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article last updated on
3.18.2003
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What
is Superbit™?  On
October 9, 2001, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
released a new series of DVDs that promises the best in picture and sound quality, dubbed as the
Superbit™ DVD series. These are DVDs that devote the
entire data capacity to accommodate higher video bit rates and two
surround sound options, the highly regarded DTS
5.1 and de facto standard Dolby
Digital 5.1. By omitting bonus materials, running audio commentaries,
other audio (Dolby Digital 2.0) and language (e.g., French or Spanish) soundtracks, extra data capacity is freed up for the higher
video bit rate, DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound tracks.
A
comparison of disc space allocation and video bit
rate between a standard DVD and a Superbit DVD
(chart courtesy of
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment)
To ensure the best possible picture quality,
Columbia TriStar starts with a new high-definition video transfer
process, using the best possible source and encoding the picture
using an MPEG-2
compression method that takes advantage of higher bit rates to
maximize the resulting picture quality. The video bit rate
almost always vary as a function of the complexity of the picture
encoded and how much of it changes from frame-to-frame. Usually,
video bit rates of typical DVD movies average about 4-5 Megabits per
second (Mbps), but the Superbit DVD series' bit rates average about 6-7 Mbps. (Incidentally, the DVD format allows for video
bit rates up to 10 Mbps.) Basically, this means that the
picture is less compressed. And because MPEG-2, the video
compression algorithm for DVDs, is a lossy
compression algorithm, the extra data bits in the higher video bit
rate allow picture details, colors, and subtle tonal gradations to
be preserved and encoded. As a direct result, the Superbit DVD
picture promises to be more detailed, with more vibrant colors and
finer tonal gradations.  Then
for the best possible surround sound experience, Superbit DVDs offer
the choice of Dolby Digital 5.1
(which is nothing new or novel), and more importantly DTS
5.1. The real high performance option here is the
availability of the DTS 5.1 surround sound format. While both
soundtracks are 5.1-channel, DTS uses a higher bit rate (or less
lossy compression) for potentially better sonic performance and
increased channel separation. And in our experience, the DTS
soundtrack unequivocally always sounds better. For more
information on surround formats, read our Surround
Sound Tutorial.
Superbit
Releases
As part of the Superbit DVD series debut on October 9, 2001, Columbia TriStar Home
Entertainment released five DVD titles: The Fifth Element,
Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Air Force One,
Johnny
Mnemonic, and Desperado. Each title comes in a
keep case and a paper cardboard sleeve that looks like a brushed
aluminum cover. Here are the cover art of the sleeves on the initial Superbit DVD
releases:
Superbit DVD releases
include (clockwise from top left):
"Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Air Force One",
"The
Fifth Element",
"Johnny Mnemonic" and "Desperado"
Two additional Superbit titles were released on December
11, 2001:
Gattaca and
Bram
Stoker's Dracula. These were then followed by Vertical Limit and
The Big Hit
on March 19, 2002. Given the positive responses by the
media on these initial releases, Columbia TriStar plan to release
additional Superbit titles each quarter. They plan to focus primarily on action and science fiction
movies, targeting those titles that serious DVD enthusiasts are more
likely to collect.
 Staying
with their plan, Columbia-TriStar added A
Knight's Tale and Anaconda
to its list of Superbit releases for August
27,
2002. On September 17,
2002, Columbia TriStar released its first feature film
directly to the Superbit format, Panic
Room. This is a notable change from its previous strategy
of only issuing Superbit DVDs as re-releases of
movies previously released to DVD as standard or special editions.
Rounding out 2002, Resident Evil and Tommy
were released as Superbits on December 17.
Kicking off the 2003 calendar year
Superbit releases will be seven titles, all released on March 4: Heavy Metal 2000,
Seven
Years in Tibet, Legends
of the Fall, Labyrinth,
Das
Boot: The Director's Cut, The
Dark Crystal, and From
Here To Eternity. Then, on May
13, four more Superbit
titles will be released: xXx,
Bad Boys, Men In Black, and Men In Black II.
Adaptation
will be released directly as a Superbit DVD on May
20.
Stay tune (to this article) for future announcements of more Columbia
TriStar Superbit DVD titles.
Does The Superbit
Series Live Up To Its Promise?
