Universal Delays Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection Blu-ray Set Until October 30

That sound you hear is your wallets sighing relief as one of the biggest of what would be this month’s massive slate of DVD and Blu-ray box set collections has been delayed.

Universal has just announced that they will indeed be delaying their Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection Blu-ray box set moving it to October 30. Here’s their statement:

‘Universal Studios Home Entertainment is postponing the Blu-ray release of Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection to October 30, 2012. Certain imperfections with the product have come to light and, as a result, we are delaying the release date to correct these points. Our goal is to always deliver the best possible product to our consumers.’

What are these issues? According to some early reviews, at least on sites like Amazon, it deals primarily with the late-Hitchcock films that are include. Here’s a snippet of a review from Amazon dealing with issues on the transfer for Hitchcock’s Frenzy:

“A completely re-rendered opening credit sequence for this new HD master introduces typographical inconsistencies, wrong fonts, typos, and multiple errors in crew members’ names. Parts of the film are slathered in noticeable DVNR which causes undesirable effects. I can’t recommend this disc. Dear Universal, when the credits get fixed (which hopefully involves simply putting the original credits back, regardless of softness or damage), please dial back the DVNR across the whole film too.”

That review comes to us from Nick Wrigley, founder of the Masters Of Cinema label. There are also reported DVNR issues with a few of the releases, something that has plagued Universal’s Blu-ray catalog seemingly since day one. It’s a topic that they were adamant about fixing during their Blu-ray showcase at SXSW earlier this year, but it appears as though you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Early reviews have films like Family Plot and Torn Curtain being the weakest of the transfers, so it appears as though they are the spots that are looking at being improved.

More on this and Universal’s reasoning as it comes.

Source Digital Bits / Amazon / Enthusiasm