Spider-Man 2 DVD Reviews - when? (1 Viewer)

[ThomasC]

It was only the Tobey Maguire web commentary, the other two on the Special Edition weren't on there.

 

[Eric F]

Let's hope the bitrate is used to the maximum on the Superbit. I don't care much for extras, the movie's the thing.

I don't even understand why they bother with a 5.1 DD track. DTS full-bitrate and DD 2.0 would be fine for me.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

You miss my point. Your post implied that Superbit discs never include commentaries - I pointed to one that does. I never claimed it included the SAME commentaries as the other version.

 

[greg_t]

According to this gentleman on the AVS forum, the superbits video quality is improved over the regular edition.


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=474275

 

[ThomasC]

Point taken.

 

[Shane Martin]

Everything from everyone I trust is saying the PQ and SQ are better on the superbit and a vast improvement. Easy enough sale for me on the Superbit this time around.

 

[Greg Black]

But now of course, the inevitable question of whether or not Sony purposefully degraded the transfer on the 2-disc SE...

 

[Eric F]

Wearing your pointy hat? Probably just the lower bitrate.

We have no conclusive evidence until the actual reviews start coming in.

 

[greg_t]

When Bjoern used to frequent the forum, he always said Superbit wasn't really about bitrate, but that the superbits had less horizontal filtering resulting in more detail and this was where the improvements really came from and the higher bitrate was what allows this to happen. I'm of course just paraphrasing. You can check his site for a full, detailed explanation.

 

[Vincent_P]

I picked up the 2-disc special edition at a local shop yesterday, and on my Panasonic LCD projector, it looked very good- not the BEST I've seen (a wee bit too much edge-enhancement, but not too bad by any means), but very pleasing when projected on my approx. 6 foot wide screen. Although of course, it didn't compare to seeing SPIDERMAN 2 in IMAX at the Sony Lincoln Square cinemas in NYC- talk about a WOW!!! moviegoing experience!!!

I thought the documentary on the extras disc was very good, kudos to Charles for that (which is a HUGE improvement over the rather impoverished extras on the original SPIDER-MAN dvd), but I have one big issue with it- why no interview with cinematographer Bill Pope? They talk to just about everybody else, but completely skip over the DP, and as Raimi and others discuss on the commentary, Raimi and Pope have a great working relationship going way back. I just don't understand why this vital member of the SPIDER-MAN 2 team wasn't included at all in the documentary.

Vincent

 

[Greg Black]

Uhh, yeah. Thanks a lot for being an ass. That's a legitimate question that's come up many times here before. And there is some evidence as to that actually happening.

 

[Brent M]

I'm going to buy the Superbit and rent the 2-disc CE for a dollar at Hollywood. I usually only watch extras once anyway and for this release the best picture/sound quality is a MUST.

 

[Charles de Lauzirika]

Vincent,

Despite my repeated requests to interview him, Bill Pope declined to participate. If there's ever something or someone missing from a disc I produce, I assure you, it's not because I didn't try.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Any further insults from anybody towards another member will result in your posting privileges being removed. Let's be respectful, we're only talking about dvds.






Crawdaddy

 

[Eric F]

Sorry, no offense meant.

I just don't buy into the theory of purposely doing a poor job to boost sales of another version. What would be the point?

Now I can understand offering features the standard version doesn't, but the standard version is jam-packed with extras, so it doesn't hold here.

There is also no reason why a company shouldn't improve on an already existing product (although why they don't do their best to begin with confounds me).

 

[greg_t]

It may well be like Bjoern said. The superbit increases detail by having less horizontal filtering, which is allowed to occur due to the higher bitrate. The regular edition apparently has more filtering resulting in less detail due to the lower bitrate. Apparently the way they do their transfers to minimize compression artifacts also factors into this. So it may not be so much on purpose, but due to their transfer methodology, the lower bitrate suffers from loss of detail. The superbit's higher bitrate allows them to correct this. For a detailed explanation, read this:

http://www.videophile.info/Review/TFE/TFE_01.htm

 

[Colin Jacobson]

To boost sales of another version? Sounds like a good reason to make one version less appealing...

 

[Chris Farmer]

Once again, I offer the evidence that Columbia is intentionally downgrading their non SB transfers via a simple comparison to the product other studios are putting out. New Line put four commentaries plus DD and dts soundtracks on Se7en and the extended editions of LotR. Any of these has video quality comparable or better then a SB. Fox had 1+ commentaries on Star Wars II (still considered one of the best live-action transfers ever, albeit one shot on digital rather than film), Fight Club, X-men, Daredevil, and plenty of others. Criterion has commentary plus excellent transfers almost universally. Warner consistently sets the bar for transfer quality and again, their discs, especially the 2 disc SEs, are often packed. Disney, while uneven, can still knock he bar out of the park when they do things right, just look at Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Snow White, Sleepign Beauty.

Note that I'm not saying that these are merely better then Columbia's standard release. I'm saying that they're packed with extras on the first disc with multiple commentaries and soundtracks (and sometimes documentaries as well if the film is short enough) and have video quality that always rivals and frequently exceeds what Columbia produces with their Superbit titles, much less their standard releases. Either C/TX is intentionally degrading their transfers for the non-B releases, or their compression systems are truly pathetic for 2004 DVD releases.

Sorry Charlie, I'm not bashing your work on this disc. I'll be picking up the two disc SE of Spider-man on Tuesday and loving it. But Columbia's Superbit marketing scam is one of my biggest pet peeves with DVD these days, because I feel like unless I get the SB title I'm getting one that has been deliberately handicapped, and SB is a marketing scheme I refuse to support.

 

[Charles de Lauzirika]

No offense taken, Chris. I had nothing to do with the video mastering on this one.

As a consumer, my own plan for dealing with the ongoing Superbit vs. Special Edition dilemma is to simply buy SEs now and wait for BluRay to enjoy superior picture and sound quality. It's really not that far off.

 

[Patrick Soucy]

greg_t, the Fifth Element isn't fait...

They compare a 1997 DVD Release with a Superbit made in 2001... The techniques of transfert has improved since 1997!