Free (OK, Cheap) HD-DVD To Blu-ray Upgrade From Warner
Wednesday morning at 3am I got the best and worst news yet about my growing collection of high-definition home video titles: Warner Brothers is offering a brand new program where consumers can exchange their old HD DVDs for Blu-rays at a cost of around five bucks. For a person like yours truly whose apartment has been referred to as a "crack den for cinephiles," this is obviously a great thing, since it means that I can replace classic movies like The Ant Bully and Scooby-Doo: The Movie without having to eat the cost of two high-def discs.
But for a person like yours truly who not only embraced HD DVD wholeheartedly, buying as many titles as possible just weeks before the format was officially abandoned by the studios, but then immediately replaced virtually all titles in my collection of any real value when I later got a Blu-ray player, this is sort of like telling me that I didn't commit enough to a dying format. As of April 2009, I have owned four versions of every Stanley Kubrick movie, two on standard-def and two in HD, and no fewer than six of Peter Jackson's King Kong.
Mind you, I'm not complaining. This is the closest thing to a mea culpa any of the studios have offered for folks who foolishly invested in the Betamax of high definition formats, and more importantly, the process seems amazingly simple: go to red2blu.com, click on the titles you want to exchange at a cost of around $5 apiece, send in the cover art (apparently they realize the discs aren't worth anything too) and you'll get your replacements in approximately four to five weeks.
Not to mention that such worries are indisputably "first world" problems, as one of my colleagues frequently observes when people complain about stuff that's out of the reach of even most normal Americans, much less the rest of the people of the world. (There are literally folks starving in other parts of the world, so any serious lament about the minuscule cost for Warner's replacement program on an HD format that very few people still have is a little bit like complaining that the breeze in first class is too strong while the coach section doesn't have a roof.) In other words, take a long, cleansing breath, dust of that box of HD DVDs that your local record store wouldn't take, and get ready to enjoy some completely awesome Scooby and Shaggy shenanigans on Blu-ray. Because forget about Kubrick - that Matthew Lillard is a genius.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-23-2009 @ 11:03PM
Astin said...
Do the switch, even with the ones you've already bought on Blu-Ray, and then sell the doubles at your local used store. You'll cover the $5 cost per disc pretty easily, and may even make a profit depending how much you spent on the HD-DVD copies.
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4-23-2009 @ 11:57PM
Sean said...
So, where does FREE fit in to this story?
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4-24-2009 @ 4:09AM
eugene said...
The matrix box set makes me sad. I long ago tossed the glued on paper backing to the box.... they won't accept the covers/UPC codes from the individual discs and only the UPC from the box.
sad.
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4-27-2009 @ 3:36AM
Kevin said...
I had the same issue but the site has recently been updating requesting the cover artwork from matrix revolutions instead of the dumb piece of paper glued to the back of the box. There must have been quite a few people like us who thought the paper on the back looked dumb.
4-27-2009 @ 1:03PM
eugene said...
That's awesome! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my message, I wouldn't have known otherwise.
4-24-2009 @ 8:22AM
kevin said...
Cut the humanitarian BS please. Im a progressive activist but we dont need that here.
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4-24-2009 @ 1:38PM
Kevin said...
Wow, kevin, same name, same idea. I love that ridiculous argument that people make. By the same logic I could go to those "starving masses" and say "quit your bitching. I know of starving people who also have cancer. They're worse off than you." It serves no purpose to point out others that are worse off, unless of course the person who is upset about their HD collection says "I can't believe I spent all this money on HD DVD's, and I don't give two shits about starving kids". We can all feel empathy towards those less fortunate without having to say that are lives are perfect and we shouldn't strive to improve them in anyway.
Sorry about that, just needed a little rant. As to your HD DVD's, why the hell would you want to exchange them? I'm assuming you got an HD-DVD player to watch your HD-DVD's on, so just because you can no longer buy new HD-DVD's doesn't mean you can't still watch the old ones. Don't tell me you were foolish enough to spend 400 bucks on a player, and then when you realized that Blu-Ray was going to win that you sold it to someone for like 50 bucks? If you did, the person you sold it to was a genius. My computer has a blu-ray and HD-DVD drive to it, so when I found out that HD-DVD lost the format war I ran out and bought every HD-DVD I could find. They were like 5 bucks a pop and still played the same 1080P movies that blu-ray did. I don't get the point of exchanging them for blu-ray at all. It just doesn't make financial sense.
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4-24-2009 @ 9:29AM
Kevin said...
ugh, sorry about the "are" at the end of the first paragraph. Clearly its supposed to an "our", just like clearly I am an idiot.
4-24-2009 @ 10:41AM
Master X said...
Ill pass, I have over 100 HD DVDs and 3 players so Im happy.
I got a PS3 for Blu rays so im ok.
Plus I just got some nonrelased HD DVDs like Taking Lives, P2, and some imports like Death Proof, Underworld, Resident Evil.
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4-24-2009 @ 11:53AM
Jason said...
