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What's the big deal with The Fifth Element & Bram Stokers Dracula Superbit?

933 Views 13 Replies 12 Participants Last post by Darrel Johansen, Nov 24, 2002

sonicflood

Discussion Starter · Nov 21, 2002

I often see these represented as "reference" DVD's. What's so great about them?

I've not seen The Fifth Element and was considering the purchase of it. Is it a good movie or just some eye candy to show off your TV?

Also, I seem to remember references to Bram Stokers Dracula Superbit as well.

Any details to aid me in these mysterious movies are greatly appreciated.

Curious...

Sonicflood

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WanMan

· #2 · Nov 21, 2002

Not sure what the mystery is except the Best Buy stores in my area refuse to get the SB Dracula.

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Darrel Johansen

· #3 · Nov 21, 2002

Quote:

I often see these represented as "reference" DVD's. What's so great about them?

Dunno. They look pretty good an a big screen. What exactly are you looking for?

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Larry Davis

· #4 · Nov 21, 2002

They contain noticeably extra detail over the non-SuperBit versions. Especially if you sit close to a large display. Desperado SuperBit is another great looking DVD that has amazing clarity and detail. If you sit more than two and a half screen widths away, I think the improvement becomes less noticeable. You need a large progressive display to really appreciate a high quality transfer, IMO.

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Dean Roddey

· #5 · Nov 21, 2002

TFE was always a reference DVD, even in the pre-SB version, and the SB version is a bit better than that. It's hardly the best movie ever made, but it's got eye candy out the ying yang, and it's got Milla very lightly clothed. What more could you ask for? Well in HD of course, but that's not going to happen any time soon.

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Man E

· #6 · Nov 21, 2002

I just recently watched Dracula SB and was very impressed with the level of detail. It is really one of the best DVDs that I have seen. It doesn't have the vibrant colors of TFE as it is (appropriately) a dark film, but it does have more scantily clad "ladies"

It's bonus is that it contains a love story and might be WAF bait (hey, it worked that way for me anyway). There's this one dress that Ms. Ryder wore in the movie that is particularly revealing. No, not that way. It's has a blue-metallic finish and it just struck me how realistic it looked.

Enjoy!

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StuJac

· #7 · Nov 21, 2002

I can't speak about the Dracula movie but Fifth Element is nothing short of stunning - both in video and audio. I'm a long-time fan of this movie and have had it on DVD since it came out originally (in 2 channel Dolby). I read about the Superbit version in this group - ran out to buy it and have not been disappointed. If someone knows of a better movie for showcasing DVD's for visual and audio, please let me know.

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William

· #8 · Nov 21, 2002

Quote:

Originally posted by StuJac
...I'm a long-time fan of this movie and have had it on DVD since it came out originally (in 2 channel Dolby).... If someone knows of a better movie for showcasing DVD's for visual and audio, please let me know.

The original release of TFE had DD 5.1, it just defaulted to DD 2.0.

Moulin Rouge (while a deferent genre) has about an equal color palate, less EE, and fantastic SQ. If looking for Si-Fi Pitch Black has top notch PQ (no EE) and SQ.

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ddog

· #9 · Nov 21, 2002

I own both of these on Super-Bit

Both of these are very good clean transfers

I wish that the video stores would start too have them for rent so more people could see for themselves just how good they look!

Besides I'm sure if Sony Tri Star worked some kind of deal with video stores it would help sales and possibly bring more film's to SB.

ddog!

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FrankS

· #10 · Nov 22, 2002

I think the original poster wants to know how the films themsleves are not the DVD quality (as he knows there good by all the posts saying so).

The Fifth Element is a fun film that has action and comedy inter-twinded very nicely. If you like Sci-Fi and comedy you will be pleased with it.

Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of the, if not the most visual film I have seen! It has some very nice visual sets that you will enjoy quite a lot! The story itself is also very nice as well.

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sonicflood

Discussion Starter · #11 · Nov 23, 2002

Thank you for all the replies! I bought both B.S Dracula & FTE Superbit tonight @ Wal-Mart for $19.96/ea. I look forward to watching them.

Sonicflood

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Nich

· #12 · Nov 24, 2002

Hmm...would there be any point in getting the SB Dracula, when the

normal PAL version should exceed its resolution by a large margin?

(480 - 576)

Nicholas

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rauer

· #13 · Nov 24, 2002

The difference between a Superbit version and a non-Superbit version seems to be surprisingly big. I personally do not have any SB's of any region, but you can see some revealing screenshot on Bjoern Roy's website's reviews. Take a look at:

http://www.videophile.info/

I'm personally really waiting to get an SB. However, I find most of the current released SB's to be crap in regard to the content. A few are really good but I already have those as basic versions and I'm really not getting into that upgrade thing..

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Darrel Johansen

· #14 · Nov 24, 2002

Sorry for being so short above. The differences are very obvious on my LCD projector. I use TFE to show off my my projector to first-time viewers. They always comment on how sharp the picture is --I was the only person with a DVD player who never bought TFE when it first came out on DVD

so I can't really compare the two. I can just say there aren't many other DVDs that can present such an obviously bright, clear image. I got BSD when it first came out because I really like this movie. I've compared the SB version with it and it's very much improved in video detail, which really adds to the great visuals of this movie. I agree with the previous post, there are aren't too many SB titles that really interest me. There are other DVDs with good video quality, but the SB ones really stand out (maybe with the exception of Panic Room, which, as a movie, doesn't really intend to blow you away with visuals, anyway).

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