Superbit dvds getting a lot of attention

[George Bellefontaine]

There's a lot of discussion on this particular subject at a lot of the other sites.The general concensus seems to be that there is a definite improvement in picture and audio. I can attest to this after watching my weekend purchase of the Fifth Element.Now, do we all go out and start replacing regular dvds with Superbits in our collection.Not likely.Having Superbit titles that have high rewatchability, like FE will probably make sense, but I am quite content to live with a pretty good dvd picture in the majority of titles I presently own.However, I will be interested to see what upcoming titles will be available in Superbit.




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[Markj]

George interesting that you mention that the sound is better too. John mentioned that superbit titles are still the DTS half bit rate. So I am on the edge on deciding to replace my DD FE with this new re-release. Are you comparing it to the DD FE or DTS FE.

Thanks

[Burke Strickland]

Will I replace my 650+ DVDs with Superbit DVDs? Heck no -- I'm still enjoying laser discs! IOW, although I appreciate the difference in picture and sound quality, it isn't worth it to me to repeat the investment for every title. I have over 400 titles on LD that I have not duplicated on DVD. While the majority of those are not yet available on DVD, many are. And I have made a decision in these cases to "make do" with the LD edition and spend my money elsewhere -- on new titles that I don't already have in any medium, or new equipment upgrades, or, (as heretical as this sounds), :>) on non-HT items like air conditioning for the house or a new mattress for the bed.

Of course, there have been quite a few titles that I have purchased multiple times, including my recent acquisition of the "Godfather" DVD box set which movies I already had on VHS and LD. I can justify that one since I never bought the "widescreen" LDs, just the original "full frame" release. I simply HAD to get the DVDs to have the movies in the correct aspect ratio. (That's the ticket!) :>) Actually, unless the DVD adds something significant like correct aspect ratio or DD 5.1 instead of ProLogic (and even that is less of an issue now with DP II in my system), the LD serves the purpose just fine for a lot of movies.

I'll probably break down and get a few Superbit DVDs along the way, but right now, I'm deeper into CD purchases, "discovering" new-to-me jazz performers and branching out further in classical music. If I need an FE (Fifth Element) "fix", I'll just have to suffer with the gauze-over-lens original DVD release monstrosity in the short term. :>)

Burke

[John Kotches]

Well I started playing around with Fifth Element the day it arrived (well actually two days later, because the FP Screen arrived the same day as the discs.

Unfortunately I don't have my "plain vanilla" version of 5th Element to compare against, don't ask, don't tell!

Sonically, I can't say because the original 5th Element didn't have DTS, and I haven't listened to the DD track.

Picture wise, my memory says it's a nice improvement but that is going strictly on memory.

Regards,




---
Editor, PC/Home Theater
Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity
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NEC LT-150 specific page.

[George Bellefontaine]

Mark,
I didn't have FE on dvd. My old copy is on laserdisc in Dolby Digital, and the dvd in this particular case has much better audio, at least on the DTS track. The interesting thing is, at the end credits is lists Dolby Digital but doesn't list DTS, so this must have been especially done for the dvd only.I found the bottom end, in particular, to be much deeper on the dvd than the ld.
Like Burke, I have not been too quick to replace titles in my ld collection,except when those titles were not in the OAR. In these cases I have replaced many. But with FE, I was quite happy with the ld. It's just that I had been hearing so many good things about this title in Superbit, I just had to try it.

John-
I don't know what the original dvd transfer looked like, though I had heard it was "reference" quality, so I can't compare the Superbit to it, but I do know that I can now easily say that the Superbit FE is the best looking film in my entire dvd collection.I'm sure you would be thrilled with it on your FP system and new screen.




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[Lex]

dang, wish I had gotten 5th on order. Are any retailers carrying the SB titles? Best Buy? CC, etc...?

Lex

[Andrew Pratt]

Doug you should be able to find the superbits fairly easily..hell even my local block buster had it for sale! (granted priced $10 more the future shop)

[Markj]

Thanks George.

Lex you might try Target, Circut City and Walmart. These just came to mind.

I feel lucky in that DVD planat is just a 10 minute drive.