The Ultimate Hitchcock DVD & Blu-Ray Thread - Page 5

Guest 18933 · 23-05-2003, 12:07

MartinC - thank you very much! I'll get those added and update the site when I get home tonight.

DeadKenny - [edit] just found the info I needed at DVDCrave

Cheers everyone!

Guest 18933 · 23-05-2003, 22:04

Right folks - major update of stuff at http://daveyp.dns2go.com/hitchcock/

Please feed back with any corrections or additions!

MartinC · 23-05-2003, 23:05

good stuff tips4nt, really starting to look good.

some alterations -

you have the r1 marnie having both 4:3 and 16:9 versions on the disc... dont think so. will double check but almost certain on this.

vertigo, strangers on a train, marnie, torn curtain are all available on r4 and basically the same versions as the R2 pal universal and warner versions we have here... often cheaper though.

39 steps is also available on r4 but its probably another of those dodgy prints like the cheap US versions. see http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/2489

there are also some other r4 oddities,

dual film versions of 39 steps/ foreign agent and lady vanishes/ jamaica inn, at �5 each.
http://www.familyboxoffice.com.au/movie.asp?ID=8129
http://www.familyboxoffice.com.au/movie.asp?ID=8126

not sure if you can link to the dvdbeaver pages for comparison between region versions or run up our own versions?

for example, it would be nice to have screenshots between the r1 & r2 of
39 Steps
Notorious
Spellbound
marnie
the birds
the man who knew too much 50s version

happy to help with screenshots if needed.

a minor related plug - Rebecca, Notorious and Spellbound R2s are up for sale in my thread if anyone wants them. �5 ea.

Guest 3562 · 24-05-2003, 00:35

Quote:

Originally posted by tips4tnt
Hi everyone

I'm looking for some confirmation about the following DVDs:

Could anyone with the R2 "North by Northwest" confirm that it has the same extras as the R1 version?

Can anyone with the R2 release of To Catch a Thief confirm what the extras are? (they might be the same as the region 4 release)

Ta very much!!!!

Yes to both of the above having just checked mine

Hope that helps

Edge

Guest 18933 · 24-05-2003, 09:09

Edge - cheers!

Is there any chance you check to see if the R2 To Catch a Thief subtitles are the same languages as the R4 version? Also, did yours come in a clear Amaray case with no booklet?

MartinC - ta!

Cheers for that - I'd gone by theAmazon disc specs which implied that there were both versions on the Marnie disc.

I'll get those R4 discs added later on today

I did spot that dvdcrave have loads of early Hitchcock's listed, although with very few specs

I'm also planning to get the various boxsets added at some point, and also details of discs with the Alfred Hitchcock Present's episodes that Hitchcock actually directed (I've now found a good list of those).

Guest 3562 · 24-05-2003, 11:01

Quote:

Originally posted by tips4tnt
Edge - cheers!

Is there any chance you check to see if the R2 To Catch a Thief subtitles are the same languages as the R4 version? Also, did yours come in a clear Amaray case with no booklet?e

Audio languages and subs are the same - except the R2 has English (Hard Of Hearing) and English subtitles listed whereas your R4 only has the HoH listed - possibly a mistake on the R4 as they seem identical.

It comes in a black Amaray with a double-sided insert with the cover picture on one side and the chapter listings on the other - I don't know that you'd call it a booklet

Edg

MartinC · 25-05-2003, 23:36

a related headsup for tomorrow (okay later today 26th)

The Wrong Man (not out on DVD) is Sky Movies Cinema 2, at 12:00 and 19:15.

Its not standard Hitchcock fair as usual, but still worth a watch.

from Digiguide - A bleak, Kafkaesque drama based upon an actual New York court case involving a man who is mistakenly arrested for robbery and has to prove his innocence. Heavily in debt, a bass player at a club tries to borrow money against his wife's life insurance policy.

Guest 9043 · 25-05-2003, 23:46

wow tips4tnt, it's really looking great... I'll try and do some designs for it but if anyone's got any bright ideas for how they want the site to look, then let me know.... I'd have had a design idea up by now but have been so busy with coursework etc that I haven't had much time

but I'll get a rough idea design out very soon!

Guest 993 · 26-05-2003, 21:10

Got some scans and screenshots of the R4 of North By Northwest. I've done them to the same points as the R1 screenshots, as near as possible anyway...

http://www.deadkenny.co.uk/hitch/hitch.htm

Interesting that the quality is different. I'm not sure if that's the transfer or just down to my PC and software. I'm using PowerDVD rather than WinDVD. No average bitrate info I'm afraid, though from a quick scan it looks like it's up in the 4 to 5Mbps area.

For the specs ...

