**** WARNER ANNOUNCEMENT: DVD TO BLU-RAY UPGRADE PROGRAM **** (1 Viewer)

Nothing terribly interesting as of yet. Get back to me when they have The Matrix and Harry Potter.
(Whatever happened to Disney's equivalent. anyways? We're coming up on the end of "fall 2009" real fast...)

Okay...When Warners set up the Red2Blu program, I sent them 24 qualifying HD DVD sleeves and, to date, received three Harry Potter films. I jumped on this program as soon as it was announced and ended up with nearly zippity-do-dah. I wish I could get more excited about the new program...

I'd like to upgrade some of mine but the details seem a bit vague. Some questions I have:

Does the BD arrive in a case, like purchased in a store?

If it came from a 2 disc DVD set, do you have to send both discs or just the movie disc?

Some titles have various versions. For example, I have the later "Dumb & Dumber" unrated release. Can I send that one it as the cover on the WB website seems to have the old version cover showing. For "Superman Returns" can I send in the disc that came in the tin set?

I think this is a wonderfully generous thing for Warner to do. $7.95 is a bargain for a blu-ray and not too bad for an upgrade fee. I have 16 titles on the list on DVD and it would be about $130 to upgrade them all. The program has no set expiration date, so I might just upgrade a few at a time. The fine print said it was limited to 25 titles per household but didn't say you couldn't break up your orders.

The price isn't too bad, but many of these titles usually hover around $10 anyway. It'd be cooler if we didn't have to send in the DVDs (and just art or UPCs instead).

To answer Will G's question, they do send you the same BD that you would get in the stores, still sealed. And in the FAQ, they mention that yes, you can send the disc that was part of the set.

But I also don't know about the 2 DVD sets. Do you send both discs or just the movie?

And what about films that have been released multiple times on DVD? If you only have the first version, or a full frame version from the early days of DVD, will those be upgradable, even if later DVDs were released? No mention of that.

It looks like a great program though.

Originally Posted by Joseph J.D /forum/thread/295011/warner-announcement-dvd-to-blu-ray-upgrade-program#post_3629443
I really do hope that Warner Bros. Canada announces a similar program on this side of the border since the program is not open to Canadians. I'd love to trade up some of those titles to blu. It would certainly beat trying to sell them to second hand shops which offer next to nothing for old dvds.

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I agree. I would love to upgrade my Kubricks, I was just telling a friend today how I'm kicking myself for buying the remastered SD set not realizing I was going to be Blu so quickly.
Frankly, Warners has blown it this year. Yeah, they've put out some great releases likw Oz in Blu, but with this program and the Archives program, they have done Canadians no favours. I used to average a Warners boxset a month. Now that they've abandoned the retail boxes like Tarzans, Gangsters, Noirs etc for the overpriced Archives releases (that I wouldn't purchase at the price offered even if it was offered to Canadians) my Warners purchases are pretty much regulated to the odd new release. Fortunatley Sony is filling in some of the gaps with their reasonably priced collections.

Originally Posted by Ray H /forum/thread/295011/warner-announcement-dvd-to-blu-ray-upgrade-program#post_3629507
The price isn't too bad, but many of these titles usually hover around $10 anyway. It'd be cooler if we didn't have to send in the DVDs (and just art or UPCs instead).

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This the way they handled their initial HD-DVD -> Blu-ray offer. You kept the actual HD-DVD(s) and were only required to send in the cover art with the UPC still attached. For titles with special packaging they accepted the proof of purchase tabs. It would have been nice if they'd continued that with the DVD swap program.

Good to see Warner finally stepping up w/ something like this, but that list will need to expand quickly (to include more recent releases) for it to matter too much, IMHO. Well, I suppose there will be some months when discounts/sales will be slim enough for this to help much, but for the most part, it seems more useful for newcomers to Blu than for those of us who've been in the format for a couple years now.

_Man_

Originally Posted by Russell G /forum/thread/295011/warner-announcement-dvd-to-blu-ray-upgrade-program#post_3629776
Frankly, Warners has blown it this year. Yeah, they've put out some great releases likw Oz in Blu, but with this program and the Archives program, they have done Canadians no favours. I used to average a Warners boxset a month. Now that they've abandoned the retail boxes like Tarzans, Gangsters, Noirs etc for the overpriced Archives releases (that I wouldn't purchase at the price offered even if it was offered to Canadians) my Warners purchases are pretty much regulated to the odd new release. Fortunatley Sony is filling in some of the gaps with their reasonably priced collections.

