Poll: Do you plan on participating in a DVD to Blu-ray trade-in?
By Richard Lawler 
posted December 12th 2009 12:00PM
posted December 12th 2009 12:00PM
posted December 12th 2009 12:00PM
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What is a DVD? I never bought any when I knew Blu-ray was coming out several years ago. No need to double dip here.
Anyone doubting whether you keep your old discs, allow me to put your fears to rest. My experience is with Warner's Red2Blu HDDVD trade-in program and I couldn't be happier with the results. After I selected the titles I wanted to trade-in and completed the transaction on their website, I sent Warner the sleeves from the respective movies. In 2-3 weeks, I received a package with the Blu-Ray versions I'd chosen. The price paid for each trade-in was between 6-$15, depending on whether it was a single movie or a box set. I don't understand how could this be considered a bad deal?
@cyclepipe I agree with you. I also participated in that same program, and couldn't be happier with the results myself. Plus, we get to keep the old DVDs.
@cyclepipe
Considering the fact that you paid how much for the HD DVD and then turned around and sent them $6-15 for the replacement, you were scammed... the HD DVDs would still play perfectly fine and now all of those movies can be bought brand new in package for the amount you paid Warner for them to replace them... Since it was Warner that screwed everyone who bought their HD DVDs they should have replaced them for FREE with the BD version, they chose their side, the same holds true for the DVD trade in, they should replace them for free if they are really that interested in consumer loyalty to the new brand.
@3dpenguin You're right, *now* I could buy them for the same price that I paid Warner to replace them. However, I wanted to replace them when the program was available as I was tired of the drone of the 360 HD DVD drive vs the PS3's Blu-ray. Immersion is a big part of watching films for me, so being able to remove that annoyance was key.
It really comes down to individual perception of value. At the time, it seemed a reasonable value to not have to pay the $17-30 Amazon was charging for the films I wanted to replace. By your comments, it doesn't seem like you would have been compelled to upgrade. To each their own.
I'd add another option "yes, but I'm only going through the hassle for my favorite flics..."
Not for only $8 off. And that's $8 off what? MSRP? You can probably find that as is with Amazon or even used. If they made it $8 for the Blu-ray version, hell yeah! But $8 off MSRP? I can probably find better deals online.
The only way I would trade in if is it were for a 1:1 ratio, meaning you would give me the exact movie for the same DVD, which would never happen.
Until then, there are just too many devices that can use DVDs as opposed to Blu-Ray.
I had great results with the WB DVD2BLU program. Sent in 3 DVDs and got the Blu-Ray version for $8 per disc back in the mail in about 2 weeks. The titles eligible is good but not great. Locally I can only get about $2 trade in credit for DVDs, so I figure I got them for about $10 title.
The Disney $8 off retail deal doesn't make much sense to me. I can do better off of Amazon with the right deal.
If someone would roll out a program where I could swap my discs for $5 each, shipping included, I'd be in. Till then, it's just not worth it. Most old movies on bluray I can get for $10-12 either by going to costco, or waiting for a sale.
Only if the cost per trade is equal to or less than the difference in the retail price between the DVD & its BD counterpart.
Price is key, obviously, as it keeps coming up in comments.
I purchased Lucky Number Slevin on Amazon for $7.99. I could have done a Red2Blu, but it would have cost more!
Amazon blows away the $8.00 off of Disney titles (and has free shipping and no tax in CA). There is absolutely no reason to participate when it's less to re-purchase.
That said, I appreciate the studios doing this.
-Pie
@EatingPie I was going to mention the same. Any of the ones I had thought about doing this for ended up being available from both Amazon and even Best Buy on Black Friday for the same price as WB wants for trade-ins, but Amazon has free shipping, and I keep the DVDs. They've got to do better than that. I also discovered that the Gladiator BD has a $10 rebate on it for previous DVD owners (I think you just send in the UPC or proof of purchase from the case) -- a great deal since Amazon had the BD for $10 on Black Friday as well :).
Its only going to be as good as a) you have DVDs but not Blu-ray versions, and b) the ones meeting the previous condition are also available on Blu-ray.
Its a lot of effort to bother, and the last free movies deal with BD player purchase I got screwed on. So, it isn't really worth my time and effort.
physical media?! how 20th century.
@sp991
It's all physical media...gotta store it somewhere!
Why trade in a movie that takes up 9G or 2G of space for one that will take up 30G? Sure that makes sense if it is a visually stunning movie. Otherwise, it's just a waste of space. The disk itself is not the point. This is the 21st century. What really matters is how much space will it take up in your media server. A single plastic disk doesn't really take up so much space.