So what do we think of the Superbit DVD series? We got our hands
on three Superbit titles (namely "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Air Force One", and "The Fifth Element")
for our evaluation. And here's what we think: The
Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon Superbit DVD is the only title of the
three that we have a standard DVD release for comparison. The
picture quality improvements are more much more subtle than we would
have expected, but then much of the movie takes place in darkness or
dim lighting conditions. In the many night-time fight
sequences, shadow details are slightly better, making it a little
easier to see what's going on. (To see this, you'll have to
make sure your TV is properly calibrated, especially for contrast
and brightness.) In the more brighter scenes, differences were
still hard to discern between the regular DVD and the Superbit DVD. The
DTS 5.1 soundtrack sounds considerably better than that of the Dolby
Digital 5.1 soundtrack. As can be expected, where we notice the most difference are
during the fight sequences and scenes rich with musical scores. For
example, the vibrations of the Green Destiny sword seems more clear and
pronounced. Listen to the fight sequence in Chapter 7.
The music doesn't drown out some of the more subtle on-screen sound
effects. These differences are consistent with the
differences we hear between DTS and Dolby Digital soundtracks of any DVD
movie with both soundtrack options. And this is what we had
expected. There's nothing new or novel here. But don't get us
wrong, the sonic improvement is significant and much welcomed.
Read our full review of Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Air Force One Superbit DVD looks superb, though we do
not have its original DVD release for comparison. But compared to
any DVD, the picture seems more detailed than usual and the colors seem much
more vibrant and more life-like. All scenes during the entire movie
seems consistently well composed with increased detail and higher color
fidelity, which is the direct result of the video bit rate
consistently running at least 4.5 Mbps. The DTS 5.1 soundtrack sounds terrific, as good as any DTS
soundtrack we've seen on other non-Superbit DVD releases. "Air
Force One" as a movie is already quite a thrill ride, and this
Superbit DVD version takes it to the limit. I was completely
spell-binded by the movie and the quality of its Superbit release.
Read our full review of Air Force One. The Fifth Element Superbit DVD looks exceptionally
good. The colors are very rich, doing justice for the
cinematography style. The picture clarity and brightness were
stunning. For example, look at the opening scenes (Chapter 2
starting at time
counter 2:57) as it shows the aliens coming down to remove the
five elements. The brightness of the reflected natural light
and later the spaceship's light, the rich and vibrant colors, and
the contrast and shadow details with the alien's dark outer shell
are remarkable. Like "Air Force One", the picture
detail is consistently good throughout the film, thanks to the
consistent use of at least 4.5 Mbps. As can be expected, the DTS
5.1 soundtrack is sensational. Our comments above from
the "Air Force One" DTS discussion mostly applies. Of the
three Superbit titles reviewed here, "The Fifth Element"
is by far my favorite Superbit. I like all three movies, but
"The Fifth Element" presented as a Superbit DVD is like
candy for the eyes and ears. How should I put it... Hmmmm, I
know, it's "perfect!" (borrowing the description of The
Supreme Being in The Fifth Element). Read our full
review of The Fifth Element. One
thing we noticed is that the Superbit DVDs are optimized for
widescreen displays. When watching on a large 4:3 aspect
ratio TV, we noticed some down-conversion artifacts
during the opening credits of all three films. The words and letters
of the opening credits seems to be unsteady and undulates slightly. More troubling are the same down-conversion
artifacts observed during the movie itself. One clear example
is in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", chapter 3 (time
counter 6:23 to 6:31), look at the door with the lite panes in the
background on the left side of the screen. The lite panes seem
to wiggle against the white background as the camera pans upward. On the standard DVD
edition, we did not see these same down-conversion artifacts.
Usually, the widescreen to full frame down-conversion is handled
very nicely and elegantly by our reference DVD player (Sony
DVP-S7700), but perhaps the higher video bit rate is pushing our DVD
player to its limits. On a widescreen display, none of the
down-conversion artifacts we mention here are a problem. And
since the Superbit DVDs are optimized for high-performance home
theaters, usually equipped with widescreen TVs, we would not
characterize this as a problem. Rather, these Superbits will serve as
reference DVDs for evaluating DVD player performance. But if
you have a large 4:3 aspect ratio TV, it's something worth noting. Overall, these three Superbit DVD samples seem to indicate that Columbia
TriStar Superbit's picture quality is a welcomed improvement for serious
and discriminating home theater enthusiasts, videophiles, and DTS surround sound fans.
In fact, if you consider yourself a DTS fan, like us, you may find
that particular feature of the Superbit series most appealing. So
what do others think?
Check out quotes and opinions from the editors of popular home theater
print magazines, from the likes of The Perfect Vision and
Stereophile to Home Theater, in this press
release.
