I’ve always wondered about this. I have around 100 Blu Ray DVD combos and I always check to see if I can notice any difference between the 2 discs. But it always looks the same to me. Definitely not 2x or 4x better pic quality, whatever it’s supposed to be. I used to think maybe I’m not seeing it because I have a 20 inch tv but even with a 55 inch tv now I don’t see the difference. I know blu ray can hold more information, but other than that I can’t find anything superior about blu ray. Am I missing something? I’ve always had perfect vision and have never been able to figure out this mystery.

Yes.

Yes.

Hi-Definition 1080p video vs 480p NTSC video. Yeah you're missing something. You can easily tell the difference.

And DVD is better than VHS - usually.

Is your TV a 55-inch CRT?

Ha. Agreed there. And VHS is superior to VCD.

I always notice a stark difference when I watch one of my old DVDs rather than a Blu-ray. Of course, this is all contingent on having a display and the connections to take advantage of what Blu-ray has to offer.

Not sure about that. It’s widescreen and when I press the info button on the remote it says 1920x1080/24p

I’ve noticed that too when watching a new remastered dvd or blu ray compared to an old dvd.

The video quality is most often better on blu-ray than it is on DVD, but I'm not so sure about audio. Sure, if you have some fancy surround speaker system in your TV room, but if you're just running stereo speakers, even if they are floor standing and will handle 200 watts RMS each, the audio sucks. The sound effects most always muffle the dialogue, or the dialogue itself is muffled. It's gotten to where I enable subtitles just so I know what they're saying. That doesn't happen all the time but in most cases the blu-ray audio for dialogue isn't as clear and crisp as it is on DVD. At least in my TV room.

I'd say the picture on a Blu-ray has always been better, though I've found myself pleasantly surprised at how often a DVD is good enough. I have plenty of disappointing DVDs but some are fine for just putting something on and getting some work done.

Blu-ray features like not ways automatically starting where you left off the last time you watched stink, though. Ridiculous how this sort of thing went backwards.

That is an odd backwards step in technology. Some blu ray players pick up where the movie left off and some don’t. But some discs don’t resume playback on any players.

Some Blu-rays are in fact worse than DVDs because of things not related to resolution, but rather to color-timing and / or contrast. Many Blu-rays use a teal and blue 'revisionist' color-timing which completely screws up the picture. They look nothing like the vibrant, naturally-colored DVDs we were used to. Examples such as THE TERMINATOR, ALIEN / ALIENS, Bram Stoker's DRACULA, many Italian gialli released by IVC in awful transfers, are infamous. Older films such as THE SEVEN-UPs, SISTERS, and many other classic films of the '60s-'70s have been totally ruined by "revisonist" color timings on Blu-ray. So, the extant DVDs of those 60s and 70s films are much, much better than the Blu-ray since they retain the original theatrical color-timing. The DVD of THE MATRIX was better because it is the only release of that film which uses the original non-green colors. The Blu-rays of THE MATRIX are all inferior. Even the UHD changed the color-timing. I prefer to see THE MATRIX how it looked as I remembered it in theatres in 1999, so for me the original DVD is the only true edition. Even though its resolution is far inferior to Blu-ray or UHD.

Few Blu-rays are actually worse than DVD based on sheer resolution alone, although there are hideous examples like the DNR'd-to-death PREDATOR, the infamous example of awful Edge-enhancement of SALO, the terrible, awful quality of Mill Creek, Full Moon, and German Blu-rays put out by Platinum Cult company. All of that company's ~100 Blu-rays are much worse than VHS quality.

I noticed that on Terminator 2 the Skynet Edition the picture has a blue tint that doesn’t look right to me. I also noticed for the first time some chest hair on Arnold. I thought wow, this really is Blu Ray enhanced🤣

But the main thing I’m wondering about is when you get a Blu Ray DVD combo, should the Blu Ray look better than the DVD? That seems like the easiest way I can think of comparing a Blu Ray to a DVD.

One of my all time favorite movies is Van Damme's Cyborg. When I bought Shout Factory's Collectors Edition it makes the DVD look like diarrhea.

There are a few DVD's I have not bothered upgrading to Blu-ray because I find them clear enough to enjoy or I rather wait for 4K. The 2 Disc Special Edition of The Lost Boys looks fantastic. I hope that releases on 4K soon.

Then my question for you Sonic is did Shout release a DVD at the same time as the Blu Ray? And if so does the Blu Ray look better than the DVD?

The original DVD was released by MGM and it was not anamorphic so it was poor resolution. The Shout Factory Blu-ray is full 1080P so it blows out the original DVD. There is no comparison. The HD works into play in helping you define objects in the background which were extremely hard to discern in the dvd version. So in regards to answering your question...yes the blu-ray is better than the dvd.

So the answer then is no, you did not get a Blu Ray DVD combo pack to compare them.

Life is SOOOO tough when you gotta press an extra button. You are so brave. Hang in there.

You have no idea what tv you own? Maybe it's a TROL2022.

It is a bit more than one extra button when you are on the third episode on the disc of something like Game of Thrones and have to go to bed. Takes awhile to get back there trying to get past the logos and promos and waiting for it to load and then trying to remember where you were in the episode. But that’s not my point anyway. Read a complete sentence or maybe even a whole post or two before you try and troll me. I’m just wondering if Blu Ray has better quality than the DVD when you are comparing the discs from a Blu Ray DVD combo pack. Do you really think that question is offensive in some way to you to act like an asshole?

I wasn’t asked that question. Why would you like to know? I was asked if I own a crt tv, and I was just being honest that I’m not sure. I’m not claiming to be an expert on TVs. Quite the opposite actually. I don’t think I have a crt. Seems much too thin. So I described what information I do have about the picture quality on the tv.

I mean all things considered the lack of resume in some BDs does suck.

​​​​​Yes. 100%. If the DVD and blu-ray use the same master the blu-ray is always better. Maybe someone could drag up a lone example where that's not the case, but I've certainly never heard of one. Are you just going to keep asking until someone says DVDs are better?

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If your TV is properly calibrated, then, yes, you should be able to see a difference between a DVD and a Blu-ray that were taken from the same master. If your TV is incorrectly calibrated, however, things like the so-called soap opera effect will pretty much wipe out any advantages that the Blu-ray has over the DVD.

Double-check your TV's settings to make sure that you've got it set properly. You can either buy a dedicated disc to help you do this, or you can use the THX setup function found on some DVDs to at least get within shouting distance of a proper setup. I'm willing to bet that you've got some setting, somewhere, tweaked enough in the wrong direction to render the differences between 480p and 1080p unnoticeable.

If you're SURE that all of your settings are ideal, then your next step is to schedule an appointment with an optometrist. "Always had" perfect vision does not equal "always going to have" perfect vision.