Warner cheapens and expands DVD-to-Blu-ray exchange program

At about this time last year, Warner Brothers began an exchange program called Red2Blu that swapped HD DVDs for Blu-Ray discs, letting consumers trade their unsupported Warner Brothers HD DVDs and $4.95 for the same title on Blu-ray.

About six months later, the studio unveiled a similar project called DVD2Blu that let consumers trade in their standard DVDs (and $7.95-$9.95) for a Blu-ray upgrade. The upgrade program included 55 Warner Brothers titles.

This week, Warner grew the exchange program to include 75 titles, and dropped the cost of many exchanges to just $4.95.

As the cutting edge of the industry is firmly focused on 3D-capable home systems and their related accessories, consumers are still catching up to the HD generation. This month's Consumer Technology Household Online Penetration Study from the NPD Group found that even though the number of households supporting Blu-ray has doubled over the last year, it's still only at 11% market penetration.

Flat-panel televisions, by comparison, have already reached 64% penetration, according to the NPD survey.