What do you think of Super Bit DVD's

[spiderman2k1]

It's just seem's that movie companies should have been doing this along time ago. This is a marketing sale way of selling the same movie over again. They should encode all there movie's in super but the first time and just release them that way.


http://www.filmsondisc.com/Rants_and_Raves/New_editions_bit_by_bit.htm

[Bullworth]

So is Super Bit just a higher bitrate version of a movie or is there more to this?

[spiderman2k1]

higher bitrate's these DVD do not have menus and all the other stuff most people never watch on the DVD's. There using all the space for just the movie on the DVD

[FT Shark]

Do most superbit series DVD's have a second disks with all the extras that some people want or are they usually just the movie?

[dgraham]

these DVD do not have menus and all the other stuff most people never watch on the DVD's.

Maybe I'm weird, but if I buy a movie I really like, I love hearing the commentary by the director, or watching a "making of" segment. The stuff on the Matrix, Star Wars, Signs, and even Shanghai Noon were all great fun to watch IMHO.

[spiderman2k1]

I think there on TWO DVD's you can see some of them here

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Ddvd%26field-keywords%3Dsup...301462-5232803

[spiderman2k1]

I went to one store that sell's DVD it look like Super bit DVD just have the movie on one disc

[Faustus]

What I noticed when I first saw them was the superbit DVDs were often the first release. For example Panic room, it was just the movie with a menu, and MAYBE a commentary track (but I dont think even that). It gives the studios a way to please the home people and make a bow to the HiDef people also. I have no problem with superbit, but they ALWAYS mean reencoding to backup.

[icemanatvcd]

They are great for people who look for perfection and with HD Display Units. You would not waste your money if you only have a small Display Unit.

[robboughton]

ice is correct these are for ppl with big screens and i mean big as they notice alot of blockyness on normal dvds because the picture is blown up so much they are good if you need high bitrates but not much use to me with a 32inch sony ws lol

[vric]

I think it's a big marketing thing and useless.

95% of the DVD that will look blocky or bad is becose of a BAD TRANSFER and not a bad compression !

noise and grain are becose of the transfer and not the compression. So even if the movie go from 4.5Mbit to 7Mbit, if the trasfer sux, it will sux even at 7Mbit.

It's jus a way to make money.. I never seen a DVD that had compression problem yet.. bad transfer yes, but not compression !

[Psycho_Dad_Rules]

Hi all,

Personally i don't care much about the extra video quality. Most normal double layer disc have a high enough bitrate to look good on my 32" TV. The thing i like about Superbit is the DTS soundtracks. The difference between DD5.1 (AC3) or DTS can be enormous (When played on a hig grade audio set.) As for the extra's, don't care to much about them too. It's nice to have em, but i prefer the quality over the extras.

Greetz,

pSyChO dAd

[jeex]

Do most superbit series DVD's have a second disks with all the extras that some people want or are they usually just the movie?

i think ft shark has the right idea there.. i think with superbit dvd's they should release them as 2 disc.. on the movie disc, they should have a DTS, DD 5.1, & DD 2.0 mono soundtrack (directory commentary), the menu with chapter & audio selection screens, then devote the rest to the movie.. and then on the second disc pack it with all the extra's you want..

i could see them marking up the cost of the 2 disc superbit edition five dollars as opposed to the regular 1 disc edition.. then both editions of the film have the same thing, one just costs $5 more and looks better.

[RabidDog]

I remember reading a review of one of these superbit DVd's and the reviewer stated that he couldnt see any difference.. he thought it was simply a marketing trick... he even measured the bitrate's and found them wanting.. (it was a while ago... cant remember any names). Dont worry there beady little eyes are fixed on bluray... the old go out and buy your films again on super dvd, after you bought the VHS then the LD then the Dvd..

[vric]

the best proof is movie like Monster inc, TOystory and other CGI movie..

Monster Inc and Both Toy Story are what we call perfect image.. and guess what, all 3 movies are DVD5 !

