limbo) and it appears that it's back out of stock. I was getting all sorts of glitches as I tried to order it - it was like a WootOff

Strevlac
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#497 Post by Strevlac » Fri Nov 02, 2012 12:22 pm

david hare wrote:Interestingly we watched Man Who projected last night (on 100 inch diagonal screen.) I frankly don't see any real pulsing or fluctuation issues, but what is clear is that the transfer was done by someone who has genuinely had to work with very compromised elements - and they have done an attentive and consistent job guiding it through the digital beauty shop. The last 30 minutes in particular are completely consistent in quality and the viewing experience is quite good. It's certainly a far cry from the DVNR catastrophe on show elsewhere in the box.

If you can find the Scorsese doco "A Personal Journey thorugh American Movies" you can see that mint quality IB grab from the opening of Rope - a perfect litmus test for skin tone, contrast, and palette. It has real depth and classic 40s Tech "amber" skin tone/makeup. This is the print they need to find. The current BD and previous SDs have manipulated or flat color which doesn't even reflect la Kalmus. I frankly do not see any problematic registration issues or even pusling/color contrast fluctuation at all in this transfer.

So I really agree with you on all of these, except perhaps the Birds. But I may even find I change my mind on that after a projection screening tonight.

I am also glad to see you have some issues with the Warner/Ned Price redo of NBNW. The first and most obvious problem with it is the overdosing of yellow in the color temp. Skin tones become ugly, tanned parodies of Tech. The same over balance to yellow of course ruins Ned Price's revision of The Searchers (which they are now re doing.)
Thank you for the comments. I'm taking a savage beating over on the Home Theater Forum regarding my opinion of TMWKTM. It seems once certain people have spoken, their words become cannon and everyone lines up to follow their lead regardless if they have even seen the thing.

The color pulsing issue is there. But you know a funny thing: it's there in a lot of movies. It's there is Black Narcissus, which received the highest marks over at HTF. Variable fade issues are hardly uncommon. You'd think none of them had ever seen anything like it. It's amazing.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#498 Post by hearthesilence » Sat Nov 03, 2012 10:58 am

Strevlac wrote:The color pulsing issue is there. But you know a funny thing: it's there in a lot of movies. It's there is Black Narcissus, which received the highest marks over at HTF. Variable fade issues are hardly uncommon. You'd think none of them had ever seen anything like it. It's amazing.
I just saw Criterion's Black Narcissus BD last week and noticed the same thing. It's not bad, but there's definitely "pulsing" and left me wondering if it's too difficult to completely eradicate? FWIW, I was watching this on a 55" screen that was pretty close to the couch, and I'm certain that made it more noticeable.

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tenia
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#499 Post by tenia » Sat Nov 03, 2012 11:32 am

I too saw the pulsing on Black Narcissus (Carlotta release) but it is also noticeable quite easily on numerous scenes of The Red Shoes.

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ShellOilJunior
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Re: Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

#500 Post by ShellOilJunior » Sat Nov 03, 2012 3:37 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Sorry. I was just having fun with it. Didn't mean to offend anyone with my selfish comments. Please feel free to resume griping about how much you all hate this set.
Seems you have reason to be frustrated with Fingerhut. I ordered the set Friday and received a shipping notice today...

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