Forgive me if DVDTalk's Search feature has failed me again, since this seems to be a likely subject for a previous thread, but I'm curious if there are any websites that compare and contrast the HD-DVD version of a given movie with its Blu-Ray counterpart. It seems like most of the reviews I've checked out will discuss one format but have no idea how it stacks up (on a movie-to-movie level) to the other (e.g. DVDTalk's U2: RATTLE AND HUM HD-DVD and Blu-Ray reviews, which have no clue how the two respective discs fare against one another).

Usually there are different reviewers, so it's not always possible. I think Joshua Zyber has done some comparisons in his reviews IIRC. Also, Peter Bracke reviews both formats on his site (www.highdefdigest.com) and will address the other format's versions in his reviews.

Usually they have the exact same transfers so they look exactly the same. (Warner Bros titles).

Audio wise PCM lossless vs TrueHD might be a bit different but both are lossless.

The reason we don't have comparisons on this site is that of the HD DVD reviewers, one of us doesn't have a BD player of any kind (Adam). I just got mine (a PS3), and Josh can only do so many reviews at once. Furthermore, a lot of the discs that are available on both formats aren't coming out at the same time. Josh reviewed Goodfellas on HD DVD months ago, and I'm just now getting the BD to review, because Warner didn't release it on BD until now. So if Warner and it's affiliates, and Paramount and its affiliates decide to release everything on both formats at the same time, then we could probably handle doing comparison reviews. But this also presents a problem in that this would utterly disqualify Adam from reviewing Paramount and Warner discs, as he wouldn't be able to do the comparison BD review.

In short, it's quite difficult to do comparisons with only one set of screeners.

Josh does provide comparisons of Mission Impossible movies, though.

The best bet is to just check around the net for reviews. Here are some sites that review HD DVD and/or Blu-ray:

Audio Video Revolution
Digitally Obsessed
DVDAuthority
DVDFile
DVD Review
DVDTalk
DVD Times UK
DVDTown
EyeCraveDVD
HDWorld
High Def Digest
Home Theater Forum
Home Theater Spot
The Man Room
Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity
Ultimate AV
Upcoming Discs
Widescreen Review

An excellent summary of the situation.

FWIW, I also wrote direct comparisons of Good Night & Good Luck, Sky Captain, Rumor Has It, Full Metal Jacket, The Fugitive, and my Blu-ray review of Training Day discusses a comparison to the HD DVD (which I didn't write up separately).

Keep in mind that if one reviewer gets both versions of a particular movie, you'll also be subject to his personal biases about the content of the title (which does seem to have an effect on ratings). Further, there are those who would suggest that reviewing on "sub-standard" gear like the game machines impacts the quality of the reviews due to various issues like the audio being handled differently and other technical matters (I'm not sure if I agree with the argument but there are potential merits to it-nothing against Sups' PS3).

In general though, as the formats release more titles, true side-by-side comparisons will be increasingly difficult. I know some readers get upset that the same reviewer doesn't review every double, triple, and quadruple dip release on the market for SD discs but considering you'd still have to factor in equipment and other issues, is it that big an issue? I'd rather have two distinctly different reviews of the same title over a single review with marginal differences (as I've read elsewhere, the reviewer seeming to reach really hard to differentiate the two versions).

On a related note, a friend pointed out to me he'd rather see ALL the discs reviewed on a low end set up using the X-Box HD and the PS3 Blu-ray because (and I quote, or at least paraphrase closely) "those are the systems most apt to have disc issues and the ones most people can afford to own." I haven't followed the disc quirks that closely but if such systems are more apt to have problems, at least running all discs through them for compatibility issues makes sense. Few reviewers have "double adopted" the formats and getting a gaming deck as the backup player (to handle reviews of a second format) seems more likely to take place as the war drags on.

I agree, different opinions on the same material is always a good thing. Definitely an excellent point.