Page 1 of Superbit DVDs. Any good?

I`m thinking of buying some of these, but are they really that much better?
I can buy Dracula for £9.99 adn the superbit version will probably be about £5 more. Does anyone have any superbit DVD`s? What are they like? Oh, and does anyone know the cheapest place to buy them???

they are supposed to be much better than their orignal releases but no better than what we have seen in other releases such as T2:UE and star wars. It all depends on how many extras the original version has. Superbit is another money making scam by studios. They could have easily packed the superbit disc and another disc with extras together to form a 2 disc set. as for cheapies, have you tried absound.ca?

Sportsmimic,

I`m surprised more hasn`t been said about these so called `Superbit` discs. What could have been a great opportunity to portray a film in its best clothes has turned into a sad excuse for Sony to print money with absolutely no gratification or reward to the customer.
Okay my set up isn`t quite top of the line, but with a Toshiba tv fed images via component from my Pioneer 737 feeding sound to a Denon 3802 and Acoustic Energy/Miller and Kreisel/Yamaha 6.1 surround system practically all my dvd`s are given the royal treatment on playback.
Now, to my eyes Superbit discs offer VERY LITTLE in terms of a `leap in performance` which can be read inbetween the lines of Sony`s unconvincing press blurb. Quite what the extra space on the discs has been used for is beyond me-plus all the titles are encoded in NTSC so although people with component and progressive will benefit from a great picture-as will everyone as NTSC is virtually indistinguishable when mastered properly-you`re still going to get visible horizontal scan lines and not everyones tv is NTSC compatible.
Also Sony`s aim to offer the best presentation is unfounded as yet. For me Superbit discs are for those who expect the best image and sound possible, so why are we still getting half bitrate DTS transfers paired with the Dolby version? If the original `Poorbit` versions have the Dolby track and are already available, then surely it makes sense to offer something that ISN`T available as an option on the original release-why are people going to buy it otherwise!!
Of all the titles i`ve seen The Fifth Element is about the best-but not a great deal more than the original disc, in fact it`s very hard to see any difference. I review and watch various quality dvd`s for Clayts` website and believe me i know quality when i see it, and these Superbit titles are certainly not top of the league when you take into account cost and the principal of the situation.
So here`s my message to Sony;If you want to offer the customer the ULTIMATE in sound and vision, then prove to us exactly what all that extra space on the disc is about with a FLAWLESS image taken from a film that had a GOOD QUALITY print in the first place(Johnny Nemonic?Desperado?Yeah right),accompanied by FULL BITRATE sound in DTS as the originals that you have RELEASED PREVIOUSLY IN DOLBY DIGITAL will be bought by the people who know what makes sense-and at the moment Superbit discs are only much use to those who have more money than sense! If you can`t offer this then just offer the consumer £30 worth of cinema tickets to Odeon Leicester square where movies can be seen and heard as intended. And while these people are doing it, sit down with a copy of T2 Ulitmate Edition,Toy Story 2,and The Mummy Returns(region 4 dts), and show the bosses at Sony how a dvd given loving care can really look and sound when given some effort and time. All these have sound and vision of stunning quality, and show up your so called Superbit discs to be a shoddy wallet blasting scam. Until you show US THE CONSUMER that Superbit means business, and that you`re not out to rip us off, then no-one will adopt or take Superbit seriously. You`ve shown us that you can be inventive and successful with Minidisc and Playstation, so why not show us you can do it with DVD too, cause this will only hurt your reputation in the end. And if you can`t achieve it, then scrap it and do what you do best and stop being the pretentious kid who think they`ve got it all.
And while you`re at it a selection of good titles for my dusty PS2 wouldn`t go amiss, cause frankly(apart from GTA 3and a few others), the software sucks! I feel like i`ve wasted money, show me something new and innovative thats not a sports/platform/racing/shoot em up! And please no Superbit PS2 titles either!
So Sportsmimic, does that answer your question?! :-)

Sorry to rant, but it had to be said as its been on my mind for ages!

All the best

Westy

I bought the Superbit edition of Air Force One as I mistakingly bought the R2 flipper when I first bought my DVD player..... (Doh!!)

The superbit isnt really much different being honest. The DTS sound is good, but the previous 5.1 wasn`t much different in my opinion! And the picture is good, but not outstanding in any way.

If you`ve already got the film you`re thinking of buying don`t bother - save your cash for something else......

It was very difficult to see an improvement in picture quality on fifth element but the sound was a definite improvement.Superbits shouild have
the extras on another disc and charge the same as they do now.Wouild
you buy jonny pneumonic on superbit?
nilesh
scan

I bought Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, only because it was priced at DVDImport as $17.52, I thought about cancelling it but because the price was so good I decided to go ahead( I already have region 4 ).
There is only a very slight difference and not worth the extra cost, unless you get them at a bargain price.

I have`nt actually seen or heard any of these new disks, but anything new tends to make people curious (and somtimes disapointed) and I agree it would be very interesting to hear more on this subject.

tom-m, superbit is a new range of dvds by studios, without any extras. They claim that extras take up space on the disc, making the picture and sound not of optimum quality, and if the remove them all(which is what they have done with these discs), they can offer a better picture and sound.

Thanks for the info dicanio, it does sound like people will be short changed a bit. Obviously the film is the most important thing on the disk but excluding all the extra stuff does make the disk seem a bit ..er..empty.

thanks tom

Thanks for the info dicanio, it does sound like people will be short changed a bit. Obviously the film is the most important thing on the disk but excluding all the extra stuff does make the disk seem a bit ..er..empty.

thanks tom