I have the HD DVD was interested to see how it compares to the Blu-ray, especially the bump from DD+ to TrueHD. So imagine my surprise at reading just how different it was from this review at dvdbeaver:

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless sound track gets a bit more of a workout than some of the others in the series with quite a few explosions and gunfire. Certain effects (explosions, helicopters etc.) can move rather aggressively to the rear speakers but I wouldn't say it is overly dynamic. There was some Dvorák as well as South American music in the soundtrack as well as the poignant use of "America The Beautiful". Voices are always clear and clean. Like the other Blu-ray's there are two 5.1 DUBs if required. There are also optional English SDH, English, French, Spanish or Portuguese subtitles available.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews39/beowulf_blu-ray.htm

Edit: seems the reviewer accidentally copied the audio part from Clear and Present Danger. And here I was hoping for explosions and helicopters to improve some of the weak moments in Beowulf. Oh well.

I'd like to see a picture comparison between the UK transfert (VC-1) and this one (AVC-MPEG 4). Regarding the discussions about the codecs qualities, it seems that the MPEG4 version should be better than the VC-1. (a slight difference, though).

Another review for the Blu-ray http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=1690

4.5 for SQ which is the same score given for the HD DVD SQ.

This easily earns itself a “4 ½ Star Rating” for overall audio quality. No complaints here about the sound in any way really, it just didn’t amaze me enough to score any higher than that. This does prove to be a excellent upgrade to the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 featured on the previous HD-DVD release, I will definitely say that much for it.

Paramount seems to have done it again by giving us high bit rate AVC encode from a superior master (as hinted by Stacy Spears) as well as 24-bit lossless audio. When the actual specs are published in the AV spec thread it will show it's superiority over the Warner version which has 16-bit lossless audio, low bit rate encode and no Picture-in-Picture track.

Here you go coxwell:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1029931

and heres Xylons HD dvd vs DVD thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13205184

Thanks ;)

This easily earns itself a “4 ½ Star Rating” for overall audio quality. No complaints here about the sound in any way really, it just didn’t amaze me enough to score any higher than that. This does prove to be a excellent upgrade to the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 featured on the previous HD-DVD release, I will definitely say that much for it.
Wouldn't that be upgrade from the Dolby Digital Plus? :D