Retailers come to aid of HD-DVD owners

MINNEAPOLIS The sudden end to the high-definition DVD format war has retailers scrambling to find ways to compensate customers who bought into the losing HD-DVD format.

Best Buy reported today that it is giving $50 gift cards to customers who bought an HD-DVD player or HD-DVD attachment from its U.S. stores before Feb. 23. In addition, starting on March 21, the company is offering customers who don't want to get rid of their HD-DVD players the chance to trade them in for a value determined by the Best Buy's Online Trade-In Center.

“The DVD format war has divided our customers in a way we haven’t seen since Betamax took on VHS more than 20 years ago,” said Brian Dunn, president and coo for Best Buy. “At Best Buy, we understood and shared our customers’ frustrations as they were being asked to choose one format or the other. Now that the format war is over, we hope these gift cards will reassure our customers that we will help them make a smooth transition into the right technology for their needs.” 

Circuit City is giving customers who jumped on the HD-DVD bandwagon this year a longer period of time to return their players. The chain last week extended its 30-day return policy on purchases to 90 days for HD-DVD players. The policy applies only to players though and not to HD-DVD discs.