Monday, August 23, 2010

BD impressions: Psycho

12:48 PM / BD Impressions / Comments10 Comments

BD Impressions
Blu-ray

There's not a whole lot of point in me writing paragraph after paragraph about PSYCHO, since I doubt I can say anything about it that hasn't already been said more eloquently by someone else. A landmark in horror cinema, it's certainly not my favourite Hitchcock film - I would rank NORTH BY NORTHWEST, REAR WINDOW and THE BIRDS above it - but I can absolutely understand why others put it at the top of their lists. I can't remember when I first saw it, but I do know that, when I did, I already knew how it ended thanks to the whole thing being given away on one of those Channel 4 "100 greatest..." shows, and it's a testament to the quality of the film that my experience of it didn't really suffer as a result. (Although maybe if it had been a complete surprise, I WOULD have put it at the top of my Hitchcock list? We'll never know...)

Image quality: When all said and done, a good presentation, but one that is hamstrung by the materials at the studio's disposal. I'm unclear as to whether PSYCHO's camera negative still exists, but it seems not to have been used for this release. (This is certainly Robert Harris' opinion as per this review, which is as damn near close to confirmation as you're likely to get.) It looks to be the same master that was used for the standard definition DVD included in the Hitchcock MASTERPIECE COLLECTION set from 2005... with the caveat that some additional grain reduction appears to have been applied to this release. The previous DVD was certainly grainy, perhaps more so than was intended given that it was presumably taken from a source a generation or two removed from the negative, but the result here looks rather artificial and leads to an inconsistent image. Detail ranges from very good to not that great at all, and the overall effect is at times more akin to video than to film. Some of the flaws, obviously, were unavoidable given the source material, but had this additional noise reduction not been applied, I would undoubtedly have been rating it a lot higher. 6.5/10

Psycho
studio: Universal; country: UK; region code: ABC; codec: VC-1;
file size: 31.1 GB; average bit rate (including audio): 40.99 Mbit/sec

Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho Psycho

 
10 Comments

1. Ronny said:

Well, that's disappointing to read. I'll still buy it because it is a great film, but it's sad that an influential masterpiece has been treated this way.

(Posted on Monday, August 23, 2010 at 1:32 PM)

2. bosque said:

Yes, what a pity about the DNR although Michael and RAH are maybe erring on the side of ultra-criticality. This was the first horror film which at 11 years old robbed me of a night of sleep, scared-stiff that one of the old dears from the nearby OAP home would escape with a knife and come looking for prey.

(Posted on Monday, August 23, 2010 at 3:36 PM)

3. FoxyMulder said:

I haven't seen it but how can you be sure grain reduction was applied, i did click the Robert Harris link leading me to DVD Beaver and they seem to think the release is excellent and used a fine grain master.

So what is it that made you think grain reduction was applied. ?

(Posted on Monday, August 23, 2010 at 3:47 PM)

4. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Foxy:

The fact that the image has all the characteristics of grain reduction: slow, sluggish-moving grain, static patterns, smearing and waxiness in certain shots (check out http://www.landofwhimsy.com/hdcaptures/psycho7.jpg and http://www.landofwhimsy.com/hdcaptures/psycho10.jpg)... but perhaps most of all, the fact that the previous DVD release, seemingly derived from the same master, shows considerably more in the way of grain.

For what it's worth, my brother, a DVD/BD author who has pretty extensive experience with grain reduction algorithms and knows what this sort of thing looks like, also immediately said "degrained" within seconds of popping the disc in.

(Posted on Monday, August 23, 2010 at 4:01 PM)

5. FoxyMulder said:

It seems the more mass market blu ray becomes the more this happens, i was hoping this one would be great, i'm disappointed now, still i guess it will satisfy the majority of the market so this will become more common. I'll probably rent this one later in the year, hopefully The Birds which is my favourite Hitchcock film along with North By Northwest and Spellbound will get a better release. ( I doubt it )

If that wasn't bad enough i have recently been reading up on what is happening with some film soundtracks and how some are being "tamed" for the home environment.

I suppose it could be worse, it could look like Zulu or Basic Instinct ( American edition )

(Posted on Monday, August 23, 2010 at 4:33 PM)

6. BobaFett said:

I agree that shots 7 and 10 look a bit waxy. Together with your other observations it makes sense to assume that some grain reduction has been applied to the film.

According to Torsten Kaiser the transfer has been made from a previously unused fine grain master (however I don't know the source of his information) and I have to say that the other shots don't have that same waxiness. So should this have been grain reduced it seems to have been applied very carefully, so that I don't get the impression that the transfer looks like video.

I haven't watched the disc myself yet, as it just arrived and I only had the chance to quickly skip through some scenes so far, so my main impressions still come from the screen shots. There seem to be some instances of dirt and scratches here and there, but personally those don't really bother me.

I am a bit surprised about your image rating of 6.5. In comparison the transfer of "North by Northwest" (which you rated 8) looks a lot softer and waxier to me (at least on the available screen shots) - enough so that I still haven't bought that disc yet. The lack of an original mono track surely added to that.

(Posted on Monday, August 23, 2010 at 8:45 PM)

7. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Bobafett:

This is one case where I'm not convinced the captures tell the whole story. Grain is certainly present in the captures, but when you see it in motion it quickly becomes clear that it has been interfered with.

To be honest, I wavered between a 6 and a 7 out of 10 for this disc. I ultimately broke one of my own cardinal rules and gave it a half-way mark because I thought a 7 would have been too generous, whereas a 6 would have lowered it to the same level as something like A CLOCKWORK ORANGE or BATMAN BEGINS, both of which it's noticeably better than.

And to my eyes, NORTH BY NORTHWEST looks infinitely superior. I took another look at it just now and definitely stand by my 8/10.

(Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 1:18 PM)

8. Anonymous said:

it was nice reading your brother popped in and said "degrained". I saw PSYCHO 1972 in a theater and it was square. No soft matting. No hard matting. Rectangular. What pissed me off the most, was that i hat read Truffaut's book beforehand.

Up to this day I'd like to forget everything. And then see "it" fresh.

Maybe sometimes your brother just looks over my shoulder: "That monitor is not calibrated."

Who cares: You can not bring it back. The Suspense and the surprise.

Bye the way: my wifes brother wants to become a doktor on spanish literature. What good is that for?

(Posted on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 2:58 AM)

9. Geoff_D said:

It definitely hasn't come from the original neg (the positive print artefacts put paid to that) and I'm seeing edge halos around areas of hard contrast (RAH sez it may be 'bromide drag'). The opticals look unnaturally smooth too.

Yet with all that, it still looks terrific to me. The tonal range of the B&W image is luvverly, and there's still lots of fine detail to show off. It ain't perfect, but it qualifies as a success compared to the train wrecks that Universal have been putting out recently.

(Posted on Friday, August 27, 2010 at 10:12 PM)

10. FoxyMulder said:

Is that edge halo's caused by sharpening or ringing caused by a downconversion from a 4k master. ?

(Posted on Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 6:04 PM)

 
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