Which Superbit dvd is significantly better than its non-SB counterpart? (1 Viewer)

[Brian Johnson]

Regarding the Heavy Metal disc.
The reason the CE is higher in price than the SB version is because the SB has NO special features while the collectors edition is packed full. While I believe this is the case on most SB titles, I wanted the extras, so I got the CE.
See for yourself. SB VS CE

I was hoping someone would mention A Knight's Tale as it's one of my favorite movies. I'd hate to spend $20 just to get a DTS track.

 

[Richard Kim]

Actually, Leon, The Professional Superbit uses the defective 5.1 soundtrack from the previous release which is too low on surrounds and LFE, and is inferior to the fixed soundtrack version.

 

[Steven Larson]

Brian, how is the Heavy Metal CE edition? Are the extras worthwhile? How is the video and sound quality in general?

Steve

 

[AnthonyL]

Crouching Tiger superbit. Saw it on 50 inch tv.

 

[Doug Schiller]

From what I have been gathering, the only Superbit that actually uses a new transfer is Desperado.

Lawrence is one of the few that has been "reworked".

Everyone else is the same transfer, just the bit rate pumped up (except for Panic Room, not sure what happened there).

Doug

 

[Brian Johnson]

I'll go through the list of special features DDD has listed for Heavy Metal

Feature Length Rough Cut with Optional
Commentary by Carl Macek ---you have to be a big fan to sit through this. I have it on now. Looks like storyboards with some audio (or commentary)
Deleted Scenes I like all deleted scenes on discs, so I am biased here.
Featurette - "Imagining Heavy Metal" Cool. I now have this on () Some good background about the movie.
Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical
Trailers Deepdiscountdvd has this wrong. No trailers that I can find or listed on the disc cover.
Carl Macek Reads his Book "Heavy
Metal: The Movie" Again. You'd have to be a big fan. I've never read the book or have tried to sit through this.
Interactive Features:
Scene Access
Interactive Menus
Text/ Photo Galleries:
Heavy Metal Magazine Cover Gallery
Production Photos
Conceptual Art
Pencil Portfolio with Animation
Single and Layered Cells Portfolio --- Haven't made it through many of those.

 

[JonathanG]

I'd say, Bram Stoker's Dracula - the superbit edition looks more film and less like transfered video.

hey Dave Mack, is that a picture of you??

 

[PeterTHX]

"LOA" and "Desperado" are different transfers from their non-SB counterparts. The new "Desperado" SE uses the newer SB transfer.

"hey Dave Mack, is that a picture of you??"

I think it is.

Hey Dave, lotta dandruff in that shot....

 

[Doug Schiller]

Wow, is that PeterTHX from the old laserdisc usenet days??? That name brings back some memories.

Anyway, I think someone mentioned that LOA is basically the same HD transfer, it just was color corrected by Robert Harris to match his theatrical restoration better.

I own Dracula SB along with the original and it looks like (and is) the exact same transfer except for better compression (the scene when Wynonna takes a nosedive off a cliff used to be a pixely mess).

In my eyes, all older SB release should have new transfers. Dracula and MIB still look like 1997 transfer, just with better compression.
They can't match what Warner does with its titles re-releases like Enter the Dragon and Unforgiven.

Doug

 

[GregBe]

I was all set to purchase the superbit of The Fifth Element yesterday, when I noticed that the regular release was $9. Thats a pretty big difference. I would spend more if the sound is significantly better. Any thoughts on this title.

Greg

 

[Tim Meader]

Agreed about Dracula. The original edition is a VERY early DVD with a transfer that shows it.

The Superbit is gorgeous.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Of all the Superbit editions I have seen, I think they all have been an improvement over their standard-edition counterparts, some more so than others. The most dramatic, hands-down improvement already has been mentioned here more than once: Lawrence of Arabia.

 

[Steven Larson]

What is wrong with the Panic Room SB?

 

[David Ruiz]

The better question would be, "What isn't wrong with the Panic Room (Superbit)?"

It's by far the worst of all the Superbits I own which I think are now around 7 or 8 of them. In fact, I find it to look far worse than most DVDs out there today.

BTW, I just got my Spider-Man Superbit two days ago, and had a chance to view it upscaled to 1080i yesterday. All I can say is WOW! It looks incredible! Extremely detailed, and the image has a lot of depth. Still some extremely light edge-enhancement noticed, but nothing that distracted me from enjoying the movie. It had a ton of grain though, which didn't bother me at all, but it might bother other people.

I'm sorry, as I can't compare the Spider-man Superbit to the non-superbit version, as this is my first time owning the movie on DVD. I don't think that the original release could look this good though.

 

[Walter Kittel]

The Panic Room Superbit DVD does an admirable job of recreating the theatrical presentation of the film. That is the only meaningful criteria by which to judge a transfer. Films look different; comparing a transfer for one film against that for another film is an exercise in futility. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that disc, despite the repeated complaints that you hear about this title on the HTF. It may be fair to say that you as an individual, find the film's visual aesthetic displeasing; but that has no bearing upon the quality of the transfer or the disc in question.

- Walter.

 

[David Ruiz]

I agree that DVDs should only be judged against the way the film looked in the theater, however, I had the great fortune of seeing Panic Room in a THX certified theater more than once, and I can say with great certainty that it looks a trillion times better in the theater than it does on DVD. In the theater, we saw a flawless picture from beginning to end.

On the DVD, I'm seeing artifacts, major edge-enhancement, and even color bleeding. And this is the only DVD that looks like this, as most DVDs look perfectly fine. All I know is that it didn't look this terrible in the theater.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I've been on both sides of these types of discussion (quality of a transfer), so all I can say is that I am pleased with the disc.

Cheers,
Walter...

 

[Charlie O.]

I've been wondering about the following discs. I have the nonsuper bits and would like to know if its worth upgrading

John Carpenter's Vampires
Men in Black

The normal Men in Black already has a DTS sound track
and a bunch of extra so I can't see any point in upgrading. Is the picture that much better?

 

[Doug Schiller]

Not to turn this into another Panic Room SB discussion but since I brought it up and was asked...

When I first watched Panic Room I was amazed at all the mosquito noise I was noticing.
These were artifacts that I just wasn't used to seeing anymore but there they were.

I took it upon myself to view the bitrate display during a large portion of the film and noticed that the meter barely jumped above 5mps.

Superbit markets itself as high bit rate transfer. I did the same with the Dracula SB and it averaged almost 7-8mps like expected.

So, what happened with Panic Room? I have my cynical theories like it was never meant to be but they had to put a DTS track on there and certain licensing fees, etc. etc.

But, that's just me

 

[David Ruiz]

Yes, I totally agree. Lots of Mosquito noise and other distracting artifacts, which definitely were not present in the theatrical film-print that I saw.

I think the reason it looks awful was because it was Columbia's first time releasing it on DVD. Maybe they shouldn't have called it Superbit at all. Then, maybe they could have gone back, fix it up, and then released it as an improved Superbit.

Does anyone know how it looks compared to the 3-Disc special edition? If the Special Edition looks worse than this, then I certainly don't want to come anywhere near it. But perhaps it looks better than the Superbit. Has anyone seen it, and compared it?