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Video: How Does The Disc Look?
Rear Window's high-def upgrade brings the movie's 1.66:1 aspect ratio to life with impressive if perhaps imperfect quality. Color accuracy is certainly improved - both flesh tones and deeper hues come across with well-balanced punch - and black levels are consistent from start to finish, but compression artifacting pops up every now and then, and detail accuracy is never as stunningly sharp as it feels like it could be. These might be nitpicks of a cineaste desperate for an edition of Rear Window that simply can't exist in the 21st century - the movie's raw elements were in notoriously poor condition in decades past - but compared to the other wonderful 1080p presentations on this set, Rear Window's isn't valedictorian.
Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
While Rear Window's sound design is absolutely rooted to its age, there's no question that this DTS-HD 1.0 Master Audio sound mix delivers the goods. Dialogue is very clear during normal talking levels, but screams or yelling cause audible distortions (surprise, surprise). The film's unassertive score by Franz Waxman displays the best frequency range one could expect. And a few sound effects seem very natural. In fact many of the sound effects in the film are reported to be natural, recorded practically.
French and Spanish DTS 1.0 mixes are included, as are English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles.