Interesting results indeed! Nakakainggit dun sa mga naka-attend.
My opinions and comments.
1. First of all, HD DVD should have won the HD war because even its 1/4 ripped version can beat an original BD in terms of PQ.
2. I haven't seen a 1080p PJ in action but I THINK the PJ of Streetsmart has something to do with the "welcome anomaly". My 50V PZ800 Panasonic would show the imperfections (pixellations, noise, etc.) of mkvs (compared to original HD DVD - dont have any BD) especially in fast moving scenes, dark scenes, sky scenes and skin complexion. The same is true for my 37 inch Sharp LCD. Those issues are more pronounced on 720p mkvs. So perhaps, the PJ technology could be the equalizer??? But whatever, it doesn't take any effort to live with some PQ imperfections in some scenes of an mkv because they are not so bad. So long as the file plays smoothly during the entire movie an mkv is high def enough for me.
3. Not all encodes/encoders are created equal. Batman Begins 1080p in mkv is one of those "hit" encodes. Brilliant encoders can make enhancements to the rip as they see fit. Some would even add grains to restore some level of film look on a clean transfer. In any case, 1080p encoding is still very much "hit or miss." Based on what I've seen, it's quite hard to fill a 1TB hard drive with all perfectly playable 1080p mkvs. But then again 720ps are fine.
4. Agree that mkvs' color saturation tend to deviate from that of the original source towards the red, BUT, that can be compensated somehow through manual picture quality settings on the TV.
5. As regards the difficulty in distinguishing between True HD and DD - BANZAI!!!
Baka naman the "good sound" that we hear is attributable to the "good loss/noise", or, lossless sound probably means, certain sounds were actually attenuated in the first place? In simple term, my understanding of lossless is a perfect replica of the original source so if you use a scope, you should see 2 identical curves at any point in the timeline. Perhaps DD deviated from the original curve in a manner that is pleasing to some ears. So lossy is good!