I saw this program and laughed. I've been thinking for a long time now that this is what the studios should be doing....but with DVDs ---> BR. If they want people to quickly dive in to BR. Instead it's gonna be a while before it's the leading format (cheap greedy MFers).
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4-24-2009 @ 1:12PM
Master Q said...
Im going to upgrade some of thy favorite HDDVD's.
Yes the old argument "The HDdvd's still play! Just because it lost doesn't mean you cant watch them" is valid, but in a few years the blu side will be growing and it will be more ridiculous to keep a player to watch a handful of movies.
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4-24-2009 @ 3:38PM
Kevin said...
You think its less ridiculous to throw out a piece of machinary that you spent a few hundred bucks on, and the corresponding dvd's that only play on it, just because you can no longer buy new content for it? Theres no advantage to blu-ray over hd-dvd in terms of playback, ease, storage space, etc., so it seems like you've just accepted a substantial financial loss just so that you can save the 14 square inches of shelf space beneath your TV.
4-24-2009 @ 1:52PM
Todd Gilchrist said...
sorry if you felt like i was sermonizing, fellas. i just recognize (for myself, anyway) that it seems a little silly to complain (or even seem like i'm complaining) about something like this given the fact that we're talking about stuff that's largely irrelevant, like, say a high-definition format war. not to mention that we often seem as a generation to have lost perspective when it comes to a lot of things we think are important, but aren't.
as far as hd dvd players are concerned, i still have mine, but the truth is there's only a limited amount of product available (and that will be available) for that format, so it makes sense to switch to the one that will continue producing new discs.
thanks for reading, and thanks for commenting.
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4-24-2009 @ 3:38PM
Kevin said...
Sure, makes sense to upgrade for new content, but I still fail to see why one would need to return their old HD-DVD's to get blu rays of the same movies. You still have your HD-DVD player, so if you've already bought king kong for that then why return that disc in order to get a blu ray disc of the same movie?
4-24-2009 @ 3:31PM
Todd Gilchrist said...
in some cases there is extra content. unfortunately kong is universal not warner, but the blu-ray features both cuts while the hd dvd only has one of them, for example. the bottom line for me personally is that because i review hd content i needed to buy a blu-ray player, and i prefer to keep my dvd, etc. libraries condensed as much as possible. i understand both of your points and acknowledge that folks who want to continue using and buying existing hd dvds will have a great opportunity to get films cheaply, but i have a number of titles for a product that i literally don't have room for either in my entertainment center or through an hdmi connection, which is the most important aspect of having hd presentation.
4-24-2009 @ 4:16PM
Kevin said...
Those are all valid reasons. When thats the case than it makes a certain amount of sense to get an redundant copy of a movie on hd-dvd and blu-ray. Its a cost benefit analysis. However, I get the feeling that some people will take advantage of this just because they don't want to have that "outdated" hd-dvd player that looks so silly, so they'll throw out all that equipment just so that they have a blu-ray instead. If you get rid of your hd-dvd simply because it didn't turn out to be the "cool" product than I think thats pretty ridiculous. But spending 5 bucks to mail in the cover art of your hd-dvd to get a blu-ray dvd with a ton of additional features? Can't argue with that. Cheers.
4-24-2009 @ 11:56PM
Anonymous said...
In my case, I returned my HD-DVD player to Best Buy, but they weren't taking back the actual movies. No one was going to buy them off me and I felt it would be a waste of money to just throw them away.
This service WB is doing is perfect for me since it turned out every HD-DVD movie I have is WB. $40 for 8 blu-ray movies is really a steal, especially since 5 of the movies I got were from the 5 free movies offer.
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4-25-2009 @ 11:32AM
Mr.R said...
Your grand children will laugh at you when they realize that at one time you actually went out and bought players to watch movies, instead of just asking the main frame at your house to get them for you. It is already a fact with CDs vs mp3. It won't be long before a small file can contain a full Blue Ray quality image movie with all the extras that all the different presentations had before. Meanwhile, keep contaminating the world with plastic and silicone components, for your viewing pleasure.
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4-25-2009 @ 4:04PM
JoNJoN said...
You condescending earth folks sure know how to help your movement don't you? Tell people how evil they are for living their lives. It's amazing to me that Warner would do something as cool as this for those of us that don't feel like having 2 different formats in their libraries and people still complain. If you don't like it then don't do it? Warner doesn't have a gun to your head saying give us back those HDDVD's NOW!!! Good grief there's too many miserable whiny people out there...
Oh BTW, Mr. R, I'm having a styrofoam bonfire tonight, your welcome to come.
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4-25-2009 @ 4:08PM
Todd Gilchrist said...
I'm not sure if you are referring to some of the commenters or to the original post, but there seems to be a lot of outrage about questionably outrageous things on the internet, so i didn't want to seem ungrateful for the program, or feel like my wish that warner had done this sooner seemed like i was seriously complaining. really, i'm just happy i can get the wild bunch, rio bravo, deliverance, bonnie and clyde and the ocean's trilogy for like $30. total.