Nero

Are superbit dvds compatible with HD-DVD & Blu-ray players?

Augustes

Despite Sony's marketing hype, there is no difference between Superbit DVDs and any other standard DVD. None. Zero. Zip. What I'm saying here is, it's a frickin' DVD.

If the HD-DVD or Blu-ray player plays standard DVDs, it will play a Superbit DVD.

Nimbus

Yes...Superbit is just a standard DVD that, according to Sony, devotes all of it's space to audio/visual performance. Hence the lack of extras. When it comes down to it, it's just a DVD. Most of the next-gen players will be backwards compatible, so yes, Superbit discs (as well as the rest of the standard DVDs) should play just fine.

redford

I am not sure I understand your frustration. Not everyone is up-to-date on all of the specs and nuances of the DVD world.

Blame the media companies and the hardware manufacturers who create and promote this situation. Not one of these companies is interested in educating the customer only squeezing more money out of them.

Nero

Marketing is why people are so ignorant when it comes to pretty much everything (not just dvds). Too many people just hear what the marketing tells them, and they never do any research on their own to make informed decisions.

Augustes

Okay, how about HDCDs? Some BD players won't play those, right?

Nimbus

Bottom line is that most consumers have no idea what they are buying and no real idea how to operate the equipment. They become convinced they have to have whatever it is. Even trying to research is tough because there are so many conflicting sources of info to sift through.

redford

Well, the first five words of his post were, "Sigh. Despite Sony's marketing hype..."

Augustes

So, with HD-DVD player's automatic upconversion of standard DVD's, how would a Superbit DVD's output compare to that of an HD-DVD? I wouldn't think the difference would be too incredibly different. I was just wondering, if the titles that are available via Superbit weren't on HD/BR, wouldn't they make for a cheaper alternative?

redford

Just because a Superbit DVD may have better detail and less artifacts than other DVDs, that doesn't mean they have any more resolution than any other DVD. They are still fixed at 720x480 pixels, just like every other DVD, compared to the 1920x1080 pixels of HD DVD and Blu-ray. So, even upconverted, a Superbit DVD will be noticeably softer than ANY HD version of the same film.