UHD International Hitchcock's Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window, Vertigo on 4K UHD - September 2020 (France)! (1 Viewer)

[Neil S. Bulk]

You can write to Universal here about the "Psycho" issue: https://www.uphe.com/en/contact-support

 

[AlexNH]

Ken, can you tell us about the UK audio? Same problems as USA discs?

 

[Dave MJ]

You can write to Universal here about the "Psycho" issue: https://www.uphe.com/en/contact-support

Thanks. We should respectfully request replacement discs. It's interesting that Amazon has not allowed any reviews of the set to be posted so far. I'm guessing quite a few have been submitted.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Thanks. We should respectfully request replacement discs.

That's what I did.

 

[Douglas R]

Ken, can you tell us about the UK audio? Same problems as USA discs?

I'm not Ken but on the UK release the UK audio on both Vertigo and Psycho are downmixes. However, the original theatrical mono for both films can be heard on the Russian, Czech and Polish audio tracks!

 

[Johnny Angell]

VERTIGO which is on the top of my list as best film, looks fantastic .
The revelation for me is The Birds. I've never seen it look so good. There is one scene though with Tippi and Rod at the children's party that clearly was shot on a set ...the sand must have been flown in.
Otherwise I found the film more gripping that ever.

I’ll bet that’s scene at the top of a dune. It looks like a set on the blu ray too.

 

[Mark B]

I’ll bet that’s scene at the top of a dune. It looks like a set on the blu ray too.

That looked like a set on UHF.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

I'm not Ken but on the UK release the UK audio on both Vertigo and Psycho are downmixes. However, the original theatrical mono for both films can be heard on the Russian, Czech and Polish audio tracks!

I'm pretty sure the mono on the US 4K of Vertigo is the authentic original. What leads you to believe the UK one is a downmix?

 

[Paul_Warren]

I will say a little about PQ for The Birds & Rear Window have watched both now from the UK 4K UHD Disc set.

The Birds - Looks very good indeed. Massive upgrade on any previous home video release. This alone is worth the entire cost of the box set to me

All the outdoor natural lighting scenes look very good considering its a 57 year old movie. The studio shot scenes, closeups & optical composites all look better than they ever did but here they still look soft, lacking detail at times & like they are shot on different film stock or lenses (most likely they were!). However, it still looks way better than it ever did & Universal spent a lot of time clearing up all the dirt, print damage & tears as the image is flawless in that respect & colour balance looks excellent. Realistically there is now way it could look much better so I think this is the best we will ever get now from a home video release.

Universal did a excellent job on The Birds


Rear Window - Again looks better than it ever did on home video. The early few mins are a bit troublesome as the image judders a little on the brick patterns but this could just be the nature of converting the old film to a 21st century digital format then pressing onto a 4K UHD disc. Or it could be you need better equipment than I have to eliminate that!

Variable DNR seems to have been used a bit here. The giveaway is some scenes look as you would expect then the next has the variable DNR so detail is scrubbed & it has a slight waxy look about it then it changes again on the next scene! The whole image varies a bit from scene to scene sometimes it looks like its an upscaled BD other times closer to film.

Overall its still the best it ever looked on a home video format I suspect it probably did not have as much resource put into it as The Birds & was left to auto pilot rather than have extensive frame by frame analysis. The image is very clean, no dirt, hairs or damage those were all removed & repaired. Colour balance looks fine to me. Its a classic 66 year old movie so I guess you have to make allowances for that & how good a condition the source elements were.

Universal did a good job on Rear Window

I understand from friends Vertigo is stunning so I shall get around to watching that next!

 

[Osato]

Dvdbeaver has posted a review of the set:

The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection 4K UHD

www.dvdbeaver.com

 

[Robert Crawford]

Target has sold out. Amazon has discounted down to $59.99 and is listed as in-stock. With that said, I'm still telling myself "patience young padawan or something to that effect".

 

[Johnny Angell]

I will say a little about PQ for The Birds & Rear Window have watched both now from the UK 4K UHD Disc set.

The Birds - Looks very good indeed. Massive upgrade on any previous home video release. This alone is worth the entire cost of the box set to me

All the outdoor natural lighting scenes look very good considering its a 57 year old movie. The studio shot scenes, closeups & optical composites all look better than they ever did but here they still look soft, lacking detail at times & like they are shot on different film stock or lenses (most likely they were!). However, it still looks way better than it ever did & Universal spent a lot of time clearing up all the dirt, print damage & tears as the image is flawless in that respect & colour balance looks excellent. Realistically there is now way it could look much better so I think this is the best we will ever get now from a home video release.

Universal did a excellent job on The Birds


Rear Window - Again looks better than it ever did on home video. The early few mins are a bit troublesome as the image judders a little on the brick patterns but this could just be the nature of converting the old film to a 21st century digital format then pressing onto a 4K UHD disc. Or it could be you need better equipment than I have to eliminate that!

Variable DNR seems to have been used a bit here. The giveaway is some scenes look as you would expect then the next has the variable DNR so detail is scrubbed & it has a slight waxy look about it then it changes again on the next scene! The whole image varies a bit from scene to scene sometimes it looks like its an upscaled BD other times closer to film.

Overall its still the best it ever looked on a home video format I suspect it probably did not have as much resource put into it as The Birds & was left to auto pilot rather than have extensive frame by frame analysis. The image is very clean, no dirt, hairs or damage those were all removed & repaired. Colour balance looks fine to me. Its a classic 66 year old movie so I guess you have to make allowances for that & how good a condition the source elements were.

