Warner Brothers Home Entertainment has decided to sweeten the deal for DVD collectors who are looking for an economical way to upgrade their titles to Blu-ray Disc.
The “DVD2Blu” program previously only allowed people to mail in their DVD movies, plus a fee, in exchange for a boxed copy of the same film on Blu-ray disc. Now, Warner will accept any DVD in exchange for the Blu-ray titles they’ve selected for the program and have also dropped the fee to $4.95 for most titles.
When the program began last November, upgrades started at $7.95 plus shipping with a selection of only 55 available titles. In May, Warner expanded the program to include an array of 91 titles and lowered prices, but discs that were traded in still had to be the same title as the Blu-ray selected.
The catalogue of eligible Blu-ray titles for DVD2Blu is now up to 105, and the DVD trade-in does not need to be the same. Warner will accept any DVD that contains “professionally produced content” with the exception of pornography. In addition to American movies, content can include foreign films, TV, sports, animation or documentaries.
Warner also seems to be increasing the number of newer titles in their Blu-ray mix, though the vast majority of the discs priced at $4.95 seem to be classic films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blazing Saddles, and The Shining. Complete seasons of TV shows like Nip/Tuck, Fringe, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles are also available, but will set you back between $14.95 and $19.95 per season.
This doesn’t seem like a bad deal from Warner, but unless a movie has some kind of personal significance or you’re a collector, it just doesn’t really seem like a smart choice to own discs anymore. There are too many high-quality streaming services available now for a low monthly subscription rate.
