Super Bit Mapping for Video (SBMV) is the new secret sauce Sony thinks will enhance the Bluray experience, allowing for superior color gradation quality. The company announced the first Bluray disc for the Japanese market today [JP] that makes use of the new technology.
Sony chose the anime title “EVANGELION：1.11 YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE” for the SBMV debut and also shows the screenshots you see above in their press release. The problem is I hardly see a difference, but maybe that’s just me (the top row shows two screengrabs using SBMV, while SBMV is not used for the two on the bottom).
The disc goes on sale in Japan on May 27 for $60 (you need to own a SBMV compatible Sony Bluray player that accepts Japanese discs).
Japanese tech news site AV Watch has more screenshots. The site is Japanese but you can compare the screenshots made with SBMV on the right hand side with screenshots made without using SBMV on the left.
Maybe your display is not good enough to see the color-banding issue in the gradients. I notice quite a huge difference between them. (I am a full-time media professional so maybe I notice it a bit more as I am used to seeing the issue they attempt to fix).
This look like a great improvement in the image as long as Sony isn’t facking these before and after shots.
I agree. I can definitely see a difference between the two. Exciting!
Second picture lower right is where you could see a difference. definitely a great improvment.
Seems I am blind, then. Oh, well.
Is gradation that bad on some Blu-rays? There is indeed a big difference between SBMV and non-SBMV.
Wow… this is amazing!
The issue is that not all masters are of high quality, regardless of what the source is (film or tape). Inattention to bit rates and bit depth in the scanning and transfer process can lead to banding and other artifact problems, even if the source is pristine. Downconverting a pristine 14-bit master to 8-bits for DVD and BD can also lead to these problems if things are done half-assed (like anything else). All Sony is claiming here is that they are paying more attention during the mastering phase of the transfer, and cranking up the bit-rate to take advantage of newer generation BD players’ ability to process 8-bit data in 12/14/and 16-bits. Frankly, I don’t care what they call it, so long as they do it consistently across their catalog of titles and don’t try to make it a “step up” feature to charge us extra for.