Universal did a good job on Rear Window

I understand from friends Vertigo is stunning so I shall get around to watching that next!

May I assume a review of the UK set is like reviewing the US set?

 

[Garysb]

Set is now $59.99 at Amazon. Price that currently shows on link $64.99 is currently incorrect.
See on Amazon

 

[AlexNH]

Target has sold out. Amazon has discounted down to $59.99 and is listed as in-stock. With that said, I'm still telling myself "patience young padawan or something to that effect".

Wise thinking. There's a lot of misinformation out there. Apparently the Vertigo disc audio is correct. There were a lot of people saying it was missing the mono track, however, that is claim is apparently erroneous.

 

[Jeff F.]

All of the films except for The Birds are now in 4K on Apple iTunes. I’m really hoping that It, too, will be upgraded soon. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the new transfer.

 

[haineshisway]

I’ll bet that’s scene at the top of a dune. It looks like a set on the blu ray too.

It's a set because that scene wasn't in the original script and was added during filming.

 

[Paul_Warren]

Watched Vertigo now.

Well it looks better than it ever did on a home video format.....but the source material really looks average 4K UHD wise most of the time sadly.

Outdoor scenes in natural daylight look excellent for a 62 year old movie. Although I would expect that as its Vista Vision (1st 4K UHD for the format as well I believe!). If only they would give us The Trouble With Harry, NBNW or Gunfight At The Ok Corral on 4K UHD someday!

But most of Vertigo uses those soft camera filter lenses & heavy makeup to make the actors look flawless & by doing so all detail is scrubbed away so you are left with a very soft looking picture most of the time & detail is missing in the faces they look a little too waxy & smeared. Also again sadly one of the final key scenes of the movie around the 2:03 mark approx goes so blurry it honesty looks like VHS upscaled to 4K! Not sure its the source material or a mastering issue but its very noticeable even though its a very dark scene in the bell tower before they reach the roof (for the last time). I checked the BD I have from the 2013 Vol2 (7 Hitchcock movies compilation) its not present on there at all.

I think Universal did all they could with this & the source material available (its based on the restoration as there is an end credit card thanking Robert Harris & James Katz). For once this is probably an example of perhaps a new BD would have been almost good enough as 4K UHD highlights the technical limitations of bringing a 62 year old movie into a new century.

 

[Craig Beam]

My copy arrived today. Ugh. It wouldn't be a Universal Hitchcock release without some problems, right? First off, the PSYCHO mono track definitely is NOT the original mono (as others have suspected/reported). There are two dead giveaways: In the first scene, right after Marion says "Oh, we can see each other; we can even have dinner," there should be an audible double horn-honk from the street below. Later, right when Marion turns on the shower, there should NOT be a squeak when she turns the faucet. In all the English tracks, the horns don't honk and the shower faucet squeaks (meanwhile, the French track is correct, sacré bleu!). The English mono track from the previous Blu-ray was correct.

VERTIGO looks pretty amazing most of the time. No complaints.

I haven't checked Rear Window or The Birds yet.

DAMN, this packaging is horrendous. The disc envelopes are incredibly tight, and it's seriously difficult to get them out (I was actually afraid I was going to do some damage just pulling them out). I'm gonna put the discs in individual poly CD sleeves (which is what I did with the earlier Masterpiece set). Almost as annoying is the fact that the graphic design is more or less identical to the earlier Masterpiece set. If I'm gonna buy these films yet again, I'd appreciate something new (or at least different) to look at.

 

[Gary16]

Watched Vertigo now.

Well it looks better than it ever did on a home video format.....but the source material really looks average 4K UHD wise most of the time sadly.

Outdoor scenes in natural daylight look excellent for a 62 year old movie. Although I would expect that as its Vista Vision (1st 4K UHD for the format as well I believe!). If only they would give us The Trouble With Harry, NBNW or Gunfight At The Ok Corral on 4K UHD someday!

But most of Vertigo uses those soft camera filter lenses & heavy makeup to make the actors look flawless & by doing so all detail is scrubbed away so you are left with a very soft looking picture most of the time & detail is missing in the faces they look a little too waxy & smeared. Also again sadly one of the final key scenes of the movie around the 2:03 mark approx goes so blurry it honesty looks like VHS upscaled to 4K! Not sure its the source material or a mastering issue but its very noticeable even though its a very dark scene in the bell tower before they reach the roof (for the last time). I checked the BD I have from the 2013 Vol2 (7 Hitchcock movies compilation) its not present on there at all.

I think Universal did all they could with this & the source material available (its based on the restoration as there is an end credit card thanking Robert Harris & James Katz). For once this is probably an example of perhaps a new BD would have been almost good enough as 4K UHD highlights the technical limitations of bringing a 62 year old movie into a new century.

“Vertigo” looks great on my system. Sharp. Excellent detail and color.

 

[haineshisway]

Just finished watching the "new" Psycho Blu-ray. I then looked at the UK previous Blu-ray and yes, it's NOT the original mono track - it's more than just the sfx - it's the quality of the music, which sounds great in the original mono and muffled as hell in the folded down mono. And yes, confusing wording if you're watching the uncut. I'm guessing it has to be a new scan because of the uncut footage, but It doesn't really look much better - just a bit darker - I think I prefer the older UK Blu-ray, but I'll have to watch this again and of course I'm not seeing the 4K, which may be a significant improvement.

The original Psycho mix is brilliant - it didn't need ANY help from anyone and frankly there shouldn't even be a "stereo" track.