Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Some dap to Warner Bros.

I wrote quite a bit about the hi-def battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, which ended decisively when Warner Bros. decided to stop putting out titles in HD DVD. They are the largest studio, and were the only one to release video titles in both formats. When they announced they were choosing sides, it essentially ended the format war overnight.

Now Warners is doing something that I think is pretty cool: They're offering to let owners of their HD DVDs to trade them in for the same title on Blu-ray, at a pretty nominal cost. This way they don't have to get stuck with some discs that will be totally useless when all the new hi-def players are in the other format.

Here's the official word from the studio:

Warner Home Video has announced a new program, “Red2Blu,” for those who want to upgrade titles they currently own on HD-DVD to Blu-ray. By visiting Red2Blu.com, consumers can trade up virtually any of their WHV HD-DVD titles (up to 25) for the same title on Blu-ray for a small fee plus shipping and handling. For details and restrictions, visit Red2Blu.com. “Red2Blu” is available to residents of the United States only.

Financially, there was no reason for Warners to do this, other than customer loyalty. I'm not normally in the habit of giving publicity to individual studios, but I have to say I think this move is worthy of some props. Way to go, guys!

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