I'm not saying the BD rips aren't bigger, just that they're nowhere near as much bigger as the resolution and quality improvements might suggest. So BD averages maybe 2.5 GB, and DVD averages maybe 1.5 GB, while a BD frame has nearly 7 times as many pixels.

I do set CQ a couple of stops higher for DVD, as per Handbrake recommendations, just because DVD has to get enlarged so much when watching fullscreen.

You can see the difference between Blu-ray and streaming.

Streaming has similar bitrates than what you get when you reduce a BD down to 2-3 Gig.

It still looks good for sure but if I would buy the disk I would not reduce it as strong as 2-3. Perhaps 10gb.

2.5 GB will give you terrible picture quality for a Bluray. Even streaming from Amazon or Netflix will be 5-6 GB for a two hour movie, and those are usually just passable.

Eh, I'm old, I can remember watching VHS and doing graphics at 320x256, my eyesight's not what it was, and I'm playing these things on a 7-year old laptop. That "terrible picture quality" does me fine.