Flexicon9 said:

RELEASES THAT LOOK *MUCH* BETTER ON HD DVD than Blu-ray
The Big Lebowski

Didn't know that this edition existed. Is it better than the Italian BD (with less DNR)? I haven't seen it in awhile and would love to see it looking good.

The Deer Hunter

The foreign Region A/B Studio Canal BD is better I believe; got a bigger file size. I haven't done any side by side comparisons though. The only thing is that the 5.1 is screwed up but the original theatrical audio (stereo) is fine and lossless so it doesn't bother me.

RELEASES THAT LOOK and SOUND BETTER ON STANDARD DVD than any HIDEF release
The Last Starfighter (1999 CE DVD - Blu-ray / HD DVD extremely DNR'd and has missing audio cue)

Spartacus would also got underneath this category. The color timing is not to Kubrick's intentions; it looks like a transfer straight off the negative. Criterion's DVD was color-corrected manually to a Technicolor IB's palette and looks all the better for it. Also, both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are hit hard with the grain reduction stick. The HD-DVD is technically slightly better because it doesn't have fake-looking, fake grain put over it after the fact like the BD does.