I received the DKR in iTunes HD from my wife as a B-Day present and had already pre-ordered the BD for myself
I compared them and found pretty much the same thing TrackZ posted. The BD has better audio and video whether played off the disc or from a full bitrate rip. I played the BD disc via a Toshiba player and the rip was done through MakeMKV at full bitrate with audio converted to FLAC (thanks to TrackZ for the help on that part). I played the rip through Plex and the iTunes HD file was played back off the same Mac Mini that runs Plex... So, same connections, same equipment, etc.
Audio was the biggest difference IMO, just to second TrackZ post. There was noticably less dynamic range and depth to the sound even after compensating for the db difference. Video was better on the BD in fine detail and other aspects (again, as mentioned) but, to be honest I was surprised at how close the iTunes HD file was on the video encode. Blacks were deep and clean, no noticable banding, no compression artifacts or anything "bad" really; just not up to the BD's standard.
Also, it hasn't been mentioned much in this thread but, having most of (or all) of the extras available through iTunes is a huge bonus IMO. Maybe I'm one of the few remaining that watch all those things but, I love extras and the iTunes file comes with them more often than not now so that's a significant bonus for me versus other downloadable versions.
I would still defer to the BD for quality and extras - especially on older releases and, having said that - the ideal solution would probably be a Plex server with full bitrate BD rips or ISO's. you lose nothing and control all of your own media. However, ease of use is a significant factor too and that has to go to iTunes for me. Not just for "shopping" for a title such as hard to find or out of print releases but, for getting the movie, multiple device compatibility, being able to watch it almost instantly and even re-downloading it when needed too. The fact that you get a very good HD video encode, decent sound and the extra features (not on all movies) are just bonuses. I think they are the best of the available download services today.
So, I would say if you don't want the physical media or find the movie cheaper via iTunes go for it. You will be trading off some video and audio quality for convenience but, as long as you know what you're getting that's a pretty acceptable trade. If previous Movies upgrades are any indication we will likely get better download files in the future as well for no additional cost so the audio and video may indeed "catch up".
I compared them and found pretty much the same thing TrackZ posted. The BD has better audio and video whether played off the disc or from a full bitrate rip. I played the BD disc via a Toshiba player and the rip was done through MakeMKV at full bitrate with audio converted to FLAC (thanks to TrackZ for the help on that part). I played the rip through Plex and the iTunes HD file was played back off the same Mac Mini that runs Plex... So, same connections, same equipment, etc.
Audio was the biggest difference IMO, just to second TrackZ post. There was noticably less dynamic range and depth to the sound even after compensating for the db difference. Video was better on the BD in fine detail and other aspects (again, as mentioned) but, to be honest I was surprised at how close the iTunes HD file was on the video encode. Blacks were deep and clean, no noticable banding, no compression artifacts or anything "bad" really; just not up to the BD's standard.
Also, it hasn't been mentioned much in this thread but, having most of (or all) of the extras available through iTunes is a huge bonus IMO. Maybe I'm one of the few remaining that watch all those things but, I love extras and the iTunes file comes with them more often than not now so that's a significant bonus for me versus other downloadable versions.
I would still defer to the BD for quality and extras - especially on older releases and, having said that - the ideal solution would probably be a Plex server with full bitrate BD rips or ISO's. you lose nothing and control all of your own media. However, ease of use is a significant factor too and that has to go to iTunes for me. Not just for "shopping" for a title such as hard to find or out of print releases but, for getting the movie, multiple device compatibility, being able to watch it almost instantly and even re-downloading it when needed too. The fact that you get a very good HD video encode, decent sound and the extra features (not on all movies) are just bonuses. I think they are the best of the available download services today.
So, I would say if you don't want the physical media or find the movie cheaper via iTunes go for it. You will be trading off some video and audio quality for convenience but, as long as you know what you're getting that's a pretty acceptable trade. If previous Movies upgrades are any indication we will likely get better download files in the future as well for no additional cost so the audio and video may indeed "catch up".