R1 Vertigo anamorphic? (1 Viewer)

[nousername]

Someone named "purplechoe" over at the DVD Talk Forum claims he has an anamorphic R1 version of Universal's Vertigo (with the old orange colored cover):

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=222694

Can someone explain this? Does he have a bootleg Vertigo? He says his DVD player is not a region-free model, and his copy of Vertigo is apparently Region 1.

Allan

P.S. I'm well aware that the R2/R4 anamorphic versions of Vertigo are inferior to the non-anamorphic R1 version.

 

[Craig Beam]

VERTIGO (my all time favorite film!) has never been released on DVD with an anamorphic transfer in region 1.... sadly. That being said, the current non-anamorphic dvd looks pretty beautiful.

 

[nousername]

VERTIGO (my all time favorite film!) has never been released on DVD with an anamorphic transfer in region 1.... sadly. That being said, the current non-anamorphic dvd looks pretty beautiful.

No argument there. But it still doesn't explain what this person is describing. He says his copy of Universal's VERTIGO is Region 1 and anamorphic (both the DVD player and TV are set for 16:9). The DVD is labeled Region 1 on both the disc and the cover. AFAIK, only the R2/R4 versions are anamorphic, and clearly inferior to the non-anamorphic R1 version. Even if he receieved a R2/R4 disc by mistake, his DVD player is not region-free, and he wouldn't be able to play it.

So... how do you explain what this person is talking about?

 

[Sam Owens]

Just out of curiosity, how do you consider the R2/4 inferior to the R1? It has all the features of the R1 and uses a restored print, and is anamorphic to boot. It's quite superior from a technical standpoint, although I haven't done a back-to-back comparo of the actual images...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Maybe, that person doesn't know what he's talking about!?




Crawdaddy

 

[nousername]

Maybe, that person doesn't know what he's talking about!?

Read the thread over at DVD Talk. I asked him if the people in the movie looked tall and skinny and if the black bars disappeared when the DVD player was set to 16:9 and his 4:3 TV's 16:9 enhanced feature was turned off. He said yes. When the TV's 16:9 mode was turned on, everything looked normal. He was not using any zoom feature, the DVD disc itself (not just the cover) is labeled "Universal Studios", "NTSC" and "Region 1", and his DVD player is not-region free. Sounds like he knows what he's talking about...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Allan,
I read the thread before posting my comments and I still question the validity of his statements because there hasn't been an anamorphic Region 1 release.





Crawdaddy

 

[GerardoHP]

See this link:

http://207.136.67.23/film/dvdcompare/vertigo.htm

Am I missing something? The R1 captures look far inferior to the other ones to me...

 

[nousername]

Am I missing something? The R1 captures look far inferior to the other ones to me...

I don't have the R2/R4 versions, but from what I've heard, they are inferior to the R1 version in terms of fidelity to the original film's brightness, contrast and color (or something like that). I am by no means any expert on the subject, but Robert Harris is. He's one of the guys who helped restore VERTIGO, and he says the R1 version is more faithful, and since he's an expert, I'll go with what he says.

I've given up hope of an R1 anamorphic version of VERTIGO on DVD. I'll just have to wait until HD-DVD arrives, I guess...

 

[Douglas R]

I don't have the R2/R4 versions, but from what I've heard, they are inferior to the R1 version in terms of fidelity to the original film's brightness, contrast and color

I have both the R1 and R2 and to my eyes the R2 looks far better - it is certainly much sharper.

 

[Seth_S]

 

[Terry Hickey]

I purchased the orange covered "Vertigo" when Universal first released it before they changed the cover and it is not an anamorphic transfer.

 

[Brendan Brown]

Perhaps he has some bizarre user-friendly dvd player that auto-crops and resizes non-anamorphic DVDs to anamorphic proportions

 

[Carrol]

Perhaps I'm blind but my R1 non-anamorphic transfer looks sparkling, just fine.

 

[DeeF]

Since none of us can really determine what this person is doing when he claims his disc is anamorphic, there's no way we can definitively pronounce it one way or the other.

I would guess he is mistaken. Either his picture is squashed, or his settings are different than he thinks. It's pretty clear -- there were no anamorphic discs in Region 1, and it would have been impossible to make one, as a mistake, since it would involve a whole different manufacturing process.

For some months after purchasing a HD-ready set, I didn't understand why certain of my disks looked terrible (the anamorphic ones). They seemed full of artifacts and were very bad clarity. I finally discovered the "enhancing" feature of the WEGA and the 16:9 setup on the DVD player. Before that time, I was convinced that DVDs weren't all that great.

So, I was mistaken about enhancing, and I believe this guy is also mistaken.

 

[GerardoHP]

What kind of television set are you watching it on?

 

[MarkHastings]

Considering purplechoe seems to be the ONLY one with an R1 Anamorphic copy, he is either lying, not knowing what he's doing or has a bootleg.


p.s. Doesn't "R1 Vertigo anamorphic" sound like a REALLY bad disease?

Patient: "Doctor, do I have Vertigo?"
Doctor: "It's worse...you have Anamorphic Vertigo!"
Patient: "Well, at least it's not the R1 strain"
Doctor: "Ummmm...."

 

[RobertR]

"Vertigo" and Psycho...

These are both superb transfers from Universal.

I have to disagree with Robert Harris. I watched
Psycho last night on my front projector, and I noticed occassionally distracting levels of EE. Specifically, Janet Leigh's steering wheel during her driving scenes had a very prominent halo around it.

Other aspects of the transfer did look good, although I wish it was anamorphic.

 

[Lyle_JP]

He probably has a DVD player with the Mediamatics chip (JVC or Samsung) which automatically scales 4:3 letterboxed discs to 16:9 when properly flagged (and Vertigo is flagged properly, though Psycho is not). I had a JVC with this feature for awhile and Vertigo looked damn good when scaled, nearly indistinguishable from a true 16:9 disc.

-Lyle J.P.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

With all due respect to Robert and his comprehensive knowledge of the "behind the scenes" issues of these titles,
While he may not feel he has cause to recommend a new 16x9 transfer from the folks at Universal, that's not to say that an objective 33% increase in vertical resolution (all things being equal...if the transfer is done properly and not over-filtered) wouldn't be appreciated by those with revealing projection systems who feel that the current 4x3-encoded version leaves some detail to be desired.

p.s. and what's up with the color? The R1/R2 comparison is pretty revealing...personally the colors on the R2 version "look" better to my eyes. What's technically correct...the R1??