superbit dvds: what happened?
 

i was wondering because i havent seen any new dvds.

The brown bunny and closer are both recent superbits

I'm guessing he meant re-releases. Maybe they're holding off for HD.

I think they've given up doing 3-4 new titles every 3 months and instead working on Ultimate Editions like what they're doing with The Mask of Zorro, Legends of the Fall, The Fifth Element, Leon and A River Runs Through It.

I think they just slapped the "Superbit" logo on Closer and The Brown Bunny. Of course they can call them Superbits because we have nothing to compare them to.

Saxon

superbit is dying.

You can only go so far selling (mostly) bad movies on barebones discs for $24.99.

Well said.... :thumbsup:

Blu-ray, baby... blu-ray

Yep, that about says it.

I believe Superbits are DEAD. Future Shop, an electronics store up here in Canada, just had a sale on them. 2 for $25! Great deal...

Sony is probably trying to clear them out before Blu-ray hits, hence the big 9.99 sale at BB. My guess is that many of the Superbit titles will be first out of the gate for BR.

:lol:

I love the few SB titles that I own, but... yeah, I was about the say the same thing.

Especially when you're selling things like Dark Crystal or Labyrinth that (a) lose really cool supplements and (b) are virtually indistiguishable visually/sonically from their cheaper/supplement-packed counterparts.

I don't know if you can see the difference between Superbit and regular DVD's on an HDTV but I know on my regular TV I couldn't tell any difference. Actually the Superbits tend to look granier and murky to me.

Would love to see Mary Shelly's Frankenstein on Superbit.

5th element and leon were ultimate editions and superbit as well...but thats not how they were marketed

A few of them offer much sharper transfers. The rest leave a lot to desire.

Are we going to have to upgrade to new DVD players to play these new Blue-Ray dvds???

Yep.

You will have to upgrade to a Blu-Ray player to play Blu-Ray discs. Blu-Ray is not DVD.

sucks about Superbit, but Columbia's catalogue wasn't too impressive. But I think we can really see that the average consumer (read: the majority) doesn't give a crap about image quality, so the Superbit death isn't anything for high-end fans to chuckle at. How warmly will the public embrace a new format like Blu-Ray which is only going to cost them more (new players and discs)? I really see this being the new niche format. More succesful than D-VHS perhaps, but it's doubtful it will even reach the popularity of LD. The next format craze is far more likely to be seriously expanded potential for digital cable pay-per-view. Once you order a film, instead of having a limited time, it can be stored on a hard drive or disc forever. Never have to enter the DVD store again and all titles will be instantly available everyone. Man, that would save a lot of hassle.

The issue is that a significant % of Superbits showed little to no improvement... even on high-end equipment. So, why should people pay $$$ for a bare bones edition of, say, The Dark Crystal. When they can get an edition of it, with deleted scenes, a fantastic 1-hour documentary, and other goodies for about ten bucks? An edition, I will add, that looks/sounds identical to the DTS "superbit".

I think that a lot of people can appreciate improved image quality -- and would pay more for it -- but you have to actually PRESENT them with improved quality, not just branding and hype. The Superbit concept was flawed from the start.

Plus, as mentioned, a large number of the titles that Columbia focused on... well, frankly, they suck. Not to threadcrap, but are people really clamoring for crystal-clear editions of Hollow Man, Anaconda, Cliffhanger, SWAT, and Vampires?

superbit happened

Snakes on a plane, man...

Yeah, I think that the improvement that Superbit could bring has kind of become less apparent. It was okay when it first came out, or would have been even better if it had started a few years earlier, but nowadays they're gotten so good at compression that using a higher bitrate yields little improvement.

Do you really think that's going to catch on?

Here's hoping...

I read that whole article in movie talk. Pretty funny - I've seen the saying all over the board the last couple of days. I think I'm going to start using it at work and see how many strange looks I can get. :)

The only Superbits I've ever purchased are ones that came in an SE (a la the 5th Element). Don't see the allure.

Speaking of 'superbits'. Has anyone been able to find the SB of Tommy for $10 or under at stores?


Is the original release of the film 16.9 enhanced at least? The packaging does not state so. But I have heard many early Sony titles were 16.9 enhanced despite not saying so on the package.

So before I pick up the early release. Is it 16.9 enhanced,or can the SB release be found dirt cheap now?

According to the 2001 ultimate edition of Widescreen Review magazine, an extremely reliable source for A/V technology information, and reviews, the original DVD release of Tommy is 16x9 anamorphic widescreen, with an OAR of 1.85:1

They're probably selling better now considering the $10 price at Best Buy.

I guess I'm not sure what your definition of significant is, but either way your statement would be false.

I've directly compared 12 different Superbits on my equipment and saw improvement on 11 of the 12 (the 12th was equal). Now, if you're watching most of your movies on a 25" screen, then yes, you're probably right in that you won't see much improvement.

I have a Panny 700 projector shooting onto a 126" screen. With a screen that size, Superbits are beautiful. I care much more about picture and sound then I do about "extras". If you care about "extras" then SB's aren't for you. If you care about the best possible picture and sound for that particular movie, then you should get the SB. They have the best picture and they also include a dts soundtrack which most of the original releases don't.

You can knock Sony for multiple releases. You can knock them for not including a second disc of extras on SB's. You can knock them for the prices of SB's (although I've never paid more than $15). But don't say the PQ isn't better. That's a false statement.

The question is "Better than what?" Most Superbits do show some improvement over the non-Superbit version of the same title from the same studio (Sony), but all that really says is that Sony produces really mediocre non-Superbit discs. There is nothing special about Superbit that makes it better than other quality releases from different studios that don't use the Superbit branding.

I find that frustrating also! Why not come out with a decent PQ on non-superbit in the first place. But I have to admit I gobbled up quite a few SB's during the BB 9.99 sale. I also enjoy the DTS sound vs. Dolby.

There are certainly other DVD's from other studios that look as good or better than SB's. Of the 10 or so DVD's that I have that I consider reference, only 2 of them are SB's. I don't think, however, that Sony produces mediocre non-SB's necessarily.

I can get a movie from another studio and I have no idea how good the PQ is until I get it and watch it. If there's two versions of a movie from another studio, I also don't really know which is better unless I get them both and compare them side by side. Superbits might not be perfect, but at least I know that it is the best PQ for that particular movie and that overall the PQ is going to be very good to great. No other studio has a format that I can say that about (except possibly Criterion).