Quality even varies on Blu-ray discs — and the differences can be dramatic. In this huge home-cinema exclusive, we present the Blu-rays that give the best picture, sound, and bonus material.

And the winner is: the Deluxe Edition of Casino Royale — the James Bond adventure scores highly in all three criteria!

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to assume that all Blu-rays deliver the same picture and sound quality. In fact, as our tests confirm, the quality can differ hugely from one disc to the next. Some discs will leave you speechless, while some will barely improve upon the DVD release. It’s vitally important, therefore, to read Blu-ray reviews before you buy.

Weaknesses in picture and sound:
A disappointing picture generally comes down to one common problem: Many distributors release Blu-ray discs using a poor-quality transfer, often originally made in the 1990s. The quality was probably more than sufficient then, but can no longer live up to modern resolutions: Blu-rays deliver 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, and will therefore reveal every slight weakness — blurriness, noise, lack of detail — in the picture.

Disc producers sometimes try to tackle these weaknesses using electronic noise and sharpness filters — but the results are invariably so-so. Acoustic problems are less common, since films made in the era of digital cinema sound (1993 onward) benefit from the lossless formats DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD.

Bonus material:
Blu-rays are now putting more and more effort into the bonus material. When Blu-rays first emerged in 2007, many offered few — or even no — extras, whereas DVDs were often brimming with additional content. This trend is slowly but surely reversing: Many new Blu-ray releases now offer more extras than the DVD version — that’s more like it!

Our rating system:
To find the 43 best Blu-rays, we closely examined the picture quality, sound quality, and the quality and extent of the bonus material for all of the discs we’ve reviewed in the past. The film itself — the plot and acting, for example — does not affect the disc’s score, since this is a question of individual taste. When profiling the 43 best Blu-rays, we limited our analysis to quantifiable and measurable facts.

This article’s scoring system differs from the one we use in our normal Blu-ray reviews: The picture and sound each receive a score out of 40 (instead of 10), and the bonus material can score up to 20. This gives a total of up to 100 points — which, incidentally, none of the discs achieved. Right, let’s get started!

Blu-ray movies: Places 43 – 33

Place 43: The Police — Certifiable

Picture: 36    Sound: 35    Extras: 6       Total: 77 points

This was the only music Blu-ray to make it into the Top 43. The disc presents a concert recorded in Buenos Aires in 2007, at which The Police perform all of their greatest hits. There’s almost nothing to criticise in the sharp, 1080i-format picture, and the 5.1-channel, Dolby TrueHD sound flows from the speakers with force and precision. But this Blu-ray stumbles a bit with bonus material — we would have liked to see a great deal more than the two multi-angle-version songs and 51-minute documentary!

Place 42: Baraka

Picture: 40    Sound: 31    Extras: 7       Total: 78 points

A truly incredible picture — full marks! Thanks to the world’s first 8k transfer and an extremely painstaking restoration, this Blu-ray’s video is absolutely reference quality. The vivid, ultra-sharp, contrast-rich, and brightly coloured images are bursting with detail and thoroughly captivate the viewer. Never before has a documentary looked so perfect! The atmospheric sound rounds the imagery off excellently, but can’t quite match its quality. The extras are the disc’s biggest weaknesses: You only get a ‘making of’ (76 minutes) and a feature about the film’s restoration.

Place 41: Ratatouille

Picture: 38    Sound: 33    Extras: 8       Total: 79 points

What more can we say? This is one of the best HD presentations of an animated film, ever! The disc’s sound is also well above average. The bonus material includes all of those on the DVD, plus a few more, but is still disappointing for a Blu-ray.

Place 40: The Red Baron

Picture: 34    Sound: 37    Extras: 8       Total: 79 points

Made to look like World War I material, this Cinemascope transfer wins the viewer over with its outstanding detail and edge sharpness. Especially in sunny, outdoor shots, the picture delivers an almost-tangible plasticity. And the sound is even better: Bullets fly past the viewer with the highest precision, rounding off the full-throttle action perfectly. Extras: an audio commentary, a ‘making of’ (21 minutes), “Red Baron Diaries” (31 minutes), “Making of the Visual Effects” (12 minutes), and deleted scenes and bloopers (24 minutes).

