Superbit DVD Questions
 

I went to Walmart tonight, and picked up the Superbit edition of Panic Room. I want to see the movie, and it was only $5.50 so I bought it. I have a few questions as I've never owned a Superbit movie before:

1) Is it supposed to come in a smaller cardboard case with a slide out holder? Instead of a regular DVD case like most movies?
2) I thought I remember reading some Superbit DVD's, the one I remember was The Fifth Element, actually damaged the DVD player. Is there any truth to this, anything I should worry about?

Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.

1) Panic Room has different packaging than most Superbits.
2) Absolutely no truth to the rumor. Superbit is just a marketing term, like Platinum Edition or Ultimate Edition.

AFAIK, Panic Room is the only title in the SuperBit line that comes in a slim case. All of the others I have seen come in a keep-case with a slipcover.

SuperBit DVDs are really no different than regular standard definition (SD) DVDs. They just have the extras stripped out to allow for a higher bit rate, and a DTS soundtrack. There's no way they can damage a DVD player.

Great, thanks for the help both of you. :)

Since the arrival of HD-DVD and Blu Ray, Superbit DVDs has become obsolete.

So they've released all the Superbit movies on HD and BluRay already?

No, I meant the superbit technology, not the movies as yet.

There is no such thing as "superbit technology". It's simply a bare-bones disc, hence more room for the movie.

This is incorrect! Superbit was a specialized technology for the DVD format.
The reason for this is, Superbit DVDs are encoded with a higher bit rate video transfer than standard DVDs, which includes both Dolby Digital 5.1, and DTS audio.

And Superbit's rarely take up the entire disc space.

Try putting one in your PC and see how much of the 8.5 GB are actually used. It's pathetic.

Sorry, you're wrong. "SUPERBIT" is not any kind of "specialized technology". Those DVDs are simply versions that use a higher bitrate than regular DVDs, and they can only do that by leaving off most of the bonus content found on the "regular" version.

Exactly, you've destroyed your own argument. That's all it is, a higher bitrate, and DTS as well as Dolby, which really isn't that unusual. You don't have to do anything special to have those different audio formats on the same disc, and many non-SUPERBIT titles still have both. In fact, SUPERBIT is exclusive to Columbia/Sony, so you could have a non-Sony film on a barebones disc using a high bitrate and including DTS as well as Dolby, and even though they couldn't use the SUPERBIT name, it'd be the same thing.

PDTV has done a parody of the SUPERBIT DVDs called RHBR (Really High BitRate), where it's just a higher video bit rate as well as high-quality Dolby audio or uncompressed PCM. It's really easy to do the same thing Sony did, and to be honest it's not even a good idea. Most DVD players have difficulty with bitrates of 8Mbps, especially when they're chewing through PCM audio as well. Hopefully HD-DVD and Blu-ray players are designed for the higher bitrates and uncompressed data, but standard DVD players are happier with an average of about 6Mbps or less and Dolby Digital audio.

By the way, if you want to talk about "specialized technology" for DVD, try DIVX (not DivX) or Nuon. THAT's some specialized technology for you, albeit obsolete.

Explain please.

Kudos for taking the high road, and lord knows I'd be very interested to hear how they intend to explain that as well, but I hope you're not holding your breath for an answer. They can't explain it, they're simply wrong.

It's depressing how many people were reeled in by the Sony Hype Machine in regard to Superbits.

That's what I said!
I didn't stated that Dolby, and DTS were unusual on Superbit DVDs. I said (once again) that both codecs are included.

Yeah, I guess I'd have to agree with that, especially since as I recall, they were something like $24.99 as opposed to $19.99 for the full-blown 2-disc edition with all the extras. The first SUPERBIT DVD I ever bought was "Spider-Man", and ironically the reason I bought it was for a bonus audio track that of course takes up space. Still, there is some value in having a higher bitrate, especially on brand-new film transfers.* Maybe not enough to offset the higher cost for a barebones DVD though, which I guess is why nobody else tried it (to my knowledge, anyway).

*With "RHBR" titles, I just found it funny that people cranked up the bitrate to the maximum setting when the source for their footage was VHS or Laserdisc, and 6Mbps could reproduce that material just as well.

