Announcement: Warner Home Video Blu-Ray Loyalty and HD-DVD Trade Up Program (1 Viewer)

[Porfirio]

At the very bottom of the home page, in the fine print, there is a link to the Program Rules. At the end of step 7, of page 2, it says "If you are ordering a Participating Collection, you must send the artwork packaging sleeve of each HD DVD case in the Collection."

 

[Brent M]

Just spoke to a CS rep on the phone about the Matrix situation and was told specifically that all you have to send is the paper sleeve with the UPC. That applies to both the "Complete" and "Ultimate" Matrix Collections. Over at AVS someone said you have to send in the box and artwork from all 3 films, but the CS rep told me that's not the case. Just thought I would share that info here.

 

[Camper]

Any info on how long this offer will last?

I sure wish i could include Forbidden Planet in the upgrade.

But with no announcemnet yet made it seems Oct/Nov at the earliest and I'd hate to miss the upgrade on the other titles while waiting.

Thnaks

 

[Michael Reuben]

My guess is that the people administering the program can't be bothered to adhere too strictly to the details of the rules. Then again, they may turn around one day and start demanding strict compliance; so who knows?

I can see why they'd want the individual artwork to prevent possible abuse. (In the case of the Matrix collection, it's limited to the first film, since the second two can't be upgraded inidividually.) Then again, the $4.95 charge probably prevents them from taking any real loss.

 

[Ensign Eddie]

I'm reminded of a quote:

"I've got a bad feeling about this" (just about every character in Star Wars at least once)

 

[Camper]

I didn't see anywhere where it says when you will be billed for the upgrade................

When you hit send at the end of the order or when they actually fill & ship your order. It seems to me there could be couple week gap and I think it would be somewhat unfair to bill you first. What if the first letter from the customer got lost?

Does anyone know for sure?


Thanks

 

[Scott_J]

I'm in for 16 titles. I'm trying to switch to all Blu-ray for my high-def collection, anyways, so the $5 per disc isn't an unreasonable amount IMO.

 

[TonyD]

You're expecting way too much.
Warner didn't have to do this and it seems to have come from out of the blue.

how can you complain on essentially being able to buy a bunch
of blu-rays for a little over $5?

 

[Brent M]

No kidding. I think some people are just incapable of being happy and/or satisfied with anything.

 

[PaulDA]

It's not simply a matter of complaining (I think the programme is very generous on WB's part). I, for one, am quite happy with my HD DVDs and see no need to swap them. I would be more inclined to do so if I had a few (say 20 or fewer) and only one player. But at nearly 150 HD DVDs (including six purchased last week at an average of 3.99$/title) and two players, I see no need to swap. That appears to be the main reason for others not wanting to swap either (happy with HD DVD and players).

 

[Clinton McClure]

Thank you Paul. I'm glad someone else here can see this fro my point of view. I love my BDs but I also love my HD-DVDs and my HD-A1.

I don't see where I'm expecting too much. I already bought the titles once and I can't justify paying another $5 per title to swap out a perfectly fine HD disc for the same thing on a different format, just for the sake of having it on BD. To me, this is not a good deal, it's Warner trying to get every bit of money they possibly can from people who are uncapable of being happy and/or satisfied with the excellent HD-DVDs they already own. As long as my HD-DVD player works, I don't see where this is an attractive offer.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I might very well conclude the same thing if I had an HD-A1. Like many of the issues discussed on HTF, this is one where everyone has to do a personal cost/benefit analysis. Half the disagreements on this forum could be avoided if people would just accept that not everyone shares the same circumstances or will reach the same conclusion on an issue that is, by its very nature, a judgment call.

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

The word SWAP is really a misnomer, as is the word "upgrade" (post war propaganda jargon) that's also used on the WB red2blu site.

This really is an opportunity to purchase select high definition movies on Blu-ray discs at a $4.95 bargain price.

Before I sent in the 25 original HD DVD cover-inserts chosen for the 25 $4.95 Blu-ray disc movies, I was careful to scan and print each cover to replace the ones I removed.
I'm not losing any HD DVD's in my collection, but I am purchasing 25 Blu-ray movies at a great price.

The 25 HD DVD's will still be kept in my collection in their original cases and will still be used by my family. We have two X-box's with HD DVD drives that were picked up @ clearence prices and also the HD-A1 in the theater room that is still in good working order.
The Blu-ray's will also be put in our Blu-ray collection for preventive obsolescence for a great price.

