Should Studios Offer "DVD-to-Blu Ray" Trade-In Program? (1 Viewer)

If studios want consumers to jump into the new format, do you think that they should offer a trade-in program for consumers who own DVD's to swap them in for the blu ray version? Maybe even for a small fee? I honestly think they should.

I like how Disney is offering coupons off the Blu-ray if you already own the DVD on some titles.

Warner does with select titles: http://www.dvd2blu.com/ and Todd already mentioned Disney: http://www.disneyupgrade2blu.com/

Thanks, Adam. However, my point is that studios currently do not offer a trade-in program for consumers who have purchased TV Shows that have been released to DVD. I think consumers would benefit more and it would definitely entice more consumers to switch over to Blu-ray.

I can tell you that I have 200 DVD boxed sets that I have purchased, which are all television shows, that I would love to to trade-in for their Blu-ray version. Can you image? Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Dukes of Hazzard and dozens of other shows. Even if the studios offered the upgrade for $10 for set, The studios would definitely benefit from the additional purchases that would probably occur all at once.

I know that if the studios offered the upgrade trade-in, I know I would pay $10 per set and upgrade an entire series at a time. I just think that maybe it's time for studios to start enticing consumers to convert to Blu-ray and one way to do that is to offer a sort of trade-in program.

I neither see it happening nor do I think I would take advantage of it but for a handful of titles.

There are older shows that have already been remastered from 35mm film that could definitely take advantage of the HD format (e.g., Perry Mason, Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke), as well as some 60's amd 70's shows (e.g., Mission Impossible, Hawaii Five-O) that all look great on DVD. But there are so many more that either never were good enough for HD or would cost too much to get there to probably make back the cost. So why put in the effort. So out of my collection of around 300 seasons I can see maybe 20-30% that could probably even qualify.

As for the $10 to upgrade, I can see that as a benefit to the consumer but I hardly see where the studio would do that since I don't think it offers them the profit margin they would be looking for. If the studio did it, I personally think it would be more like $10 off on a $40 purchase. While studios want consumers to transition they don't want it to come with minimal profits, but instead they want to milk the consumer like they are used to doing. And what would the studio do with all the disks traded in? They don't want them so they would have to destroy them.

For me anyways, the one's I have that would be worthy of the treatment are already good enough, while those of lessor quality don't merit the transition. The Star Trek TOS series and maybe a few others are the only one's I would even consider at a $10 upgrade fee. But since I don't think they would be that generous, my guess is I wouldn't participate in whatever plan a studio might come up with.

Just my take, and the fact that my collection is 70% pre-70's. And I do have a BR player.

If that's so, then the studios aren't going to profit from consumers because most aren't going to simply re-purchase the sets. I know I won't be. I would just keep watching my SD_DVD sets through my BR p[layer or play them through my PC, using the PC link for my HDTV.

Selling us a new Blu-Ray set for $10 might please us, but I don't see any benefit for the studio, that would hardly cover their expenses. We wern't promised anything when we bought DVD sets anymore than we were promised anything when VHS tape gave way to DVD. When a new format come out you have to decide how much it is worth to you to upgrade your collection. I also own well over 200 boxed sets, and I don't invision upgrading any of them.

In a word. No. Simply because with the vast majority of such programs the "upgrade" or "trade-in" often costs more than a new copy purchased from a discount seller.

Not really. It would be about the same you would pay for a regular retail copy of the Blu-ray edition.

He is right, the answerer is going to be a big fat no. Remember when the VHS was replaced by the DVD? No one got a trade in. The exact same thing is going to happen here. I know it is a pain, especially when you have tons of DVD's.

Originally Posted by kemcha

I know that if the studios offered the upgrade trade-in, I know I would pay $10 per set and upgrade an entire series at a time. I just think that maybe it's time for studios to start enticing consumers to convert to Blu-ray and one way to do that is to offer a sort of trade-in program.

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The studios' only interest in enticing people to convert to Blu-ray is so that they can sell them discs. If they give those discs away, or at a price that they cannot profit from, the benefit to them is nil (unless the studio is Sony, which sells Blu-ray hardware and makes a royalty on all Blu-ray hardware and software sold). Furthermore, if they offered this upgrade directly to the consumer (probably the only way such a thing could be achieved), they would be cutting out the retailers they rely on for sales. If Target (for one) knew that (for instance) Warner Bros. was circumventing them to basically give away Blu-ray upgrades of (let's say) "Friends" to all of the most likely purchasers of that set, why would they stock it at all?


There's simply nothing in it for them to do this.

But as Todd and Adam mentioned before, at least two studios (and not Sony) already have DVD-to-Blu-ray upgrade/trade-in programs.