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General discussion

SUPERBIT DVD review

by techfiend Feb 26, 2006 11:41AM PST

Went to Best Buy today for the first time in some months. But this was worth it. All superbit DVD's are $9.99. So I decided to pick up a couple and see how they compared to your average DVD. Superbit have a higher bitrate than non-superbit DVD's, and the picture benefits to an extent. The first DVD I watched was Desperado(rodriguez ver.) A scale will be used; of regular DVD running at 480p compared to the great looking HBO-HD. This would fall right underneath the HD channels. The color is richer the characters more detailed, even shading is improved slightly. But compared to a new movie running in natural HD its just not on par. However for the time being and with the apparent price drop I suggest everyone have a look and see what movies they may want to see in the superbit version. I have heard some people say the picture looks pixelated, I feel this is due to the equipment being used, not the DVD which was as smooth as any Ive ever seen

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4 Posts
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MR. TECHFRIEND
by stewart norrie Feb 26, 2006 12:08PM PST

Iam so glad you folks picked up on the $9.95 superbit movies at best buy. Tomorrow Iam going to buy some more movies. I know if they had movies like star wars and other blockbuster movies , I would have bought them in superbit, have a nice weekend stewart

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JUST GOT MY SUPERBIT MOVIE, THANKS STEWART.
by BONSPEED Feb 26, 2006 12:45PM PST

WENT TO BB TODAY TO PICK UP ''UNDERWORLD'' IN SUPERBIT AND IT LOOKS GREAT. EVEN MY BRAND NEW PANASONIC S97S WAS IN CONSISTENT WITH THE PIC QUALITY GIVEN THE DARKNESS OF THE MOVIE, HARSH DIRECT LIGHTING, AND EXTREME DESATURATION. THE SUPERBIT VERSION WAS NOTICABILITY SMOOTHER AND CLEARER. THANKS AGAIN STEW. UNFORTUNATLY, IF BB IS PUTTING THEM ON SALE, THEIR PROBABLY AN ENDANGER SPIECES. Sad

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I think they're on their way out
by techfiend Feb 26, 2006 1:49PM PST

Turns out sony owns superbit. I figure they are trying to get these off they're plate to get ready for their newest venture Blu-ray. So the sale is probablly more along the lines of a liquidation.

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SUPERBIT DVD review
by jcrobso Feb 27, 2006 12:59AM PST

I agree that they will be going extinct once the HD-DVD wars get going.
The bitrate on DVDs can vary quite a bit from DVD to DVD.
the range is from 2.8mb/sec to about 6.8mb/sec for standard DVDs, many are in the 5.5bm/sec range. The theoretical max bit rate for DVDs is 10mb/sec. I'll check on the Suberbits later.
MiniDV has bit rate of 25mb/sec.
HDTV 720p and 1080i are 37.5 mb/sec.
If you get a superbit where the rate is close to 8mb/sec it will very good. John

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