No, it isn't. Canaryfarmer stated that there was no such thing as "SUPERBIT technology", because it was just regular old DVD technology with a higher bitrate. You countered that he was "incorrect", and I'm just saying no, he wasn't incorrect. Is that clear now?


I know, but what I'M saying is that it's not unique to SUPERBIT DVDs. Again, nothing special, just a regular old DVD in a shiny silver slipcase.

Superbit DVD were supposed to be just the original theatrical aspect ratio (enhanced for 16x9, if possible) with the original languages in DD (5.1 if possible) & DTS 5.1. No other frills were supposed to be included. Just static menus and scene selections.

With Panic Room, they threw that the philosphy out the window of the ten story building.

Panic Room has dynamic motion menus, English DD & DTS 5.1, and French 2.0 Surround. The French track is included because Jodie Foster does the French dub herself.

Closer has a music video. Leon: The Professional & The Fifth Element have trivia tracks.

Punch Drunk Love's two disc set is labeled as a Superbit disc BUT the single disc release doesn't have that label.

You might be aware of these already, but another variation in SUPERBITs was that some had regular cover art, but on the back you could see the "SUPERBIT" logo. An example of this would be the "Silverado" Special Edition. They also did some "SUPERBIT Deluxe" discs that did actually have bonus features (on a second disc, I think), although I haven't actually watched any. The thing that disappointed me the most about SUPERBITs was the boring-ass menus. I mean I don't need a 3D flyaround of the set, but were they all just plain chrome???

Wow, you answered all my questions as I was typing them! ;)

Hmm... that's pretty funny. So SUPERBIT gradually meant less and less over time, huh? Wow, hype city. Incidentally, the bonus audio track I was talking about on "Spider-Man" was a commentary track by Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire, which was worth it because Tobey had refused to do a commentary for the regular DVD. Give me cool extras like that and I'll buy SUPERBITs all day long, but enough of this bullshit about dumping extras to save space for higher-quality video, you know?

There are exceptions to every rule and some Superbits are absolutely superior to their non-SB versions. That's not an opinion.

That said, yes, it's mostly just a marketing thing.

Oh, I agree completely that Superbit versions of a film are generally better looking than the non-Superbit versions (such as Spider-Man 2). I was just saying that it's such a shame that so many people think "Superbit" is some kind of super-technology invented by Sony. I don't know how many threads I've seen online where someone asked if their dvd player could play Superbit dvds, as if they were some kind of DVD variant. They're just no-frills dvds (well, mostly).

I never understood why the menus had to look as crappy as they did. It's not like using key art related to the film took away from the movie's picture quality or anything. As has already been mentioned, almost none of the Superbit DVDs used the entire disc space anyway.

Thanks a lot for all the information everyone, I know a lot more about Superbit DVD's now.

I'm glad I found this, it may not have extras, but I really just wanted to see the movie, and all I could find for it online was the Superbit and a 3 disc set that goes for about $30.

I don't need you to tell me what I've written in my own post. Now is THAT clear?

aww I remember how superbit Discs where $25-$30 each, times sure have changed :)

Apparently you do, since you've contradicted yourself in subsequent posts.

I own quite a few Superbits...why did I get them plain and simple:

1. Didn't already have the movie. (With only 2 exceptions)
2. The DTS track that wasn't availbe on the regular release.

I"m one of those that loves DTS. As far as the video quality I have to agree I don't see where it's made any difference. The older movies still don't look as good.

But the DTS tracks are awesome. Underworld Superbit is a must have:)

Would I have paid over $20 for them...heck no.

Just an FYI...you can pick most of the Superbits up at Best Buy for $9.99.

For that price and since I didn't have most of them I hopped on it.

I am not jumping on the next gen bandwagon until a winner is decided or a player that plays both is released. Also I"m waiting for price drops and bugs to be worked out. I think I'll be waiting awhile so for now DVD is the format for me.

Well apparently I don't! I'm not condradicting anything, and If my posts are being misinterpreted by others (including you) it's their problem. Now what else do you have to say?

You said: "This is incorrect! Superbit was a specialized technology for the DVD format."

Mike said: "Sorry, you're wrong. "SUPERBIT" is not any kind of "specialized technology". Those DVDs are simply versions that use a higher bitrate than regular DVDs, and they can only do that by leaving off most of the bonus content found on the "regular" version."

You said: "That's what I said!"