So Bitrate is not a problem.. it's the transfer that need improuve

[freakyalbino]

but CGI movies are authored from a 'perfect' (digital) source, black is black, yellow is yellow etc. With film different shades of grey mean different data which means more bitrate needed. I havnt explained this very well tho

[edplayer]

the best proof is movie like Monster inc, TOystory and other CGI movie..

Monster Inc and Both Toy Story are what we call perfect image.. and guess what, all 3 movies are DVD5 !

So Bitrate is not a problem.. it's the transfer that need improuve

I would guess that those type of movies are easier to encode to DVD vs. "regular" films.

[jxsam1@yahoo.com]

I think it's a big marketing thing and useless.

95% of the DVD that will look blocky or bad is becose of a BAD TRANSFER and not a bad compression !

noise and grain are becose of the transfer and not the compression. So even if the movie go from 4.5Mbit to 7Mbit, if the trasfer sux, it will sux even at 7Mbit.

It's jus a way to make money.. I never seen a DVD that had compression problem yet.. bad transfer yes, but not compression !

I totally agree with vric!

The Superbit version is only as good as the transfer and to take this even further, only as good as the actual film it was shot on. In other words, and correct me if I'm wrong, most movies are still shot on regular film as opposed to digital film.

Digital film is most likely uncompressed and fairly large in size. From this method you can probably obtain better quality if you compress that using higher bitrate vs lower bitrate. However, if it from regular film, the quality of regular film may not be improved regardless of how high your bitrate is, granted it could probably improve a little bit on the fast motion scenes.

It's almost like saying, I have a VHS tape of this show I taped a while back and I've done a compression with a bitrate of 8 MBit/s and now I want to improve the quality so I'm going to use 10 Mbit/s. The final product is probably marginally better.

I hope that makes sense. Very late need sleepy time...

[Super Warrior]

I think the superbit stuff isn't worth it.Normal DVD movies are plenty good enough when it comes to video quality and they have extras as well.

[Super Warrior]

these DVD do not have menus and all the other stuff most people never watch on the DVD's.

Maybe I'm weird, but if I buy a movie I really like, I love hearing the commentary by the director, or watching a "making of" segment. The stuff on the Matrix, Star Wars, Signs, and even Shanghai Noon were all great fun to watch IMHO.

Agreed! The extras add much to the reply value and other cool stuff to watch.After you've gotten bored after viewing the main flick 8 times.

DVD without extras=good.

Dvd with extras=Even better!

[Yirkin]

I bought the Superbit version of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. The transfer is beautiful. I had rented the regular version and that looked great also but in my opinion, the movie is so much more important then special features. I may watch a DVDs special features once but I watch the movie over and over again. I am appreciative of the option to have all the quality/detail I can get.

I don't know how Superbit compares to standard DVD in a side by side, frame by frame, comparison but I do like the idea of Superbit. I wouldn't recomend buying movies a second time to get the Superbit version but it is nice to know that more of the detail is in the film even if I don't always notice it.

Sort of like how I can't really tell the difference between 224 bit mp3 and 320 bit but I'd still opt to encode at 320 just because.

Howard

[poopyhead]

Panic Room (superbit)...

ENTIRE DVD only ~6 gigs...that's right...suppose to be high bitrate digital transfer, yet still leaving 2+ gigs on the dual-layer empty...no extras...no increasing the bitrate of the transfer..nada

i was very shocked...as i was expecting to compress ~ 8 gigs of DVD onto a DVD5.....using DVDshrink and keeping everything (backup mode) only required around a 20% compression because the original was so small....

[Jukka]

Poopyhead,

you may find that the maximum bit rate (9.8Mbps? incl. audio) was reached on that film, that is why there is still room left on the disc. Its a shame, otherwise you could have a 10min pop video put on a DVD9 with something like 35Mbps!!!

[mysticgohan17]

they should do it the way i do my rips,
1. under bitrated original theatrical trailer
2. feature film

[Gurm]

Answers:

1. Superbit Deluxe releases feature a second disc with the extras.

2. Yes, of COURSE you're limited to the integrity of the source material. I rented the DVD of "The Great Escape" the other night (what a great movie!) and the ORIGINAL FILM has skips and audio blurps that they didn't even bother to digitally master out... superbit would hardly matter for this film.

