I don't know what kind of BD or DVD player you have but BD is definitely a night and day difference in PQ when viewed through a big TV (50"+). I am sorry but no matter how good an upscaler can be in the end it's all about resolution and how many pixels are on screen.
I agree that the Blu-Ray (unless it's something like Dracula, the original Fifth Element, the original Full Metal Jacket, etc.) will always look better on pretty much any display over 26". 50" isn't big. I have a 57" 1080p display. (That's not big either.) I can tell the difference between upconverted SD DVD and Blu-Ray nearly every time. I'm just saying the difference isn't night and day. Specifically, I notice differences in the color saturation/hue, clarity and details. The average person will notice the first two before the details.
I read several times that Blu-Ray was limited to 40 Mbps for video, and 8 Mbps was reserved for audio. I may have twisted those. Several on AVS told me 5.1 at 24 is 6.9 Mbps--so bitrate wise it would fit.
