Hitchcock on Universal DVD and Blu-ray

[Perkins Cobb]

Frustrating as it is, silence is often the best alternative if you don't have any concrete news to impart.

Or just any good news. With the botched releases of The Fugitive (for which the music was completely replaced in many of the episodes), CBS/Paramount managed to endure widespread complaint on the internet (and even in Variety) on the occasions of four separate disc releases, reissue the discs as a box set that was mostly fixed, recall that set without explanation, and announce it for re-release again a year later, all without answering questions from a single journalist or issuing any kind of public statement on the subject apart from a single short press release that offered no specific reason for the music replacement.

So I'm not expecting Universal to fall on its sword over the Hitchcock box, whether or not they fix anything in it.

[Hofmeister]

After an impressively long silence on the subject, Robert Harris has voiced his position:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/32170 ... st_3976219
Sounds reasonable.

[RobertB]

"Dear Robert B****,
Your order has been successfully cancelled."

I know I will buy this set wether they fix the problems or not. But I see absolutely no reason not to send a signal that I'm unhappy about the quality. If lots of people cancel, now when Universal are aware that there are issues, there is a slight chance that they will redo the most problematic films. If that means a year delay then so be it.

[peerpee]

I had a really hard time trying to work out the look of THE BIRDS (UK Blu-ray): http://enthusiasm.org/post/31751219097" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mingus]

amazon.de has just updated it's release date for the Hitchcock set to December 28th, 2012. So it looks like the Universal HD masters used for this set are universally the same and the message was heard. so let's sit and wait.

[manicsounds]

"Dear Robert B****,
Your order has been successfully cancelled."

At first I thought they called you "Robert Bitch"... How rude of them!

Japan still has it scheduled for the 25th

[RobertB]

"Dear Robert B****,
Your order has been successfully cancelled."

At first I thought they called you "Robert Bitch"... How rude of them!

Japan still has it scheduled for the 25th

I am a bitch! I don't mind. December 28 as it is in Germany now sounds good. Will give them time to redo the more troublesme discs. It's still October 1 for UK. Japan and UK is cutting it close. I see no reason why I should be a nice customer and not make some noise. I just want the money people to know it might not be a loss to make this better.

[vsski]

Amazon UK is now showing a November 5 date for the limited edition, the regular one still shows October 1, but I'm sure that will be changed soon.
So it does look like all territories are being done from the same masters and all are getting pushed back. Remains to be seen what they'll change, but I at least want to say a big thank you to Nick, as without him, I'm not sure this would have happened.

[peerpee]

Thanks vsski. We still don't know for sure that what they're correcting is anything to do with my findings, because they won't elaborate on anything. I'm very grateful to Sight & Sound magazine for asking me to review it. Luckily, I had free time and was able to spend the last fortnight on it.

[vsski]

True, we don't know what they change, if anything, but it is too much of a coincidence that all the sets are getting delayed after your reviews started surfacing and got referenced on so many sites. Universal doesn't comment as usual, but you can be sure they have been reading. While I doubt they will correct everything you noted, give yourself some credit for getting someone to take notice

[Noodles1977]

The UK street date is now pushed back to Nov. 5th.

[mike1169]

Mr. Harris' statement was quite eloquent.
The look and sound of perfect.
I will accept nothing less.

[perkizitore]

Price reduced on the UK set, now only £69.95 from Zavvi.
I really hope they fix the most glaring issues with the set, because at £5 per film it would be a pity to have to cancel this order again!

[mfunk9786]

Anyone else having trouble paying Zavvi by PayPal?

[swo17]

That's probably God reminding you not to buy this set until it's been confirmed that Universal has fixed everything.

[MichaelB]

I have to say I'm tempted. Even allowing for the last four titles being write-offs, that's still ten decent-to-good BDs for £70.

[perkizitore]

You don't have to pay using Paypal, Zavvi is not dodgy and they do not charge before they ship. Since the probability of having to cancel is high, I would not recommend paying by Paypal because of the hassle getting a refund. I have not used Paypal on Zavvi, so they might not charge you immediately but just authorize your card. TheHut sells it for the same price, but they must be using the same payment center, so you might encounter the same problems there.

[TMDaines]

A no-brainer to pre-order at that price no matter what happens.

[Minkin]

Anyone else having trouble paying Zavvi by PayPal?

Glad someone else has had problems with them. I tried to use paypal to purchase some of their cheap MOC titles a few months ago. Every time I'd try Paypal (after I hit the, 'use paypal for placing my order'- where every other website then loads a paypal login screen, this did nothing), it would give me an error saying "there is currently a problem with Paypal, please contact customer support if the problem persists." So, I tried 3 other web browsers and two other computers. I emailed them with my findings, and they simply responded "sorry, no problems on our side."

Even after some persistence on my part, they still refused to believe they had anything wrong (and I doubt, given the number of attempts I made, that the error was localized - as I found other people complaining of the same issue - and this was roughly over the course of a month). What an annoying retailer. Still can't get their act together.

Bringing this back to Hitchcock, is Universal planning to release all of the individual titles separately or just Vertigo, and some others? I'm not going to spend so much on a boxset that is half decent (another pre-order canceled here) Perhaps they'll pull a Warners and release an improved edition every year or two (still waiting for that Clockwork Orange with the new restoration, those bastards). What if they farmed out the individual titles that Universal isn't as interested in - say, Frenzy, for instance to some other label - say, Criterion - since Universal seem so willing to license anything out, even if they released their own edition a few months prior.

[willoneill]

Anyone else having trouble paying Zavvi by PayPal?

I've had the opposite problem with Zavvi (and theHut) ... I can only pay by Paypal, because my credit card never seems to work for them. I've e-mailed about the issue, but no one can figure out what the problem is.

[zedz]

Thanks vsski. We still don't know for sure that what they're correcting is anything to do with my findings, because they won't elaborate on anything.

You'd think that yourself (and Sight & Sound) would be the first to hear what the corrections are going to be - surely they'd want to avoid a negative review going to press?

[peerpee]

Aye, you'd think.

[Finch]

Realistically, how much can they fix in just a few weeks? About half of the titles in this set would have to be completely redone. Should have pushed it back by 6 months.

[perkizitore]

The new date might not be final, not to mention you can always cancel if the latest reviews do not show any signs of improvement.

[HJackson]

Absolutely. This entire mess makes me feel like a right knob after writing the following in the MoC Facebook & Twitter thread when people were speculating about MoC Hitchcocks:

I'm not really too fussed about Hitchcock. I doubt Universal would fudge up those films too badly judging by the quality of their PSYCHO Blu.