Entertainment Weekly stated that 'The Passion of the Christ' DVD is presented with "a maximum bitrate," and it includes no special features that would eat up disc space. Also, I see that it has a DTS track. So, I'd like to hear from those of you who are familiar with Superbit editions... do you think this release has comparable video/audio to Superbits? I have an HD monitor, and the 'Passion' looks great to me, but I've never watched a Superbit on it.

I'll also say I'm digging the minimalist approach to the DVD packaging, like the very brief write up on the back, and the beautiful scene selection layout in the insert that consists only of pictures. I had read beforehand about the product flyer inside. I was expecting a book thicker than the ones in the Lord of the Rings DVDs, but was happy to find that it's only an undersized leaflet.

Thanks

"Superbit quality" kinda varies from title to title so it's hard to say exactly what "Superbit quality" looks like, but the reviewer here at DVDTalk gave it a 5/5 on both Audio and Video, so it must look and sound pretty good.

I read they skimp on the extras so that they can max out the video and audio quality as much as possible (LA Times article).

Sounds like a plan to me.

I'm sure it's not so Mel can wait a year or two and release The Passion (Ultimate Edition).

Superbit is a marketing term. Some superbits are pretty shitty.

huh? WS and FS in one disc?

Amen.

Asking if this disc is Superbit quality is like asking if a packet of M&Ms is like angus beef.

Full Screen and Widescreen are not on the same disc. Each is available separately.

for example?

Panic Room.

Them must be some pretty good quality M&Ms.

Das Boot is one as well. Although it's much better than the original disc and even the full mini-series version, the underwater scenes are still very grainy.

Aside from the usual Superbit bashing, yes, to answer the original question. This is among the best looking DVD transfers I have seen.

So good, in fact, I was prompted to order the D-Theater HD version instead of watching the DVD all the way through. I'm curious how this will look with a bit rate of 28 mb/s.

Superbit is just what the Passion DVD is, no extras - everything going to the bit rate for video.

Superbit is just a marketing term Columbia came up with to sell their DVDs with a higher than normal bit rate.

So, you can call The Passion DVD a "Superbit DVD", because that is what it is.

It truely derseves the 5 Star rating, one of the best DVD video qualities I have ever seen. A few sceens look like true HD on my 32 inch HDTV.

The bit rate on The Passion stayed up in the 9 meg rage (Sound = DTS, have not measured with just Dolby) most of the movie. There were many times it would jump in the 10meg range. The blacks were as black as could get. Detail in peoples clothing was fantastic. How could you not make a DVD about the last day of Jesus, it deserves nothing but the very best.

This is one of those movies that should only be watched in widescreen. Fullscreen would loose alot of the picture and sharpness. Target had a few WS left and tons of FS on the shelf.

Passion is one of the best DVD live action video quailty ever!!!!

Yeah, but film grain isn't a bad thing necessarily. We are all spoiled nowadays by having films shot on extremely fast film stocks, but on lower budget and older films, this isn't possible. Film grain is inherent to film, so seeing it, especially in scenes from a dark movie like Das Boot, shouldn't be a surprise or a bad thing.

I really liked the video and audio (DTS) quality of this disc. I was hoping for some extras but I guess those who are interesting can buy the ABC special on the movie. I wonder if they will release the PAX documentary on the making of the movie.

But some of you forget you don't need maximum bit rates for an entire movie. I'm not saying it's bad to have a CBR (Constant Bit Rate) for the entire movie, but it won't make the movie exponentially better than a typical dual-layer release. When you play a movie in your computer, click on the properties of the VIDEO_TS folder and see how big it is. Several movies which are about 6.5GB - 7.5GB are not even labeled SuperBit, but are just as large and sometimes larger.

"Superbit" is not simply a higher bit rate. The most important factor is reduced high frequency filtering which in turn requires a higher bit rate to avoid compression artifacts. It is this reduced filtering that gives most Superbit DVDs a somewhat sharper, more detailed look.

In the case of PotC, this is almost certainly how this master was prepared and encoded. The level of detail and sharpness is rarely seen on DVD. And I agree with Iron Giant. This level of sharpness and detail does look very much like many of the HD images we are getting these days. I'm using the Zenith DVB318 which is upconverting the DVD resolution to 1080i and this DVD actually looks better than a sizable precentage of the stuff I see on HBO-HD.

Thanks for answering my question. Especially Robert George, and Iron Giant!

Your welcome.

I am thankful to all the people who have taken the time to answer many of my questions over the past 3+ years.

I read that the reason there are no special features for the release, is because Mel Gibson believed that the movie spoke for itself and doesn't need any explaining... he also said that he feels like special features would cheapen the experience.... I guess thats why his interview about the movie is available on a seperate DVD.

Apparently, the Canadian release has an even higher video bitrate than the US Release. It seems that it also has a full-bitrate (1536 kbps) DTS audio track as well.

See

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=383229

6700 MB dedicated to video for the Canadian vs. 6000 for the US. I think the Canadian release better maximizes bitrate, and is more worthy of "Superbit" quality.