Will You Be
Able to See and Hear the Difference? Will
you be able to see the improved picture quality and hear the improved
sound treatments? That really depends on three things: the quality of your home
theater system, your skill at differentiating subtle picture quality
differences, and whether you can discern the sonic differences between
Dolby Digital and DTS. At
one extreme, if you have a 27" analog TV and
listen to the soundtrack through the speakers of your TV, it is unlikely
that your TV is capable of rendering enough of a difference for you to
tell. And you will need a true 5.1-channel surround sound system to
hear what DTS has to offer. The Superbit DVD series was
conceived for home theater systems with larger screens and high-performance surround sound
systems. So
if you have a calibrated, state-of-the-art home theater
system with a rear-projection or front-projection digital TV (HDTV-ready) and
DTS-capable 5.1-channel surround sound system and have the skill to recognize a high quality picture, you
may and should be able to see the
increased detail, color fidelity, and subtle tonal gradations. This
is true even if you have a large-screen (40-inch or larger) analog TV and
are using either component video
or S-video interconnects from the DVD
player. Make sure that your TV is calibrated, and converged if it's
a RGB-based display. What about your skills
for differentiating picture quality and sonic quality variations? Well, ask yourself this question:
can you tell the
difference among the picture qualities of various DVD movies? The
picture quality among DVDs do vary somewhat, though DVD releases of
current-year theatrical releases in the past couple of years have
been consistently good. The picture quality varied more for
DVDs released in the 1997-1999 timeframe. If your answer is
"yes" you can see subtle picture quality differences, then
most likely you'll be able to see some improvement with these
Superbit DVD releases. In terms of
sonic improvements in surround sound, as long as you have a DTS-capable 5.1-channel
surround sound system, you'll be able to enjoy a DTS-quality
soundtrack. If you're one of those who can hear the quality
differences between a Dolby Digital 5.1 and a DTS 5.1 soundtrack,
then you'll be able to reap the sonic advantages of the Superbit DVD
series.
Is This A New
Industry Trend? The
Superbit DVD series' focus on pure picture and audio quality is a refreshing and radical
approach. It actually departs from the
general trend, as of late, for more and more bonus materials.
Many studios have been releasing 2-disc special editions
that are jam packed with bonus materials. Some
of these 2-disc sets, incidentally, do offer the DTS 5.1 surround sound option.
But Columbia TriStar is the only studio to release these
high-performance DVDs. They are betting that there is enough of
a market to make the Superbit series worthwhile. And if Columbia
TriStar is right, who knows? Other studios may follow suit
with their own high performance DVD versions.
The Choice is
Yours While the Superbit DVD series is
about optimum picture and audio performance, it is also about having a
choice. As a consumer, you can buy the standard edition DVD, with its share
of bonus features. Or you could buy the Superbit DVD, with its
promise of supercharged visual and sonic performance. But
in all seriousness, for consumers to really have a choice, Columbia
TriStar would have to release its Superbit DVDs to
coincide with their regular DVD releases. Preferably, the
Superbit DVD releases would be "day and date" with the
regular DVD edition of the same movie, but staggering the releases one or two
months either way would still be acceptable, if both releases
were known ahead of time. The idea is that when
a movie comes out on DVD, the consumer should know early enough to
decide between the regular DVD releases or a streamlined,
high-performance Superbit DVD release. Otherwise, if the
Superbit release trails six months to several years after the first
regular DVD edition release, it would be a duplicate follow-up
purchase decision for the consumer which is far less desirable. If
it were up to us, we would like to see a premium line that consists
of a Superbit DVD and a 2nd disc of bonus features. What we're
saying is that we'd like to have our Superbit and bonus features
too. Apparently, Columbia TriStar
seems to be listening. Be sure to read our follow-up Superbit
Deluxe DVD series feature.
What Movies
Would You Like to See Released as Superbit DVDs? Drop
us a note and tell us what movies you would like to see released
as Superbit DVDs from Columbia TriStar. To jog your memory,
here are some past Columbia TriStar DVD releases: In the Line of
Fire, The 6th Day,
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, The
One, Starship Troopers, The Net, and
Black Hawk Down. Who knows, if certain titles are popular
among our readers, we will pass your requests
to Columbia TriStar and they may add your favorite movies to their
slate for future Superbit releases. As we noted
above, Columbia TriStar is focusing on action and science
fiction movies for its Superbit releases. And remember, it has
to be a Columbia TriStar release, not another studios'. So let
us know.
Next
>>
For additional information, visit the Columbia TriStar
Superbit
DVD official web site.
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What do you think of the Superbit
DVD series? Let us know your
thoughts, send an e-mail to us at Feedback@TimeForDVD.com.
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