The HD-DVD format has officially been dead for over a year now, and we’re starting to see a lot of movies that were previously released exclusively on HD-DVD coming out again on Blu-ray. This, of course, poses a problem for many of us who still have an HD-DVD player and see no need to rebuy these movies yet again simply to change the colour of the case on our shelf. That said, collectors are a pretty anal bunch, and I’m sure it is tearing a lot of people up inside that their high-def movie collections are now split into two groups. Luckily, there are a few companies out there who are keeping the consumer in mind, while also giving Blu-ray another much-needed marketing push.

This week Warner Brothers announced the launch of their Red2Blu program, which allows customers to upgrade HD-DVD titles that they previously purchased to Blu-ray for just $4.95 plus shipping. The best part is that you don’t even have to return the HD-DVD disc itself, just the art sleeve to prove that you bought it. They promise a new Blu-ray version will be delivered within 4 to 5 weeks. Although some customers would have preferred a free upgrade, I think this is a decent deal considering that in some cases you can still find HD-DVDs in clearance bins for under $5. Loophole!

While most people have only been talking about the Warner program thus far, it is worth noting that Criterion also has a similar policy for their standard DVD releases. Check out the fine print in their FAQ, and it says that they’ll send you a Blu-ray version of a Criterion Collection DVD for $20 plus $5 shipping. (You do have to send them the actual disc though.) Let’s hope other studios will take a hint and soon follow suit. Do you plan on taking advantage of either of these offers? If you don’t yet own a Blu-ray player, does it make you more likely to buy one?

Update: The Red2Blu program is currently only available the Contentinal U.S., so international customers (including Canada) are out of luck.