Blu-ray barely better than DVD

Some are, many aren't, claims Which?

Blu-ray discs are supposed to represent "the maximum high-definition experience" yet there is little difference in quality to that of a DVD, apparently.

A study by consumer advocate Which? found less than a third of Blu-ray films demonstrate an exceptional difference compared to the equivalent DVD, and with a large gulf between the best and worst, HD quality is inconsistent.

The organisation used two identical TVs to simultaneously show Blu-ray and DVD versions of 17 films. About half of the Blu-ray Discs offered only marginal or virtually no improvement over DVD, Which? claimed.

Five films - among them Avatar, Casino Royale and Zulu - showed a marked picture quality improvement over DVD. Four, including Gandhi and Grease, were deemed to be clearly better than DVD.

Which? says it asked the British Video Association to explain the discrepancy, but the trade organisation instead simply quoted research suggesting that most consumers think Blu-ray did offer greater picture quality than DVD. ®