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Warner Bros. Launches Red2Blu Program, Offers Blu-Ray Copies of HD-DVDs You Own (For a Small Fee)

Posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 by David Chen

red2blu

Tell me if this describes you: When Toshiba and Sony were going at each other during the great format war of HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray, you placed your bets on HD-DVD, the cheaper, more sensible option. Then, you watched in horror as the tides shifted and Blu-Ray won the day. Since then, you’ve sat idly by, watching others gleefully build up their Blu-Ray collections while you’ve decided not to really indulge in Blu-Ray and vowed never to spend another $30 to buy Batman Begins again.

Well, brother, have I got some good news for you: It seems that Warner Bros. feels your pain, and with the recent launch of their new Red2Blu program, are seeking to bring you back into the fold. They are offering HD-DVD owners an extra Blu-Ray copy of any HD-DVD discs they own in exchange for a small fee per disc ($4.95, plus $6.95 in shipping and handling). Hit the jump for some more details.

If you head on over to the Red2Blu site, you’ll have access to Warner Bros.’ HD-DVD collection. Choose the discs you want Blu-Ray copies of, then mail in the sleeve only of each HD-DVD (keep the disc!) and you’ll get a brand spanking new Blu-Ray to put next to that HD-DVD copy on your shelf. A few restrictions apply: This offer is only available in the U.S., and you can only replace up to 25 discs. Download this PDF to see all the rules.

This seems like a pretty damn good deal, whose attractiveness improves the more discs you have to send in (since the shipping and handling is a flat rate). Unfortunately, I don’t have that many Warner Bros. HD-DVDs, but I’m thinking that it might be worth the $15 it would cost me to get a new 5-disc Blu-Ray copy of Blade Runner: The Final Cut. If other studios launch similar programs, I’d definitely see it as an incentive for me put more effort into building up my Blu-Ray collection.

Are any of you planning on taking warner Bros. up on their offer? If so, let us know how many discs you’re sending in for and what your experience is like, in the comments below.

Comments

freemachine

I've yet to make the transition away from plain old DVD because I'm paranoid that in the next few years optical media will be a thing of the past. With the size and R-W-speed of today's hard-drives, plus the increasing quality of streaming media and download speeds, I'm hedging my bets that Blu-Rays will end up as expensive coasters in the not too distant future.

dxr

I'm mostly with you here only picking up a handful of discs myself so far. I am tempted to get more, but I am still waiting a bit to see what happens. I am sure towards the end of the year, the studios and manufacturers will be making a big push for blu and hopefully bring the price down on the discs/players. So even if it gets replaced by something down the line sooner than later, it won't be a huge investment loss.

The thing that a lot of people are not realizing about digital downloads as that more and more you are hearing talks about bandwidth tiers/caps. If ISPs get there way, they will be taking a huge chunk out of that market's progression.

tom.

CDs are still around and apparently vinyls are making a comeback. I'm not worried. I like having a physical collection anyway.

freemachine

The resurgence in vinyl is just a fad among people trying to be hip. It's the same thing with hookahs. Sure, CDs are still around, though I can't recall the last time I bought one. Some people like the reassurance of holding something in their hands I suppose.

RamJelly

I'm sure none of the people buying vinyl and hookahs actually like listening to/using them. They just want people to see they have them.

SaeseeTom

I have the LOTR soundtracks, in special edition leather-bound cases. Not to mention my steelbook blu-rays.

They're all there, looking important, sitting on my shelf.
I love the physical.

Tercotta

I have found 4$ CDN HD DVDs at Zellers. I can go buy those then use this for crazy cheap Blu-Rays.

IAmMcLovin

Genius

Zinc

There's no point in this. If you have an HD player and HD movies, they're still 1080p and work fine. My HD-DVD collection exceeds 500 movies, which I paid an average of $5-6 each. Fuck that.

dxr

And what happens if your HD-DVD player busts? What about space issues? My cabinet is pretty full as it is. One more obsolete piece of hardware to play a handful of discs is not worth the space IMO.

mikeyclt

Or if you find a bunch of cheap hd dvds for like 4 bucks (like the guy above said) a 30-40 dollar blu ray becomes 16 bucks

Zinc

I have three back up XBox 360 add ons I got for $20-$40 from stores and Craigslist, all sealed in case my current one dies for some reason. I'm fine.

Devindra Hardawar

Good god, did you buy the entire library of HD-DVDs? :P I see your point. I have tons of HD-DVDs as well, the players will still be easy to find for the next few years, and they're still making hybrid Bluray/HD-DVD drives for PCs. I got many HD-DVDs for under $10, not to mention those that I got for free.

Tercotta

Wait, did you spend over 2500 dollars on a format that everyone was expecting to lose?

Zinc

I've bought most of my collection post HD war. Like I've said in other comments, it doesn't even matter that it lost. The fact that I can get 1080p movies for $5-6 on average is fucking great to me. I'm having a feeling some of you are not understanding that when the quality of the film is the exact same, price matters.

shameless

i like how tercotta thinks. i also agree with freemachine. it seems to me that expensive blu rays would only be useful for video games, if that. who needs 80 gigs for a movie anyways?

AGStudios

...so Blade Runner is $15 (+6.95)

that's more than anything else on the list..TV shows, collections, planet earth...damn it.

this doesn't make a lot of sense considering that blade runner blu-ray is $25 on amazon new, and there are used copies starting at $13...

