Warner Bros. launches HD DVD trade-in program

So you made the wrong bet but you've figured out how to live with it. But hey, here's some good news if you were one of the millions who thought incorrectly that HD DVD was going to be the high-definition platform of choice: Now Warner Bros. is giving you the chance to trade in all those old HD DVD discs you bought for new Blu-ray versions of the same movies.

Warner's Red2Blu program is a pretty simple affair: You take the cover art (no copies!) from your HD DVD cases and mail it in to Warner. Within five weeks you get Blu-ray versions of all the artwork you sent in, new discs complete with all the trimmings.

Of course there's a tiny catch, as it costs $4.95 a movie (plus a flat charge of $6.95 shipping and handling). Not as good as free, alas, but comparable to the price of a single movie rental. You're also limited to 25 titles total per household (out of the 128 movies that Warner produced on HD DVD) and one copy max of each movie -- but hey, if you actually bought more than 25 HD DVD discs, you probably deserve what you got.

And, sorry to say, you have to upgrade to the same title: No trading in Alexander for Blazing Saddles, no matter how much you regret the purchase.

Meanwhile, if you still have an HD DVD player, Best Buy will still (probably) give you money in the form of a Best Buy gift card for it if you send it in to them. Check out what it's worth at this estimator site.