DVD vs Blu-ray Video Comparison

Wondering if the UFO Blu-rays are a sufficient upgrade from the older DVDs? Here are some frame captures comparing the UK (Network/Spirit Entertainment) UFO Blu-ray with the Japan (Geneon Universal) Blu-ray and the old UK (Carlton) DVD. There are captions to indicate which is which, but the order is always UK DVD, then UK Blu-ray, then Japan Blu-ray.

Generalizing, we can say this about the various DVD / Blu-ray releases:

• UK DVD - standard definition / low resolution. Film dirt has been digitally removed. Generally better color correction than the Blu-rays. More image area visible around the edges than the Blu-rays.

• UK Blu-ray - high definition / high resolution, with digital noise reduction and film dirt removal. Noise reduction is excessive at times, causing a loss of image detail. Picture is brighter and more washed out than the other releases. Color correction is inconsistent, with most scenes looking great, but some having a beige color cast. Odd darkening on the bottom half of the image throughout much of the episode TIMELASH. Sepia tinting added to a scene in THE LONG SLEEP that has never had sepia-tinting before.

• Japan Blu-ray - high definition / high resolution, with no digital noise reduction. Film grain, dirt, and damage is visible and distracting at times. Color correction is inconsistent, with most scenes looking great, but some having a beige color cast. Some scenes shot "day-for-night" mistakenly look more like daytime than night. Sepia-tinting missing on the flashbacks in THE LONG SLEEP, these scenes are instead black & white. Aspect ratio temporarily switches to 16:9 for a minute in the episode ORDEAL!

• German Blu-ray: picture quality is exactly the same as the Japan Blu-ray, except for the episode THE LONG SLEEP, which has sepia-tinted flashbacks. Not included in this comparison.

• American, Australian, Japanese, Italian, German DVDs: picture quality is comparable to the UK DVDs, as these are all based on the same restoration. Not included in this comparison.