'Avatar' on Sony's PlayStation Store

Vudu's HDX stream requires a robust Internet connection for the highest quality, and, well, access to Vudu. Millions more potential fans, aka everyone who owns a PS3, have access to the HD version available for download from Sony's PlayStation Store. The file took about 35 minutes for us to download, costs less at $19.99 than either the Blu-ray or the Vudu version, but also exhibited a somewhat softer look than either.

We saw the difference in the planets at the 2:24 mark, for example, where the clouds and continents seemed a bit less sharp; and in other highly detailed CGI like the rocks of the strip mine. Faces again looked a bit less distinct on the PS3. On our three screens side-by-side, the ascension in sharpness from PS3 to Vudu to Blu-ray was obvious in the close-up of Jake as he talked into his video journal. We weren't surprised to find that, for what it's worth, the bit rate of the PS3 download--an 8,793 MB MNV file, if you're curious--seemed to average about half that of the Blu-ray (Vudu doesn't display bit rates).