:hscratch:

You are saying that it's a specialized technology. Mike (and others) are saying it isn't. You're saying "that's what you said". How is that not a contradiction?



It's hard to misinterpret your statement that "Superbit was a specialized technology for the DVD format." But if you feel that we have and you'd care to clarify, please do.

Superbits have ZERO 'special technology'. They drop motion menus, commentary, and extras in the hopes that they can increase (not even maximize) bit rates. Other non-superbits have done this. Hell, I've done that on DVD-Rs. It isn't a special technology.

Apparently you do. -screwy-

My only guess here is that English isn't this guy's first language, and things like "is" and "isn't" are being lost in translation. Either that, or I was right the first time... -screwy-

I read your posts the same way everyone else did. I don't think we misinterpreted anything. Maybe you misspoke, but your posts were pretty clear and they were wrong.

The only Superbit I've seen where the picture quality was dramatically better than the standard DVD, is Lawrence of Arabia. Superbit was the biggest rip-off gimmick of the DVD era (unless you count Circuit City's failed DIVX discs). I always looked at it as DVD production laziness. They should have released the same high bitrate transfers with DTS audio and extras for a competitive price. Instead they gave us half of what the other studios did and tried to charge 30% more. I suspect they also frequently pulled the same scam as Gold CD's: Namely that they purposely "under-produced" the standard releases in order to validate false claims about the inherent superiority of the luxury format.

I have to say that when SUPERBITs dropped to $9.99 at BEST BUY, I was *really* hoping there'd be something I wanted on SUPERBIT, but all I ended up getting was "Spider-Man 2" and "Men In Black II". I have Labyrinth on DVD, but only for the bonus documentary, so getting the SUPERBIT version of that would have been pointless.

Anybody know when UMDs are gonna drop in price? I seem to recall that Sony has discontinued the format, or will soon, and there are a couple titles I wouldn't mind having just as collectibles, although not for $19.99 each.

Uhh...you're wrong, dude. It's not specialized technology.

I thought the Mobile Fidelity line was the bee's knees when it was first announced, but it seemed ludicrous to me that the cover art was half the size it once was, especially since a big complaint people had about CDs at the time was that the small booklet didn't have the visual impact of a record sleeve.

The only gold CD I've ever owned was the limited edition of "Face Value" by Phil Collins, and even though I take tremendously good care of my CDs, it started cracking after a few years, and I didn't even listen to it all that often.

Gold CD's, just like Superbits, were often better sonically than their standard aluminium counterparts. But, of course, that was a result of better mastering not an inherent technological or material superiority of the media itself. The makers of both were constantly touting the superiority of the media itself, as though they were building with steel and everybody else was using mud. Too many unsuspecting consumers bought into that lie - including a few folks around here who should have known better. At least I remember a lot of threads from a few years back with DVDTalk vets insisting that the "Superbit process" made for better DVD's than the other studios could deliver.

One big difference between Mobile Fidelity CDs and SuperBit DVDs is that they were made by a completely separate company than the original releasing company.

I think it's a valid point that Sony had an interest in doing a lackluster first release so that they could then tout a "superior" SuperBit release down the road. Meanwhile, other studios were releasing DVDs that were SuperBit quality to begin with, they just weren't marketing them as anything special.

But with music, the major labels would release their titles and that was that. Maybe they were mastered well, or maybe they were compressed all to hell. But Mobile Fidelity had sound engineers who were incredibly anal about sound quality, and they knew their target market was too. I don't regret any of the handful of Mobile Fidelity CDs I own.

The only SuperBit I own that displayed a noticeably better picture is "Lawrence of Arabia." and that has virtually nothing to do with the SuperBit hokum and more to do with the fact that Sony botched the original transfer, which was corrected for the SuperBit.

The only real advantage of SuperBit, for me, was the DTS track.

I've compared the following on my system:

Air Force One
Dracula
Fifth Element
Hollow Man
Men In Black (r3)
Men In Black (r3)
Panic Room
The Patriot
Spiderman
Spiderman 2
Vertical Limit

In each case the SB had what I perceived to be a better picture. When you have a 126" screen, you want the best picture available, so I buy SB's whenever possible. I don't use the dts, since I have 7.1 and DD through Pro Logic II sounds better than dts (which is really 6.1)