WSR Reviews 5th Element Superbit DVD (1 Viewer)

[Brian-W]

I'm actually waiting to hear from DVD File re: Superbit. IMHO, DVD File hasn't steared me wrong yet, and what the right has reflected my own opinion once I've seen it.
WSR is a magazine I look forward to on the technical side, not their movie reviews. I get the feeling that the movie reviews they do are really an after thought or a way to fill space in a monthly magazine. No offense to Perry Sun, but every month his DVD reviews, primarily in the audio department look "cut and paste" from one review to the next. Basically uses the same phrase and words over and over again with no real differences.
I'm a bit surprised DVD File or other sites in the U.S. don't have reviews up yet, but WSR does...
-brian

 

[Chris Maynard]

What people are complaining about may not be EE at all. Morgan Holly pointed out that the Sony telecine machine sometimes can induce what appears to be ringing.
It was discussed in one of the old DHWAV threads.
I will try and dig it up tonight.

 

[Adam Barratt]

I may catch flack for this but I feel that they are the single most ignorant and clueless dvd reviewers on the face of the earth.

This is more than a little harsh, and I have to strongly disagree. Widescreen Review's reviews are generally excellent, in my opinion, and their reviewers are far from ignorant or clueless.
Adam

 

[TedD]

WSR has a history of errors in reviews. At one time, for almost a year they couldn't calcualate the A.R. of the image correctly.
I notice that the same reviewer did both titles, and we have no idea of the equipment that she was using to do the video reviews.
Ted

 

[Rob Tomlin]

I wonder about WSR reviews sometimes myself, and I do subscribe to the magazine.
I watched 15 minutes the other night. Fantastic transfer. WSR talks about it having bothersome edge enhancement with halos, as well as shimmering, and some scenes look slightly undefined. Despite this description, they did give the picture a 4.5 rating.
But TheDigitalBits says "there are no artifacts to be seen and detail is crisp without the vibrating edges you get with unneeded edge enhancement".
I certainly did not see any edge enhancement or shimmering on my 16:9 set with prog scan dvd player. I thought the image was solid as a rock.
Just goes to show how different people see things differently. I still like WSR, but it pays to get other opinions too. I will look forward to other reviews of the Superbits titles.

 

[Bjoern Roy]

Rob,
15 minutes is a fairly untypical New Line transfer. Usually, NL transfers exhibit too much EE throughout the whole presentation. But 15 minutes is a mixed bag. At least half of the movie looks fairly pristine EE wise (e.g. beginning at airport), but there are some daytime AND nighttime scenes in the movie that show a tremendous amount of EE. In some cases it was so bad, i literally screamed 'unbelievable' out lout.
Regards
Bjoern
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"Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity" (Bullet Tooth Tony in 'Snatch')
My HT in action (Screenshot Page) | My Ultimate 'Edge Enhancement' Guide | My DVD/LD SPL page

 

[Lee Scoggins]

While I enjoy reading the magazine, I am very suspicious about their reviews as well. They have had some wide misses and there have been some personal favorites that I know well that they have missed completely.
Lee
"We will not tire, we will not falter, we will not fail..."

 

[Perry Sun]

I watched 15 minutes the other night. Fantastic transfer. WSR talks about it having bothersome edge enhancement with halos, as well as shimmering, and some scenes look slightly undefined. Despite this description, they did give the picture a 4.5 rating.
But TheDigitalBits says "there are no artifacts to be seen and detail is crisp without the vibrating edges you get with unneeded edge enhancement".

You neglected to mention that the reviewer's criticism for EE was for SOME, not all scenes. Also, perhaps the reason why other reviewers may not notice artifacts and such to the extent we would has to do with the fact that we're viewing the image on a 7-foot-wide screen, with a Sony G90 9-inch projector, configured in a rear-projection setup with NO first surface mirror. And the picture goes through the Faroudja DVP5000, upconverting 480i to 960p.
We may get a lot of criticism around here and elsewhere, but we're also ready to fully back up what we write on the Web and in print, and whenever necessary, acknowledge errors. We have the equipment and resources to justify what we do and the judgements that we make. Theoretically, if someone wanted to walk into our offices and ask us to show them the faults we identify in a certain DVD, we can do that quite easily and confidently. We can also go through and verify our setup and explain in detail how we approach our reviews. What other resources are prepared to do the same?
Brian Wiklem, I note your critical comments and will take them into account. But many DVDs end up having quite similar characteristics in terms of audio that describing each of them in a different way becomes a challenge. I would also challenge you to sit in my chair, do 80+ reviews a month and make every one of them unique to your own satisfaction. You'd be surprised just how difficult that can be sometimes.
There's a small group from the HTF National Meet visiting us on Wednesday, and we'll be happy to compare the Superbit titles to the previous versions if they're interested.

 

[Brian-W]

Brian Wiklem, I note your critical comments and will take them into account. But many DVDs
end up having quite similar characteristics in terms of audio that describing each of them in a
different way becomes a challenge. I would also challenge you to sit in my chair, do 80+
reviews a month and make every one of them unique to your own satisfaction. You'd be
surprised just how difficult that can be sometimes.