North by Northwest (1959)
Warner Brothers, released 2001
region 4 (disc is also R2 encoded)

length: 131 minutes
ratio: ?? Make your own mind up here. I did the screen grabs in PowerDVD which produces a 'pre-stretched' anamorphic 720x576 PAL image and resized in Photoshop to 16:9. i.e. 1024x576 (=1.778:1). Seems to fit, so I'd say it's 1.77:1 or thereabouts, but the cover says 1.85:1

picture: PAL colour
bitrate: ??
sound: English (DD 5.1) & Italian 1.0 mono
subtitles: English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Romanian, Bulgarian, English HoH, Italian HoH
1 disc dual layer, in amaray case

UPC: 325336006740
catalogue: 65016

Extras:

"Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest" documentary (39 minutes, DD2.0 surround).
Hosted by Eva Marie Saint, featuring Pat Hitchcock, Ernest Lehman (scriptwriter), Robert Boyle (production designer) and Martin Landau.
Commentary track by scriptwriter Ernest Lehman.
Isolated Bernard Herrmann score.
Production stills gallery.
Theatrical trailer (2 minutes, DD1.0 1.77:1 16:9) & TV spot (1 minute, DD1.0 1.77:1 16:9).

Booklet/Insert:

none

Guest 9043 · 26-05-2003, 21:28

DeadKenny, you probably alreayd know from the documetary, but look again at nbnw-R4-dvd_scene_014059.jpg.... see the kid in the back closing his ears becaus eof the upcoming gunshot? hehehe, still, one of the greatest films ever made!!

Guest 993 · 26-05-2003, 21:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Yonathan Gal
DeadKenny, you probably alreayd know from the documetary, but look again at nbnw-R4-dvd_scene_014059.jpg.... see the kid in the back closing his ears becaus eof the upcoming gunshot? hehehe, still, one of the greatest films ever made!!

, yeah I'd heard about it, though I've not watched the documentary yet. I did notice that whilst I was grabbing that frame though. Fantastic film.

Guest 9043 · 26-05-2003, 21:43

It gets bettr and better with age, and congrats to WB on their amazing transfer on the DVD.

Guest 18933 · 27-05-2003, 07:20

DeadKenny - great stuff!

I'll get the images added when I get home from work!

The bitrate viewer I've used can be downloaded from http://www.visualdomain.net/

I was wondering about the difference in screen captures due to software/hardware too. I'm guessing even stuff like the graphics card and CPU will make a difference to the captures

That kid putting his fingers in his ears never fails to crack me up

Out of interest, I did some comparisons between the R1 and R2 Psycho:

http://daveyp.dns2go.com/hitchcock/compares/psycho/

The top image in each is the R1, and the lower image is the R2. Apart from the issues mentioned at DVD Beaver, I noticed that a lot of the R2 "action" sequence were blurred as if a combination of two frames (e.g. this capture), whereas the R1 captures appeared to be single frames. Is this something to do with PAL?

Guest 18933 · 27-05-2003, 09:34

Just comparing the R4/R1 grabs for North by Northwest and my R1 grabs are considerably darker on my CRT monitor at work (I use a TFT at home) than the R4 grabs... not sure if the R1 is genuinely darker, or if it's something to do with the set up of my PC :confused:

...is anyone else finding my grabs unusually dark?

Guest 993 · 27-05-2003, 10:10

Quote:

Originally posted by tips4tnt
Just comparing the R4/R1 grabs for North by Northwest and my R1 grabs are considerably darker on my CRT monitor at work (I use a TFT at home) than the R4 grabs... not sure if the R1 is genuinely darker, or if it's something to do with the set up of my PC :confused:

...is anyone else finding my grabs unusually dark?

They're darker but looked better to me. I find my R4 grabs are too light, but then it could be my PC set up too

. The R4s seem a bit soft too. That said, on my TFT at work the R4s look a bit light also, but much better than on my home PC's monitor.

I'll play the disc on my TV and see how it comes out on there. PC monitors aren't usually adjusted for playing DVDs anyway.

Guest 18933 · 27-05-2003, 10:45

Hiya - I think my CRT monitor at work must be borked

I've run through some online calibration sites (e.g. http://epaperpress.com/monitorcal/) and I've had to pump to the monitor to 100% brightness and 100% contrast, and then increased the gfx card's gamma to get it set up correctly. Now that I've done that, the screen grabs look a lot better

Guest 10492 · 27-05-2003, 11:59

tips4tnt, dunno whether it's worth listing the Mel Brooks mickey take of Hitch - 'High Anxiety' ? It's out on DVD in Belgium (picked up a copy for �11)

IMDB - http://us.imdb.com/Title?0076141

Guest 18933 · 27-05-2003, 17:07

f_drew - I was thinking about whether or not to list some of the great parodies and homages to Hitch that have been made over the years

What does everyone else think?

I've started adding recommendations to the site for the films where there's an obvious "best" release. If anyone disagrees with my comments, please let me know!

http://daveyp.dns2go.com/hitchcock/films/39steps.html
http://daveyp.dns2go.com/hitchcock/films/notorious.html
http://daveyp.dns2go.com/hitchcock/films/vertigo.html
http://daveyp.dns2go.com/hitchcock/films/psycho.html
http://daveyp.dns2go.com/hitchcock/films/birds.html
http://daveyp.dns2go.com/hitchcock/films/topaz.html

MartinC · 27-05-2003, 20:59

tip4nt, I was going to suggest the dvd beaver comparison pages but you've already put them in... good job!

the pages are really looking excellent content-wise.

Guest 9043 · 27-05-2003, 21:10

I agree 100% with your recommendations as the best dvd package...