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I really have to disagree.
If you look at all the studios, even Sony, Warner has been one of the steadiest as far as titles go. Looking at the upcoming releases for the next few months, some studios are virtual ghost towns with only a couple films being released. Warner still has many releases each and every week.
While they may have scaled back on the box sets and older titles (although the Esther Williams set came out recently), that is mainly for economic reasons. Head into any Big Lots. You will find the DVD racks full of Warner titles that went unsold and are being liquidated. The DVD market has dried up very quickly. Major retailers are only carrying the best sellers.
The Archive may not be ideal, the discs I've seen have been better quality than I expected. I mean, does anyone think that a Joe McDoakes set would have been a big seller at Best Buy? Now, fans can finally get it. Same with the Little Rascals set.
They are doing great things with Blu-Ray. And, as far as their BBC brand, they are still releasing box sets. I just got the Steve Coogan box set this week.
This year, Warner has been one of my favorite studios.

Originally Posted by Jon Martin /forum/thread/295011/warner-announcement-dvd-to-blu-ray-upgrade-program#post_3630028
I really have to disagree.
If you look at all the studios, even Sony, Warner has been one of the steadiest as far as titles go. Looking at the upcoming releases for the next few months, some studios are virtual ghost towns with only a couple films being released. Warner still has many releases each and every week.
While they may have scaled back on the box sets and older titles (although the Esther Williams set came out recently), that is mainly for economic reasons. Head into any Big Lots. You will find the DVD racks full of Warner titles that went unsold and are being liquidated. The DVD market has dried up very quickly. Major retailers are only carrying the best sellers.
The Archive may not be ideal, the discs I've seen have been better quality than I expected. I mean, does anyone think that a Joe McDoakes set would have been a big seller at Best Buy? Now, fans can finally get it. Same with the Little Rascals set.
They are doing great things with Blu-Ray. And, as far as their BBC brand, they are still releasing box sets. I just got the Steve Coogan box set this week.
This year, Warner has been one of my favorite studios.

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To counter, and not to beat a dead horse or digress. Warner does make great DVDs and quality blu rays. I wont question that and I buy many of them. They are one of the, if not THE major company as well seeing as so many other studios come under their umbrella, obviously we will be seeing many releases from Warners, and I'm thankful that they do typically put out top notch discs.
That said, economics or not, the current program is crap for those of us who enjoyed their previous entries. I'm not an expert on classic film, but you wouldn't know it from my collection which is so heavy with classic titles. This is because of Warners boxsets. I rarely paid over $40cdn for them. So, a set like Tarzan. I heard the first couple of films were good, I was curious and bought the set. At 6 films (I think) at $40, I got it for $6.67 a movie. That's a heck of a deal, and I blind bought the following set, and was eagerly anticipating future Tarzan volumes. Same thing with gangsters, noir, musicals... etc.
Then Warners introduced the Archives. At $20 a film, I'm not going to blind buy it, and now I have series of boxsets that have simply come to an end despite more of these films being released. Since I'm in Canada, I couldn't purchase them even if I wanted to spend the money. I see those boxsets on the clearance racks too, but you know what? I suppoerted Warners in putting them out by buying them when they were released, and now I've had the door slammed in my face.
So FOR ME, it's hardley an ideal situation, just like this program isn't. I supported Warners in buying many of those titles in SD, why shouldn't we get an option to upgrade to?

I guess this would be okay for some, but as others have said, you can buy some of these titles on sale already for a buck or two more, and sell off your DVD if you really wanted to. Less hassle IMO.

I decided to take advantage of this offer and ordered seven titles. I placed the order the weekend before Thanksgiving, and sent in the discs last Monday. I was shocked when I received all seven titles in today's mail, about 9-10 days after I initially placed the order. /img/vbsmilies/htf/thumbsup.gif

My discs came yesterday!

I got my discs today. They even took the early full frame versions of titles that were later upgraded in exchange for Blu-Rays which I wasn't sure of.
I wrote a review here.
Great program. I'm very happy with it.

After placing an order on the website, how long did it take for the e-mail with the shipping label to arrive? I placed an order on the site around this time yesterday and have yet to receive anything.

It took me about an hour to get mine. I thought it would be instantaneous, so thought something was wrong.

I received the shipping label fairly quickly -- within an hour or two, if I recall.

Thanks for the info, guys. I still haven't received the e-mail (and yes, I checked my spam folder), so I guess I'll have to e-mail them.