Blu-ray Review To Catch a Thief Blu-ray Review (2020) (2 Viewers)

[cda1143]

Post in thread 'A few words about…™ To Catch a Thief (redux) – in Blu-ray'
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...-a-thief-redux-in-blu-ray.366547/post-5083490

Tim, did you think the 4K digital version look different from the recent 2020 blu ray? ...

I still have a theory that Josh put in my head about what could have gone wrong with the 2020 restoration. Andrea Kalas at Paramount strongly defends the 2020 TCAT restoration and says it’s correctly done and matches what Hitchcock originally done. Perhaps she is right, afterall the interviews she did for Criterion of War of the Worlds....I thought that unless I’m wrong, the War of the Worlds looks terrific!

So could the problem with the 2020 To Catch a Thief Paramount Presents blu ray of be a matter of how the transfer was done to make files for the discs? Could the actual master be correct as Miss Kalas strongly asserts?

...But one of my and many others favorite Hitchcock film is not quite hitting the mark.

...
I’m guessing others have compared the 2 disc releases and the 4k digital? As well as the color differences.
...

I don't have the 2020 BD, but my sense is the 4K digital basically looks the same, but w/ maybe very slightly more detail (and not quite the reported very hot/blown highlights in some shots/scenes of the BD), yet still less sharp than the 2012 BD -- and yes, the colors are different from the 2012 BD. IIRC, it looks more like 720p-at-best rez most of the time than 1080p, NVM 4K.

The 4K digital will only cost $5 on recurring sales though, so why not? And if they ever redo the master/transfer, the digital *might* get updated as well. I wouldn't touch whatever eventual (more expensive) 4K disc unless they definitely redo the master/transfer though...

_Man_

I really wish we had taken Bob's excellent suggestion above to post in the redux thread as it is 1. the most recent, and 2. by far the most informative thread on this release.

That said, I have compared all five versions: 2020 Blu, 2020 4K digital, 2020 HD digital (iTunes download - you only get HD), 2012 Blu and 2012 digital (I downloaded it before they changed to the new transfer).

I'm basically in agreement with Man. As far as I can tell - in projection or on flat panel, all three 2020 versions look indistinguishable. As so mush detail has been scrubbed from this release, 4K has nothing to add. As Man says - there isn't even 1080p detail, let alone 4k.

Regarding where the problem lies with this release - pease read RAH in the redux thread.

 

[dpippel]

As so mush detail has been scrubbed from this release, 4K has nothing to add.

I see what you did there.

 

[Robert Harris]

There are zero excuses for this release. From the studio or otherwise.

It’s garbage. Pure and simple.

 

[Nelson Au]

There are zero excuses for this release. From the studio or otherwise.

It’s garbage. Pure and simple.

It’s really unfortunate. I have all the discs as well, but not the digital copies. Good to know the digital is no better. That’s too bad.

 

[Osato]

The 3 problems with the 2020 TCAT disc were:

Badly cropped-in framing
Grain and detail removal - soft image
Highlights burned out

View attachment 149887

View attachment 149888

Tim are you seeing the old lady cropped in half, Cary's hair pushed to the top of the screen in the bus scene and Grace's glove and steering wheel detail-less blurs in the 4k streaming version?

From my phone but here you go:

 

[Osato]

There are zero excuses for this release. From the studio or otherwise.

It’s garbage. Pure and simple.

Too much grain removal and softening of detail? The framing issue is strange.

Any hope for this title?

 

[Nelson Au]

Hope springs eternal.

 

[Osato]

Hope springs eternal.

I read the redux post a while back but I will
Revisit it.

 

[Robert Harris]

There is no reason for anyone to revisit To Catch a Thief.

The studio’s rep has made the point that there is no problem. Nothing to be fixed. The work they have performed has created a beautiful restoration.

Actually, the most beautiful and perfect restoration ever created. Even better than might be done by God.

One should not attempt to build on perfection.

 

[Trancas]

Three years have passed and Blu-Ray.com finally has a review of Paramount's marvelous reinvention of Technicolored VistaVision. That 6K scan (and substituted yellow layer) really shows up in all its glory.

Previous "dated" 2012 blu ray

"New and improved" 2020 blu ray (thank goodness they zoomed in and got rid of that ugly grain).

Whoa! They only give the video a rating of 1.5 stars out of 5! Did Paramount wait to send them a screener until they thought it wouldn't matter anymore; or has Blu-Ray.com been sitting on it for 3 years (because nobody wanted to put their name on a review)?

 

[Robert Harris]

Three years have passed and Blu-Ray.com finally has a review of Paramount's marvelous reinvention of Technicolored VistaVision. That 6K scan (and substituted yellow layer) really shows up in all its glory.

Previous "dated" 2012 blu ray
View attachment 198974

"New and improved" 2020 blu ray (thank goodness they zoomed in and got rid of that ugly grain).
View attachment 198975

Whoa! They only give the video a rating of 1.5 stars out of 5! Did Paramount wait to send them a screener until they thought it wouldn't matter anymore; or has Blu-Ray.com been sitting on it for 3 years (because nobody wanted to put their name on a review)?

I have no words.

 

[Keith Cobby]

The belated review of this release is to be welcomed as it adds another voice to the heavyweight criticism it has already received from HTF. If the plan is to release on 4k in 2025, its 70th anniversary (or hopefully before, as none of us are getting any younger!), then there is time to review the feedback and produce the quality 4k this masterpiece deserves.

 

[Robert Crawford]

IMO, the 4K/Dolby Vision digital on iTunes looks beautiful on my OLEDs.

 

[Robert Harris]

IMO, the 4K/Dolby Vision digital on iTunes looks beautiful on my OLEDs.

The smaller the viewing surface, the higher the contrast, the better this will appear to be. Big Box Store Syndrome.

All those panels running images of clown fish playing in coral, and football players in bright uniforms on a bright green playing field can‘t be beat.

First time I viewed this release, I was thinking that someone shipped the wrong master. But studio publicity stood firm that this is a perfect release. After three years, it’s a bit difficult to say, “Gee, we just looked at the final disc, and it appears something is wrong. It doesn’t match our new 4k master.”

 

[Robert Crawford]

The smaller the viewing surface, the higher the contrast, the better this will appear to be. Big Box Store Syndrome.

All those panels running images of clown fish playing in coral, and football players in bright uniforms on a bright green playing field can‘t be beat.

I think it’s because the people working on these scans are using OLED panels. They’re not catering to people with projector systems.

 

[Robert Harris]

I think it’s because the people working on these scans are using OLED panels. They’re not catering to people with projector systems.

Doubtful. Any serious data restoration work is generally performed via projection, and checked on multiple flat panels.

Or at least that’s the way it should be done.

You should sample the disc in projection, and see how it measures up. Stop by a local home theater vendor and pop it into their system.

This is not what a fully restored 1954 VVLA 5248 production looks like, especially using my process. It should look like a newly created large format production. Please compare to Vertigo, Spartacus or MWKTM, and give us your thoughts.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Doubtful. Any serious data restoration work is generally performed via projection, and checked on multiple flat panels.

Or at least that’s the way it should be done.

You should sample the disc in projection, and see how it measures up. Stop by a local home theater vendor and pop it into their system.

This is not what a fully restored 1954 VVLA 5248 production looks like, especially using my process. It should look like a newly created large format production. Please compare to Vertigo, Spartacus or MWKTM, and give us your thoughts.

I seriously doubt they’re doing all of that.

 

[titch]

I think it’s because the people working on these scans are using OLED panels. They’re not catering to people with projector systems.

But even on my 16 inch MacBook 4K display, the screenshot from the 4K disc very obviously lacks detail, compared to the 2K disc. I would argue that the result is due to a lack of competency/experience in the people involved. When Kino Lorber, StudioCanal, Arrow Video, Criterion et. al. can consistently release 4K UHD titles, which replicate untampered masters from 4K negative scans, then the problem can't be OLED panels. And if there was a deliberate decision to degrain everything because of the extent materials, then why is this a unique situation with To Catch A Thief?

 

[Robert Crawford]

But even on my 16 inch MacBook 4K display, the screenshot from the 4K disc very obviously lacks detail, compared to the 2K disc. I would argue that the result is due to a lack of competency/experience in the people involved. When Kino Lorber, StudioCanal, Arrow Video, Criterion et. al. can consistently release 4K UHD titles, which replicate untampered masters from 4K negative scans, then the problem can't be OLED panels. And if there was a deliberate decision to degrain everything because of the extent materials, then why is this a unique situation with To Catch A Thief?

What 4K disc are you talking about? I don’t have this Blu-ray so I can’t speak to it. However, I do have the 4K/Dolby Vision digital and I like what I’m seeing on my panels.

 

[roxy1927]

I just saw that 1.5 review review. Wow. Looks like Andrea Kalas is still defending it. Glad people here recommended the original bluray which I got new cheap on ebay.