The purpose of this comparison is to notice the visual difference between Blu-Ray disks which have access to as much as 50GB while the Apple TV downloads usually are 4-6GB in size.

The difference in image quality represents a 5x greater compression for the Apple TV. This difference is usually fairly minimal. The most obvious difference is a slightly compressed color pallet in subtle gradations and the lower resolution source file at 720p. When viewed from a distance of greater than 10ft (on the 61" display) the quality differences are not apparent.

Since there is no way to directly capture the HDMI output of the Apple TV or Blu-Ray, the images below are Blu-Ray screen captures taken on a Canon 10D with a 50mm f1.8 lens. The display device is a 61" 1080p LCD Backlight Samsung DLP. The Blu-Ray player (a sony PS3) and Apple TV are connected directly to the display and set to output 1080p internally.

Mouse over the Apple TV scene to see the Blu-Ray scene.