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Sony - Superbit Mgm Titles (1 Viewer)

Bradley-E

Screenwriter
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Nov 11, 2003
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Sony appears to be releasing SUPERBIT titles from the newly acquired MGM catalogue. DVD EMPIRE lists MAD MAX and the remake of ROLLERBALL coming out Jan. 10th.
 

JoshB

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Dec 25, 2001
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I can't think of two films which could hardly need the SB treatment than those two mentioned. Mad Max is an ok film, but Rollerball is one of the worst films I can remember. Its on par with Batman & Robin, IMO.

If its true, they obviously seem to be continuing the trend of releasing mediocre or undeserving films with the Superbit treatment. As with the other releases, SB does not mean better quality in A/V at all, and I doubt they will change their approach to MGM titles.
 

Ravi K

Supporting Actor
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Feb 24, 2003
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707
If you add DTS and relax the video filtering on a crappy movie, HTphiles will buy it ;)
 

Magnus T

Supporting Actor
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Jan 26, 2003
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I was thinking the same thing. Rollerball I couldn't give a shit about and The Mad Max SE is perfectly acceptable. The Australian soundtrack in 5.1 and mono and a wonderful transfer.

It would be great if Sony actually lost money by producing these Superbit discs. The concept is utterly ridiculous. "We could give you the best possible transfer with both DTS and DD and commentary tracks, instead we're going to split the release up in two. We're also going to decrease the transfer quality for the standard release to justify the Superbit release. The money we're making from these relases are going into... ehmmm... um... development. Yeah, that's right, development."
 

Marc Colella

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Why do I get the feeling that Sony is going to sit on the many MGM foreign films that are in dire need of a proper DVD release?

Forget Superbit or monster special editions, I'd be happy with just a barebones decent anamorphic release.
 

john mcfadden

Stunt Coordinator
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Aug 11, 2003
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239
Rob roy definetly needs a new transfer , i remember watching the disc and the film image actually jumps in one spot in between the reel change !!!!

And its a really bad ld transfer

I dont need extras per say but I would buy a Superbit immmediately .
 

Mark Lucas

Second Unit
Joined
Aug 3, 2005
Messages
497
Isn't Superbit irrelevent by now? Just grabbing an old transfer and cranking up the bitrate and using less filtering just doesn't excite me. A new transfer does though.

The newest edition of Robocop looks alright. Just needs less EE and contrast.
 

Doug Schiller

Supporting Actor
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Dec 16, 1998
Messages
766
Exactly, that is the dirty little secret no one mentions.
95% of all Super Bits are just existing transfers.

You want me to re purchase a title? Create a new transfer.
 

Gordon McMurphy

Senior HTF Member
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Aug 3, 2002
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3,530
Message to Sony: If you must re-release existing MGM DVDs, start with those that have non-anamorphic, open-matte or pan and scan or just plain crap transfers and create all-new HD-sourced anamorphic transfers. For instance:

  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) (non-anamorphic)
    Kiss Me Deadly (non-anamorphic)
    Midnight Cowboy (non-anamorphic; generally crap transfer)
    Rob Roy (crap)
    The Apartment (non-anamorphic; crap)
    Bound for Glory (1976) (non-anamorphic; crap)
    Exodus (fucking horrendous, non-anamorphic transfer)
    The Graduate (non-anamorphic)
    It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (needs to be restored in one way or another)
    The Knack ...and How to Get It (non-anamorphic)
    The Long Riders (crap?)
    The Night of the Hunter (needs a SE)
    On the Beach (non-anamorphic)
    Paths of Glory (generally good transfer, but seeing as Warner are doing new Kubrick SEs...)
    King of Hearts (1967) (non-anamorphic)
    Fellini's Roma (non-anamorphic)
    Sweet Smell of Success (non-anamorphic)
    The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (non-anamorphic)
    Theatre of Blood (non-anamorphic)
    Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (non-anamorphic)
    Tom Jones (1963) (non-anamorphic; needs a digital restoration; day-for-night shots re-timed)
    The Train (1964) (generally good, but is non-anamorphic)
 

Marc Colella

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 19, 1999
Messages
2,601
Adding to Gordon's list:

Jean de Florette
Manon of the Spring
Cyrano de Bergerac
Babette's Feast
Fellini's Satyricon
Small Change
The Story of Adele H
The Man Who Loved Women
 

Paul.S

Senior HTF Member
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Mar 29, 2000
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Hollywood, California
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Paul
One could add Moonstruck to the list as well. Current disc is p&s.

Interesting/annoying but I suppose not surprising that Sony is doing this last call/money grab of SBs of MGM titles despite their first Blu-rays being hopefully about 8 months away.

-p
 

Rhoq

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 1, 2004
Messages
734
I would triple-dip if Sony released a SuperBit edition of "The Princess Bride".
 

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