Alfred Hitchcock first 4K UHD titles announced

I feel like breaking open the champagne

Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window and Vertigo will receive a 4K release later in the year.

Coffret Alfred Hitchcock 4 films - Films Blu-ray Ultra HD 4k

 

Wow, that is amazing. I hope those old movies don't get too grainy -- that's a huge problem for 4K HDR. I'm about to start a late-1970s 4K HDR film restoration project, and I'm already nervous about the grain issues.

 

Thank you the posts today...be interesting to hear what type of supplements will be be with each film upgrade to 4K...it's about time they started...hope they do a excellent job handling each film!

 

Hard to do with so many key talent being deceased. Even AH's daughter is in her 90's.

Psycho 1998 picture in picture film bonus?

 

vertigo already looks stunning. in fact it looks better than the majority of most 4k bluray films. Rear window is also a stunner. The birds slightly less so. As for black and white movies on 4k bluray. I am not convinced. I had its a wonderful life on 4k bluray and it looks awful compared to the bluray release.
Id love to see north by northwest on 4k bluray
I am not sure about the black and white films. we shall have to see how psycho comes out. the 4k bluray format isnt really designed to work with black and white with the hdr

 

I personally like the grain remaining in these older titles to be honest but indeed, it really depends how they handle it.

I suspect we will see very little in terms of extra content although maybe we can see some of the extras from the recent German Psycho box added.

The Birds, now there is a worrisome movie with regards to 4K. I saw it late last year on the big screen and it was so much fun but some of those scenes could look dreadful in 4K if not done right.

 

Where's North by Northwest???? I think it's his biggest crowd pleaser.

 

C'mon North By Northwest
C'mon Rope
C'mon The Man Who Knew Too Much

 

theres a lot of rights issues with hitchcock movies. thats why there isnt a complete hitchcock boxset

 

we need to get a complete restoration of marnie. the bluray release is a complete mess. its a brilliant film too.

 

people have quite rightly mentioned grain issues. theres also silk screening. did hitchcock screen his actresses. at 4k that could be a major issue if he did.

 

Psycho and Vertigo are now 4K on iTunes. If you’ve bought these via iTunes in the past, your HD copies were automatically upgraded to the new releases, for free.

Gonna watch Vertigo tonight, Psycho this weekend

 

That's good...how about finishing Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour!

 

That is great to know, I didn't realize itunes sold movies to that level, I have already pre-order the discs and don't regret it one bit but how would you rate the 4K of movies in iTunes versus what you get on UHD discs?

Edit: Never mind about the 4K I've just discovered you can only watch 4k with Apple TV

 

I’m probably gonna express an “unpopular” opinion, especially in light of folks that keyboard-argue more on theory vs. real world experience.

Keeping in mind I have 150+ UHD discs, and 284 iTunes 4K titles. Probably 100 of those iTunes 4K titles don’t have physical releases. My viewing is either my 65” LG OLED or 60” Pioneer Elite Plasma. Both professionally calibrated for wonderful grayscale and accurate color and black level/gamma reproduction.

I think the iTunes 4K quality is terrific. Apple uses a special/unique codec to deliver their 4K titles via streaming, and I really have a hard time recalling where/when I notice any picture quality differences between their UHD Blu-ray Disc counter part. I still do buy physical titles, and will do so for “special” ones like these Hitchcock titles. But for movies that are not near-and-dear to my heart, I enjoy the hell out of the 4K iTunes versions. I often get these titles for $3-$6, either on sale or on the secondary code market. That’s barely more than the price of a rental. Combine that with the fact that they don’t take up any shelf space, and I couldn’t be happier with my nearly 900 iTunes movie titles.

 

There’s a few newer 4K TVs that can utilize an AppleTV app (i.e. without an AppleTV) to watch in 4K.

 

I do see the point on movies that are not must have or when there is no physical release like I've just discovered Stage Fright on HD while it is only available on DVD so far. I have seen good Netflix 4k but to me is never the same as a disc.

I am not sure if I misunderstood this but do you really need to have the Apple TV box to be able to watch their 4K versions?

 

I am not sure about mine however it kind of complicate things for me as I use a projector that while 2K still provides a huge improvement using 4K discs. If I use the box or an app that sees the projector is not 4K might force me into the more compressed HD version of the download. I could use the TV but is not the same as on the big screen.

 

If your projector can accept 3840 x 2160 @ 23.98 (aka 4K) via HDMI, then that’s the resolution the Apple TV will output. If not, it will force the HD version.

 

That's good to know, thank you!

 

yes, would like to see all of these at some point in a Blu-Ray boxset.

 

If you look at "North by Northwest" , he does that with Cary Grant as well. His close-ups are relatively "hazy" compared to other shots in the film in super sharp VistaVision

 

Indeed! ...I'm ready to buy! probably never come to fruition.

 

4K : what about back projection?

 

If you are talking about an all in one type of large rear projection (TV) units that would be now around 15? or more years old then is less likely it would take the 4K signal. You need to check the manual or try it but most of those would have been only standard definition which is DVD level.