Point taken. This is why a forum can be better than print, because this doesn't come across in the magazine. I'm sure it's not easy to write unique critiques for every facet of the DVD, especially 80 (although I don't recall seeing anywhere near that number reviewed in an issue of WSR).
However, as a suggestion, it'd be nice to see you point out any specific scenes that highlight your audio critique. That alone would add the "uniqueness" and help us understand the review from your point of view. Then when we get the disc, we can probably experience what you are writing about.
Here's a piece of criticism though: I beg you to stop using the term "big fat mono". Personally, if it was recorded originally in mono, that's fine. It's either mono or it isn't and if that's the way it was recorded, I wouldn't knock points off of a review because of it. Anyway, I sense the sarcasm in the statement of big fat mono.
-Brian
[Edited last by Brian Wiklem on September 22, 2001 at 01:09 PM]

 

[PS Nystrom]

I'm hearing a good deal of "I'm not going to upgrade for a small increase in audio or video quality," and I can understand that. What I'm interested in hearing is which you would purchase if a SE and a Superbit of a title were released on the same day? And do you think this'll ever start to happen?
I think I'd go for the Superbit.
Pieter
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Witness my BoomRoom's brand new layout as of Sep 21.

 

[Tom-G]

What I'm interested in hearing is which you would purchase if a SE and a Superbit of a title were released on the same day?

I would go for the superbit. The movie itself - not the extras - is the highest priority for me. Although, I'm sure there are certain titles which I would sacrifice some quality for the extras simply because I like to know more about a movie that I love as opposed to a movie that I find to be simply pretty good.
I don't believe this will come to be. The release of superbit a later date puts the consumer somewhat in a corner. Do you re-purchase a title just for improved picture and sound or do you hold on to version with the extras? I'm willing to bet that most people would choose to re-purchase. And that is what the studio is hoping for.

 

[Greg_Y]

What I'm interested in hearing is which you would purchase if a SE and a Superbit of a title were released on the same day? And do you think this'll ever start to happen?

That's an excellent question and I find it a bit harder to answer than I first thought. My first notion is, since I'm a film first type, that Superbit would be the way to go. However, I'm not sure if all movies are going to benefit from it. There has to be some sort of happy medium, and I think many studios / producers are finding that medium. We see plenty of discs with good transfers, audio tracks and solid extras that don't need any type of Superbit treatment.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Perry (or anyone): Does the new disc improve on the old one? I've never owned the thing (a heretical home theater comment, if ever--I suppose)--but I'm now considering it for demo purposes. JB
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[Neil S. Bulk]

And do you think this'll ever start to happen?

It wouldn't surprise me.

Neil
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"Conspiracy theorists don't live on the same flat Earth as the rest of us." -- astronomer Stephen Maran

 

[Jeffrey Noel]

Well fellas, I was waiting to get the Fifth Element Superbit DVD, but after reading this post, I broke down and bought the regular DVD at Wal-Mart for $14.99.
Why spend more money on something that I wouldn't benefit from due to my mediocre home theater?
Take care
jeffrey noel
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Go WILDCATS!

 

[Wes]

There are so many other excellent transfers and great releases that had both DD EX and DTS EX matrix/discrete and for no increase in price added a second disc or side with tons of extras. So to release Fifth Element and Air Force One again with no added features is senseless! My guess Super Bits just as Warners DTS releases will be done away with before you know it.
Now if the Super Bits came with a second disc chuck full of cool stuff I would rebuy all the titles.
Wes

 

[Luis Gabriel Gerena]

Since WSR is kind of weird issuing raitings in the image quality department, I rather wait and see for myself if I notice a big enough improvement...after all I am my favorite reviewer
Is stranged that they selected 5th Element being one of my favorite dvds image wise. Still the movie itself is the main priority for me so I am willing to give SuperBit a try and hopefully it will deliver.
BTW here is an example of their weird image quality review. They gave Wayne's World a 4 in image quality which they also gave to Silence of the Lambs! And if my memory is working ok, Shadow of the Vampire and Traffic scored even higher at 4.5...odd indeed.

 

[Chris Maynard]

Perry & Co do an admirable job for each and every issue. Considering I do no more than 4 reviews a month I can't image how daunting 80 would be. I am a happy and several time renewed subscriber.
Now...my only complaint would be the high praise of DTS which seems to happen on almost every title. Some DD and DTS titles are scored the same but there always seems to be a statement saying how DTS edged it out in the text of the review. Yes they have an extremely kick ass system and if there are differences those systems should reveal it. That being said why did the orginal pressing of JP DTS get a higher score than the DD version when we know the DTS was fouled up? This is where I think the human factor kicks in.
Overall it is a first rate magazine with great writing. I consider it a must-have resource for the DVD (once LD) collector.
quote: They gave Wayne's World a 4 in image quality which they also gave to Silence of the Lambs! And if my memory is working ok, Shadow of the Vampire and Traffic scored even higher at 4.5...odd indeed.[/quote]
Their scale has changed over time just as the DVD product has evolved ( as it should IMHO). They also consider what the film "is" and should look like when scoring the product. WSR has stated this. I find their video scoring quite in line with my opinion and most others I talk to who review movies.
[Edited last by Chris Maynard on September 23, 2001 at 11:12 AM]

 

[Luis Gabriel Gerena]

"Their scale has changed over time just as the DVD product has evolved ( as it should IMHO)."
But the examples I gave where from issues 51 (Traffic), issue 52 (Wayne's World) and issue 53 (Silence of the Lambs) so there is not a big gap between them and based on your criteria SOTL being the newest should have gotten a lower score than Wayne's World.
Regards