I'm wondering which Criterion blu-rays you guys feel offer the most (and least) significant upgrades over their DVD counterparts. I've only done a direct comparison so far with Chungking Express, which seemed like a fairly minimal upgrade on my 42" screen (although, of course, both the BD and DVD looked beautiful).
Anyone care to weigh in?

Well, Bottle Rocket looks really great compared to the aging DVD from almost a decade ago. That's an obvious upgrade (for me).

My Criterion BDs are appreciably sharper than my Criterion DVDs on a 58" screen.

Every single one looks appreciably sharper? Interesting.
Any titles stand out in particular?

The one thing you have to remember about the Criterion DVDs and blu-rays at that they are all being sourced from the same high-definition master print that's created. So, from the Criterion DVD to blu-ray, you're probably not going to see as significant a difference as you would with other companies, I'm sure. With that said, the higher bitrate of the Criterion blu-ray's are always going be able reproduce the colors more faithfully and provide for much greater detail as the image gets larger.

CC

This has been the industry standard for quite a number of years now and is not unique to Criterion.

True.

But Criterion will still make their DVDs look as good as they can, while other studios like Warner seem to dump crappy transfers on DVD purposely to make Blu-ray appear that much better.

That's if you're comparing new DVD releases to their Blu-ray counterparts. But in my case, the two Criterion Blu-rays I have replaced older DVD releases, and the Blu-rays were taken from new transfers and masters.

And which two titles would those be?

By the way, I'd still really like to hear from anyone who feels there are specific Criterion BDs that are particularly noticeable upgrades from the SD DVD editions (sourced from the same HD master). Particularly curious about The Third Man and The 400 Blows...

The Seventh Seal is a notable upgrade over previous DVD releases (it is a notable upgrade over the current reissue as well).

The Wages of Fear also offers a substantial upgrade over previous DVD releases.

Last Year at Marienbad - if you don't see a sizable gap in quality between the BD and the current DVD release, there is something wrong with your monitor.

The Third Man - not only I see an obvious gap in quality between the BD and DVD in the video department, but I hear more in the audio department as well.

400 Blows - I have three different releases of this film (four if you include the slim-case from the Doinel box). Again, from fine detail to color saturation, the BD is an excellent upgrade. The MK2 BD is weaker in my opinion.

Le dernier metro - rent the DVD and compare it with the BD. If you don't see how superior the color-scheme is on the BD then, again, there is something very wrong with your monitor/TV. The same goes for In the Realm of the Senses.

The Blu-ray release of Repulsion speaks for itself -- the fine grain that you would see on it cannot be replicated on the SDVD.

Pro-B

dvdbeaver

I have a great deal of respect for what Gary has done during the years, however, the type of evidence the gentleman above requested is probably not something DVDBeaver could offer. Certainly not in regard to fine detail (and Blu-ray). The producers at Mondo Home Entertainment certainly believe so given the image discrepancies revealed by the site's review of Zulawski's The Most Important Thing Is To Love -

DVDBeaver:


Actual DVD image:


Pro-B

There have also been a few issues with MoC screencaps, but on the whole his site is an invaluable resource.

I recently upgraded The Third Man (the SE release) and the 400 Blows (from the Antoine Doinel box).

The Third Man SE looked pretty good upconverted, but it has that annoying windowboxing that Criterion still mindbogglingly uses. So I decided to pick up the BD and it looks even better. And no windowboxing!

I love The 400 Blows but was dismayed that the DVD didn't really hold up so I picked up the BD. Definitely worth it.

I also have Bottle Rocket & Chungking Express, but don't have the SD counterparts. Bottle Rocket looks fantastic. Chungking Express looks good but probably suffers a bit due to the limitations of how it was filmed and the film's age.

Pro-B

But that mean's you'll loose Antoine and Collette!

I'm really debating about picking up the Antoine set from Criterion during this B&N sale. But they should just go and put them all out on Blu-ray. Please, Criterion?