How Much Does Studio Format Neutrality Help Blu-Ray?

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In looking at the recent releases of Cars, Fantastic 4 2, Ratatouille, & Day After Tomorrow, it appears that Sony, Fox and Disney are pulling out all the stops on their premier releases. Top notch video transfers and multiple
lossless audio tracks fill up the 50gb discs and the result is nothing less than spectacular. These releases and others really show off the capabilities of Blu-Ray.

Our remaining dual-format studio, Warner, has also had some good results with their Blu-Ray releases (2001: A Space Odyssey, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Last Samurai to name a few). However, with the balance of Warner's dual-format releases, the Blu-Ray titles suffer from the inadequacies of their rivals. Warner seems to be satisfied with creating transfers based on the limitations of the lesser format (in capacity anyway) and then porting that same transfer to Blu-Ray without taking advantage of all that Blu-Ray has to offer.

I'm sure there are financial reasons for taking what you've already done in one format and transferring it to the other, rather than re-invent the wheel. Maybe it's Warner's version of the "Fairness Doctrine" in not wanting to give more attention to one over the other. The obvious response would be, "Why complain? Take what you've got and be happy with it. At least they're producing Blu-Ray's and boosting BD sales rather than going exclusive to HD-DVD."

My point is, the average consumer with little or no knowledge of HD entertainment will see no difference between formats if Warner continues to ignore the capacity of Blu-Ray in favor of porting over HD-DVD based transfers. The best way to see the difference is the side-by-side comparison, which is essentially what Warner provides. Why doesn't Warner go the extra mile on Blu-Ray? Is it really just simple economics? Does this hurt Blu-Ray in the long run if people can look at the two virtually identical releases (except for the box of course) and say, "I don't see any difference. Why should I pick Blu over Red?"