Blu-ray Item Price

1) 16 Blocks (BD) $4.95
2) Batman Begins (BD) $4.95
3) Clockwork Orange, A: Special Edition (BD) $4.95
4) Constantine (BD) $4.95
5) Dirty Dozen, The (BD) $4.95
6) Firewall (BD) $4.95
7) Fugitive, The (BD) $4.95
8) Full Metal Jacket: Deluxe Edition (BD) $4.95
9) Goodfellas (BD) $4.95
10)Happy Feet (BD) $4.95
11)Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (BD) $4.95
12)Last Samurai, The (BD) $4.95
13)Lethal Weapon (BD) $4.95
14)Lethal Weapon 2 (BD) $4.95
15)Phantom of the Opera (BD) $4.95
16)Adventures of Robin Hood (BD) $4.95
17)Rumor Has It (BD) $4.95
18)Searchers, The (BD) $4.95
19)Space Cowboys (BD) $4.95
20)Superman, The Movie (BD) $4.95
21)Superman II: Richard Donner Cut, The (BD) $4.95
22)Superman Returns (BD) (TrueHD Audio) $4.95
23)Training Day (BD) $4.95
24)Unforgiven (BD) $4.95
25)V for Vendetta (BD) $4.95
Subtotal $123.75
Tax $5.23
Shipping $6.95
Total $135.93

Paul

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

Nobody's asking anyone to replace anything, and that is why people see the complaints as unwarranted. As mentioned above, it's not a swap, it's more a backup. You keep both discs, and in the event that the HD DVD player dies or disc has problems, you have a BD that cost you all of $5 plus a packaged (not per-disc) shipping cost instead of rebuying it a store. From an ownership perspective, you've lost nothing and gained a cheap backup copy, which IMO is a much safer bet than depending on a player not breaking.

 

[ReggieW]

Your Blu-ray player can break just as quickly as your HD-DVD player.

I don't find the "If my player breaks" argument convincing. ANYTHING can potentially break or stop functioning at some point.

Disc problems? Considering some hypothetical problem crops up at some point, the discs can easily be replaced for a few dollars on Ebay. HD-DVD players can also be easily found on ebay. If I employed this logic, I would own back ups of everything! (microwave, refrigerator, computer, etc,)

From MY perspective, my discs and player functions fine and should continue to provide me with years of enjoyment. They've given me no problems. I have no need to backup my HD-DVD collection (100 plus titles) with identical BD counterparts. NOW, should a more elaborate (better video/audio/supplements) BD version of one of my HD-DVD titles arrive at some point, then I'll simply buy it and it'll replace my HD-DVD copy by default, but not till then.

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

Apples and oranges: they still make microwaves et al. They don't still make HD DVD players or discs.

Of course it's up to you what the price differential is worth, but to me it seems that having a definite fallback for is a much better deal than running the risk of not being able to replace the player or discs at a similar cost later on.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Exactly. Just leave it there.

I'm about to mail off 22 titles (26 discs in all). I don't care whether anyone else thinks it's a good or a bad deal. I think it's a good deal, and I'm the only one that has to.

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

Then this bargain price opportunity is clearly not for you.

I already have purchased the BD counterparts for the high definition movies I most want to be able to play universally anywhere. One guilty pleasure of mine, Paramount Pictures' "Stardust", I would purchase in a heartbeat, but is still not available on BD.

What WB's bargain bin pricing has done is just widen the opportunity for me to add a few additional titles to my personal favorite list.

Paul

 

[Doug Otte]

Bingo! Thank you.

 

[MarkHarrison]

I wonder if this is a one time deal? I'd like to start off with my important titles like my Matrix set, Harry Potter, Planet Earth and a few others. The ones that would cost a lot to replace. I have a second tier that I'm on the fence about. They're titles I know I'll watch multiple times in the future. But they work just fine on my player today. Then there's quite a few I picked up cause they were just a good deal that are a lot less likely to get lots of reply in the future.

If I don't have to do everything in one order, I'll be much more likely to spread the cost out over several orders which means I'll likely upgrade everything eventually (19 titles in total). But if it's a one time thing, I'll probably just convert the big stuff and keep the rest on HD DVD until my player dies.