Place 39: Cloverfield

Picture: 31    Sound: 38    Extras: 11       Total: 80 points

The video in “Cloverfield” was filmed on a modern Sony CineAlta F23 HD video camera, producing good, if not outstanding, results. The sound, on the other hand, is absolutely top — a first-rate acoustic bombardment! Breaking glass, people screaming, and a monster stamping through the city — it’ll have your hairs standing on end!

Most of the extras were carried over from the DVD: a director’s commentary, a ‘making of’ (28 minutes), a piece on the visual effects (22 minutes), “I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge!” (5 minutes), “Clover Fun” (3 minutes), deleted scenes (7 minutes). New on Blu-ray: the “Special Investigation Mode”.

Place 38: I, Robot

Picture: 34    Sound: 35    Extras: 11       Total: 80 points

Whether it’s Chicago’s skyline or Will Smith’s facial features, the Cinemascope transfer reproduces every last detail, but there are still scenes that fail to impress. Sound-wise, the Blu-ray plays its trump card, producing murderous bass and huge dynamics — it sounds fantastic!

Sadly, however, not all of the DVD’s extras have made it onto the Blu-ray; for example, this release is missing the two commentaries and the background documentary. Here’s what’s left: a production diary (76 minutes), “CGI and Design” (21 minutes), “Sentient Machines” (35 minutes), “The Filmmakers’ Toolbox” (8 minutes), and some deleted scenes.

Place 37: National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

Picture: 35    Sound: 35    Extras: 10       Total: 80 points

The picture impresses with good to excellent sharpness, and is free of noise and errors. The soundtrack is of the same, top quality: Powerful music drives out of the speakers to fill the room. But the extras spoil the party a bit: an audio commentary, deleted scenes, a 50-minute ‘making of’, and “Fact and Fiction of National Treasure” (a picture-in-picture track displaying info text).

Place 36: I Am Legend

Picture: 36    Sound: 37    Extras: 7       Total: 80 points

From the very first aerial shot of Manhattan, “I Am Legend” shows excellent sharpness; the buildings’ vivid façades seem almost crisp enough to touch. In short, this is a top-class HD picture, and the same applies to the sound: both fast-paced action scenes and quiet ambient noise, such as birds tweeting, sound grandiose — what more could you ask for? Unfortunately, the extras — 21 ‘making of’ featurettes and a documentary on viruses (21 minutes) — fail to match the picture and sound’s quality.

Place 35: World Trade Center

Picture: 37    Sound: 30    Extras: 14       Total: 81 points

Cult director Oliver Stone uses no artificial picture tweaking, so this picture is absolutely top class. The sound is more reserved, but this is largely because of the lack of acoustic climaxes in the film’s plot. Exceptions include the impact of the first plane and the collapse of the first tower.

The extras are extensive: audio commentaries, deleted scenes (17 minutes), a ‘making of’ (53 minutes), “Building Ground Zero” (25 minutes), “Visual and Special Effects” (12 minutes), “Oliver Stone’s New York” (24 minutes), “Q&A With Oliver Stone” (13 minutes), and interviews with rescuers and survivors (54 minutes).

Place 34: 3:10 To Yuma

Picture: 35    Sound: 35    Extras: 11       Total: 81 points

The picture on this remake of the Glenn Ford classic satisfies the highest expectations! The bare, desert landscapes look ultra-sharp, as do the actors’ faces: Every bristle of stubble is visible. Acoustically, too, this Western performs excellently: gunshots fly across the room constantly, with echoes reverberating from the rear speakers. The mighty bass, too, rocks the home cinema.

Although the extras are more extensive than those on the DVD, they’re still too thin on the ground: an audio commentary, deleted scenes (7 minutes), a ‘making of’ (8 minutes), and features on: the real Wild West gangs (12 minutes), the film’s music (8 minutes), the film’s weapons (5 minutes), and the railroad (20 minutes). There’s also a short interview (6 minutes) with Elmore Leonard, the original author. Plus: picture-in-picture material, storyboards, and pages from the screenplay.

Place 33: Vantage Point

Picture: 36    Sound: 36    Extras: 9       Total: 81 points

The sun-drenched picture provides outstanding sharpness and a high degree of detail — the latter especially in the crowd scenes. It’s hard to imagine higher definition! The TrueHD sound also impresses, supporting the lively on-screen action with perfect force.

But this Blu-ray, like so many, runs out of puff when it comes to the bonus material: On top of an extremely average audio commentary and an unnecessary picture-in-picture track (just a GPS tracker), you only get around 50 minutes of ‘making of’ material.