It’s not very often you see a movie that has a running time of 1hr and 21 minutes that even with only the english 5.1 audio, you still need to compress.
I cut the beginning right to the start of the movie, and I cut off the credits. That cut the movie down to 1 hr and 17 minutes. With english audio only, It was still only 96.5% DVD quality.
No menus, no extra’s, just movie. Kuh-razy!
I’ve noticed a lot of older movies converted to dvd (like the Indiana Jones series) which have virtually no menus/extras, few audio tracks, yet take up the entire DVD9. These are all around 2 hours long. They transfer these movies at practically the highest bitrate possible, just a waste of space if you ask me.
I think I ripped the Indiana Jones series, main movie only, all around 2 hours, and all were in the 60% range. They still look excellent however.
I’ve never noticed it on my older stuff but ya, the original does have a damn high bit rate.
Makes me wonder what the bit rate of a “super bit” is?
I would assume a “superbit” is similar (you’re referring to Spiderman 2?). I think they just take whatever space is left after menus/extras/audio and fill the ENTIRE disc to maximize the bitrate.
I’ll tall ya what though, I didn’t even compress Spiderman 2 as much as I did Indiana Jones. I think S2 was around 70% or so? And it too looks excellent.
Superbits are no different to normal DVD’s except they have no extras and just a simple menu with DTS audio. Most of them are just 6-7GB in size. It is just marketing to make people think they are getting better quality picture and audio when they are not (except for DTS and the normal version does not). There are only a few discs that I would call better than the regular version. These include Das Boot, Fifth Element and Spiderman 2.
They transfer these movies at practically the highest bitrate possible, just a waste of space if you ask me
It is not a waste of space. The higher the bitrate the less artefacts you will see (hopefully none). Also, it is important for those with a big TV/projector.
I stand corrected. I keep relating the world to my 27" TV 
However when I said that, I think I was referring to the older movies I mentioned above. The quality on the originals is suspect at best. So to fill up an entire DVD at such a high bitrate does seem like a waste of space.
For newer movies mastered in great quality (like those you mentioned) I do agree with you.
haha me and my 17" computer monitor are with you 
I find the Indy films to be excellent quality except and the best I have seen them except for a little edge enhancement (nothing to do with bitrate). If the bitrate was lowered, then it will look much worse.
Ok I give in. What I’m trying to say makes sense in my head, but not on screen. The Indy films are perhaps a bad example, but I can’t think of a good one off the top of my head. I know I’ve backed up a few that fit my criteria, but titles escape me at the moment.
However if you want to see a full DVD original with terrible quality, take a look at Abyss.