Why is the jump cut to the window so abrupt?

Is this just a case of a sloppy matching attempt, or are we supposed to jump when it happens? It's so UN-seamless.

It must look even more abrupt on the big screen! Every time I see that, I just think, "WELL...that's a bit...hacked-in-there!"

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Ironically, I think it is a "failed cut" that nonetheless feels well attune with Hitchcock and the film as a whole.

Bottom line: The opening shots --with dissolves -- are over Phoenix and then heading down to a REAL Phoenix window --but once Hitchcock needs to be close the Sam/Marion window on the soundstage: a fake. Maybe two. TWO fake windows...one at a distance on the backlot, one on the soundstage for the camera to go in and find Marion and Sam. I'd have to check the shots again.

I've read somewhere that Hitchcock and his crew weren't happy with this cut, but it really seems to "preview" the jagged cutting of many scenes in the rest of the film: how the cop's face suddenly fills Marion's car window; how we cut from high above Arbogast being attacked by Mother, to his face suddenly slashed and in shock; how Mother in the fruit cellar "spins around" in two jagged shots.

Psycho is filled with this kind of editing -- nowhere more than in the shower scene of course -- and so the "mismatched window" fits right in, I'd say, in the FEEL of the movie.

That said, its been called a bloody shame that Psycho didn't get nominated for Best Film Editing(the shower scene!) and maybe...this is why? (In which case, how shortsighted and unartful of the nominating film editors.)

It never bothered me until I read this.

No, adding to what's already been said, I've learned to appreciate this little "slip up".