The Man Who Knew Too Much 4K UHD (1956)

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by SpacemanDoug

figures, I bet the BD is recycled

It is, complete with old-school Universal BD menus and 100th Anniversary Universal logo at the beginning. (The one plastered over Paramount's logo at the end was a version of the now-classic 1963 logo, the one Hitchcock avoided in his later films at Universal.)

[BluProofie]

lol what a lazy review. Doesn’t even list the new special feature or talk about the new 3.0 track.

[Matt89]

Came here to say the same thing, I'm shocked the reviewer didn't cover the newly-included Perspecta audio track. That was kind of a big deal. I didn't even watch my copy with the 2.0, went straight to the 3.0. I thought it sounded great.

The restoration is absolutely gorgeous though, totally agree with the 4.5 rating.

[brian9229]

Just read the review, and looks like others have as well, wow, seriously? The mono track?! How about the 3 channel Perspecta track, unheard for 70 odd years?!?!?!

[SpacemanDoug]

looks like he updated the review to include the 3.0 track, he seems to prefer it over the mono track

very interesting

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by SpacemanDoug

looks like he updated the review to include the 3.0 track, he seems to prefer it over the mono track

very interesting

I'm not surprised. It's the original Perspecta roadshow LCR mix. Even with no surround channel, there was still more directionality with stereophonic width and effects panning. Sometimes directional dialogue too. The music was more than likely recorded in three channel audio.

[SpacemanDoug]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

I'm not surprised. It's the original Perspecta roadshow LCR mix. Even with no surround channel, there was still more directionality with stereophonic width and effects panning. Sometimes directional dialogue too. The music was more than likely recorded in three channel audio.

won't mean sh-t if the mastering is screwed up, which it appears here it thankfully wasn't

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by SpacemanDoug

won't mean sh-t if the mastering is screwed up, which it appears here it thankfully wasn't

Robert A. Harris had something to do with that, I hear.

[rrg]

Originally Posted by SpacemanDoug

looks like he updated the review to include the 3.0 track, he seems to prefer it over the mono track

very interesting

I sent him a message on the forum here pointing out that he’d neglected to mention the Perspecta track.

[All Darc]

About the 4K restoration.

https://www.youtube.com/supported_br...tube.com/watch

Link for mobile version of youtube.

Funny to wonder if Doris Day would dislike the 4K increasing her skin's texture and stains.

I believe Bob Harris refers about the risk about the camera negative, the dye fadding.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by All Darc

About the 4K restoration.

https://www.youtube.com/supported_br...tube.com/watch

Link for mobile version of youtube.

Funny to wonder if Doris Day would dislike the 4K increasing her skin's texture and stains.

I believe Bob Harris refers about the risk about the camera negative, the dye fadding.

The link above is just to the YouTube home page, here's the video:

Restoring The Man Who Knew Too Much (2023) [Exclusive to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray] - YouTube

[Cinematograph]

Audio anyone?

I have viewed the first 15 minutes and the Albert Hall sequence of this 4K disc and I am confused. The Perspecta audio option sounds no different to my ears than the English mono soundtrack. I am wondering whether my disc is defective, although this hardly seems likely if no one else is experiencing this problem.

I have tried different audio settings on my sound system, and putting my ear next to speakers to try to hear a difference...all to no avail. The menus and bonus features on my disc deliver great stereo and surround, by the way.

I was hoping the Perspecta portion of the bonus feature "Saving The Man Who Knew Too Much" would offer a demonstration of Perspecta... but to my ears, it doesn't. Modern background music sure does kick in at this point, and yes, it's in stereo.

Are there any Perspecta "test" spots people would recommend I try in the film where the directionality is aiming to be impressive?

Also, is anyone else experiencing this issue?

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Cinematograph

Audio anyone?

I have viewed the first 15 minutes and the Albert Hall sequence of this 4K disc and I am confused. The Perspecta audio option sounds no different to my ears than the English mono soundtrack. I am wondering whether my disc is defective, although this hardly seems likely if no one else is experiencing this problem.

I have tried different audio settings on my sound system, and putting my ear next to speakers to try to hear a difference...all to no avail. The menus and bonus features on my disc deliver great stereo and surround, by the way.

I was hoping the Perspecta portion of the bonus feature "Saving The Man Who Knew Too Much" would offer a demonstration of Perspecta... but to my ears, it doesn't. Modern background music sure does kick in at this point, and yes, it's in stereo.

Are there any Perspecta "test" spots people would recommend I try in the film where the directionality is aiming to be impressive?

Also, is anyone else experiencing this issue?

Perhaps your system defaults to treating mono like stereo and sending it through the side speakers. True mono should come out only through the center speaker, I believe, right? The Perspecta track is 3.0, so it should come out through the right, center and left speakers.

[Cinematograph]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Perhaps your system defaults to treating mono like stereo and sending it through the side speakers. True mono should come out only through the center speaker, I believe, right? The Perspecta track is 3.0, so it should come out through the right, center and left speakers.

Thanks for your response.

The audio, whether it's Perspecta or mono, is all coming from the center speaker. I also tried turning off my system and just using the stereo TV speakers... It still just sounds like mono to me.

Granted, my system is an old Dolby Pro-Logic model, but, if it is the fault of the system, it marks the first time it's failed to reproduce a soundtrack with discrete channels.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by Cinematograph

Thanks for your response.

The audio, whether it's Perspecta or mono, is all coming from the center speaker. I also tried turning off my system and just using the stereo TV speakers... It still just sounds like mono to me.

Granted, my system is an old Dolby Pro-Logic model, but, if it is the fault of the system, it marks the first time it's failed to reproduce a soundtrack with discrete channels.

Then you are probably dealing with a compatibility problem. Older receivers sometimes had outdated or unpatchable DTS and Dolby lossless decoders that could not properly decode newer encoded soundtracks because they lacked the ability to do user applied firmware updates via USB or Ethernet.



Heck, without knowing your receiver model, it's possible it only decodes lossy audio and not all lossy back up or core tracks have the same mix included as the main lossless track.

[cash_black]

My copy froze around the z58 minute mark

[octobercountry]

I finally picked up a copy of this---fantastic picture quality. 8 perf VistaVision looks marvelous on 4K, a very obvious uptick when compared to standard 4 perf 35mm.

I was disappointed with the Perspecta track, though; it really didn't sound like it provided much directionality; they really didn't do much with it. I wish a stereo mix had been created for the film (like they did with Psycho)---that whole last sequence, with Doris Day singing in the background while the camera roams throughout the embassy---has so much potential for an interesting and atmospheric five-channel mix.

[Oblivion138]

Anyone know what's up with the optical transition at 00:12:21? The dissolve introduces a ghost image of the sky, offset to the lower right, most noticeable in the moon, but also the clouds.


I've never seen this on previous editions of the film, so possibly an error unique to this restoration? Which is a shame, as it's an otherwise superb presentation. Especially the colors, which had been worryingly poor on the BD. Just wondering if anyone had any info on this, as I hadn't seen it mentioned. Maybe I'm just entirely out of the loop.