Mr. Kevon

I might go to Fry's Electronics, buy '300,' 'Harry Potter 1-5,' 'The Matrix,' and 'Planet Earth' on HD DVD, since they all are under $20 per....and send those in.

Snap

Zinc

Seriously, you'd have to be an idiot to do this. You can BUY each HD-DVD for like half the price it's asking for conversion and shipping. HD-DVD players, such as the XBox ones, are abundant as well and cost like $20.

Mr. Kevon

i already have a blu-ray player and i'm not gonna pay x-amount of dollars on dead technology (aka HD DVD player). Plus, Fry's offers HD DVD movies for $8.99 and under...

Zinc

An HD DVD player: $20
An HD DVD movie: $2-7

Ten 1080p HDDVD movies and the player would come out to $90, AT THE MOST.

You'd be 2.5x over that just buying the Blu Ray player. Not to mention $25-30 average for Blu Ray movie. If you honestly think dead technology means anything when the movie has the same quality, you are just dumb.

Mr. Kevon

hey, when you go to amazon.com and look up the HD DVD players they offer, do you see any players for $20 even used? I sure don't. Check the facts before you make assumptions.

Bitterresentful

You can get an HD-DVD player on eBay for around $20 if you look around. You may need to check your facts before making assumptions.

Mr. Kevon

I'm sorry; I don't trust ebay nor do I think that ebay can be considered a "source" since most products have price changes, depending on who bids the highest. As far as the 'Buy Now' option, there won't be any players that are $20. Try posting CREDIBLE sources.

Karl Hungus

blu ray will be obsolete in a year or so, not worth it.

vegetax6

Now what would give you that idiotic idea?

Mayroth

Better Blue than Red

Nathan Jones

Thank you! I've got about 16 I'm ready to trade-in!

**You don't pay shipping and handling for all the movies, just once on your entire order. And plus, you're getting a brand new blu-ray for your used HD DVD!

joshua

I thought I wasted all that money on the Matrix Collection!! I'm glad I didn't toss them in the trash.

illegalprelude

uuumm. David, no offense, but if you thought that HD DVD was gonna win, im gonna have to assume your an idiot. Blu-ray had already won in Asia (japan) and most of Europe, the only place HD DVD was putting on a fight was the USA, and with the sheer number of companies and studios behind Blu-ray, I dont think anybody was surprised that Blu-ray won. It would have been surprising had Blu-ray lost so you need to rethink ourself and what you know about technology.

Vegetax6

I agree.

LoganR

It's _you're_, not "your"....idiot.

Knowing Sony's track record on trying to push a technology on the market, I sure as hell wouldn't have been surprised if Blu-Ray had failed. One has more capacity, I see video games, like the games for PS3 benefiting from it, which they already are. To go out and spend $1k(when Blu-Ray was introduced) on a player is ridiculous. The consumer is going to go after the cheaper equivalent of it's rival. Technology is advancing at such a rapid rate that it's a safe bet that in 2 years time, or less, Blu-Ray will be obsolete as well. Not gone like cd's or dvd's, but the next big thing will be here and I'm sure Blu-Ray wont be at the top. Holographic states are on the way which can hold 400gb+. I have the 360 HD-DVD player and only a handful of HD-DVDs that I wanted in HD. Now that I can stream HD from Netflix to my 360, that rules out me buying a Blu-Ray player...forever. Win win for me. Who knows, the cover art that you are sending to WB might be a collectible one day.

Alex

I had 10 hddvds that qualifed (which represents half of my hddvd collection) so it eneded up costing me about $70 (2 of them were blade runner and the matrix collection which were $15 each) but its worth it to have basically my whole collection in bluray or dvd, and since my laptop plays blurays and I get deployed I can now watch them when I leave

I called and confirmed that they do come in with the bluray packaging also, not just the disc

RamJelly

Way to gouge on shipping. $7? Fuck that.

ramekelliesajew

you're a fucking jew, if you think $7 is alot for shipping

RamJelly

Oh, right. because Jews are stingy with money. Clever!

MylesL

I can see why Warner Bros is loved.

790

Anyone that signs up for this offer is getting screwed. Just fyi.

Bluray will be replaced in the next five years with the next upgrade. Fools!

greg

Watch out for the special rules about the Ultimate Matrix. It asks for the sheet that was glued to the back of the box, not the disc art.

Frank

I called regarding the Matrix collection and that stupid piece of paper. The CS person told me that there are hundreds of people calling about this and that they are working on an alternate way to trade the collection in.

glen

I just called about the ultimate matrix. The girl said to send the art for 'Matrix Revolutions' only. I guess because no one would buy that one by itself. Cool. So the other ones get to keep theirs!

ucrfl

This has changed, you only need to send in Matrix Revolutions cover art.

frugal

Sending in 13 discs (including blade runner, planet earth, ultimate matrix, harry potter 1-5, quick way to get the movies and improve my mothers collection of hd-dvd's. If only the bourne series was included in this. 13 discs (or collections) on blu for $110.

ucrfl

Planet Earth is not on the list!

Landfill

Wow what a great price. Just goes to show that if you partake in something like a format war, you're going to have a 50% chance of losing your money. I'm glad I stuck with the DVDs but one day I'll participate in the Blu-Ray stuff.

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Warner Bros. Launches Red2Blu Program, Offers Blu-Ray Copies of HD-DVDs You Own (For a Small Fee)

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