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`Okay... on to SuperBit. To start with, let me just say that I've ONLY had a chance to look at one title - The Fifth Element. I also requested Air Force One and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but was only sent the one disc. It seems that Columbia is being stingy with them, and that's a shame. Without looking at several titles as a whole, it becomes very difficult to tell, across the board, how much improvement results from SuperBit's higher bit rate itself. That said, based on Fifth Element, I've drawn some conclusions.
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`To do this comparison, I used Pioneer's AX-10 DVD player and Mitsubishi's Diamond series WS-65908 rear projection display, connected using progressive scan, component video. Know that I've spent my whole professional life looking at video quality, first a video director and editor and later as editor of The Bits. And I spent several hours doing back and forth comparisons between the new disc and Columbia TriStar's original Fifth Element DVD. So does SuperBit's higher video bit rate make a difference? The answer is yes... but it's extremely subtle. So subtle, in fact, that the average user will NEVER notice it. The greatest difference seems to be in rendering fine picture detail. The very slight digital artifacting that was occasionally apparent on the original DVD (in the most finely detailed areas of the picture) is gone on the SuperBit disc, thanks to the higher bit rate. The video image on the new disc is rock-solid, virtually everywhere you look, at all times. But since most consumer display devices (particularly non-anamorphic displays) aren't capable of rendering such fine detail, most will never see this improvement. To be sure of this, I then compared the discs on a standard, 4x3 consumer television - no difference was distinguishable. I did notice that the color seemed to be very slightly more vibrant on the new SuperBit disc, but that's likely due to a difference in the color timing work done on each disc, and has nothing to do with the added video bit rate. Don't get me wrong - the disc looks amazing. But so does the original DVD. Video quality is not a reason to invest in a SuperBit disc, in my opinion.
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`If you're an audiophile, however, SuperBit's DTS audio option is the real justification for purchasing one of these discs. The improved clarity and smoother soundscape of The Fifth Element's higher-resolution DTS 5.1 track added tremendously to the viewing experience. And that's about what we expected. Without any extras, it's going to be very hard for most DVD consumers to justify buying a SuperBit title. But for fans of DTS, the decision will be easier.
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`When I was up at Skywalker Ranch recently, THX's Rick Dean reminded me that video quality is much less a factor of video bit rate, as it is the efficiency of the digital video encoder itself. Sony's HD Center has always had, in my opinion, one of the most (if not THE most) efficient video encoding processes in the business. It seems a surprise then that Columbia TriStar would see the need for a SuperBit line of discs at all (other than as an additional marketing product line). I'd rather see them keep the video bit rate where it was, add the DTS 5.1 track to as many discs as they can and continue delivering solid extras. Or, if they stick with the SuperBit line, why not make all SuperBit titles 2-disc sets and have the second disc be supplemental materials (so people actually get their additional money's worth)? But hey... if we ran the world, things would be different, wouldn't they?
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`So that's SuperBit. We'll try to get reviews up of all these titles, provided we actually get our hands on the others at some point.
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тут дигиталбитс заценил Супербитный 5 элемент (+) -- Oleg Antonov -- 01.10.01@09:06 (Чит.: 131)