3. Toy Story only has 5MB of data in it. It's an all-digital film, with a pure black/white ratio and a limited number of colors it was rendered in. There's no dithering because it's A CARTOON. Lots of areas of solid color, etc. etc.

4. Some movies are pointless in Superbit due to original material. I watched the "Charlie's Angels Superbit" and... *shrug* wasn't impressed. On the other hand, _I_ could see the difference on the "Fifth Element Superbit", on my puny 27" TV with S-Video. And BOY could I HEAR the difference.

5. As for the Panic Room DVD, you could do some easy math. Take the seconds in the film (3600 in an hourlong film), and the maximum DVD bitrate (9.8Mbps including audio), and multiply... you get 35,280Mbph (megabits per hour). That's 4410 MBph (megaBYTES) per hour, or 4.3GBph. A two hour movie won't fully fill a DVD9. Since Panic Room is 112 Minutes... that's 112*60*9.8/8 = 8232MB = 8.0GB if it were using the theoretical maximum bitrate. However, if you'll recall MANY DVD settop players refuse to run at that bitrate. I forget the actual practical maximum, but it was around 8.0Mbps, IIRC.

Ok, that was a lot of numbers, I'm sorry.

Overall I think Superbit is worthwhile only on reasonably high-definition movies to begin with.

Now, on the other hand, you take a movie like Lord of the Rings, the extended version... which is ALREADY mastered up pretty damn high, with DTS and no extras on the main movie discs... and there's just no point to the superbit, it already has to go on 2 discs.

So for SOME movies (Fifth Element, and I'd love to see a Star Wars Episode 2 Superbit) it's great. But for many others (including half the Superbit catalogue) it's a gimmick.

- Gurm

[dcsos]

SUPER BIT
is
SUPER EXPENSIVE
but could be
SUPER BAD

anyone ever see this site ?

www.vcdquality.com

its not just VCD's but
they rate releases out here in quality..
they should also have a section on quality of SOLD DISCs

[Gargoyle]

RabidDog said:

I remember reading a review of one of these superbit DVd's and the reviewer stated that he couldnt see any difference..

He's right; unless you have an HDTV and a progressive scan DVD player, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Superbit -vs- regular DVD.

[Yirkin]

The Superbit movie looked really good on the LCD screen on my PC.

Maybe because the computer screen is a digital connection, or because it is non interlaced, or because the computer uses a high res, or because the colors don't seem to bleed as much as a regular TV, or because I sit so close. Who knows.

I don't plan to watch all my movies on my PC screen but the Superbit one did look really good. It would probably be pretty hard to notice on a regular TV.

Howard

[poopyhead]

5. As for the Panic Room DVD, you could do some easy math. Take the seconds in the film (3600 in an hourlong film), and the maximum DVD bitrate (9.8Mbps including audio), and multiply... you get 35,280Mbph (megabits per hour). That's 4410 MBph (megaBYTES) per hour, or 4.3GBph. A two hour movie won't fully fill a DVD9. Since Panic Room is 112 Minutes... that's 112*60*9.8/8 = 8232MB = 8.0GB if it were using the theoretical maximum bitrate. However, if you'll recall MANY DVD settop players refuse to run at that bitrate. I forget the actual practical maximum, but it was around 8.0Mbps, IIRC.

well, then at least the "extra" space should be filled with some extras. since superbits do cost more, they should at least make it my money's worth.

[mysticgohan17]

SUPER BIT
is
SUPER EXPENSIVE
but could be
SUPER BAD

anyone ever see this site ?

www.vcdquality.com

its not just VCD's but
they rate releases out here in quality..
they should also have a section on quality of SOLD DISCs

that could be considered warez discussion. you cant download anything there, nor does it provide links to downloads. but what a day it would be, Mr pHo meeting tgpo.