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Dear Criterion viewers,

It's been a week since we officially announced our first Blu-ray releases, and people have been writing in with a lot of questions. As we inaugurate a new Blu-ray section of our FAQ, we thought we'd share with you the five most common questions about our Blu-ray launch.

On another front, there are only three days remaining in our current special promotion. Any film in the Criterion Collection that has a spine number ending in 8 will be discounted an additional 10 percent off the regular Criterion store price. (This doesn't apply to out-of-print titles or those that can only be purchased in box sets without spines that end in 8.) Click here for a list of titles. Sale ends at midnight on Sunday, August 24.

Happy viewing!

Are Criterion's Blu-ray discs region-encoded?

Yes. Criterion is licensed to sell most of its editions only in North America.

Why should I buy regular DVDs when I don't know if Criterion will release a Blu-ray version six months from now?

If you love these films, keep buying DVDs. It is going to be quite a while before the Blu-ray marketplace can support many of the titles Criterion releases on DVD. For new releases, if we think a title has a shot of succeeding on Blu-ray, we aim to put out both editions at the same time, so you can make an informed choice. Where classics from our catalog are concerned, to give you a little extra comfort we'll be offering a $20 Blu-ray upgrade program for customers who have already bought the equivalent edition on DVD. You send us the movie disc from your DVD edition, and for $20 (plus tax and shipping) we'll exchange it for the Blu-ray version, simple as that. For more on how this works, click here.* (Note: Or just see below, I added the info from the webpage.)

What is the packaging going to look like?

Our Blu-ray packaging will be similar to our DVD packaging, only in the smaller Blu-ray size. As with DVDs, we'll use a range of paper and plastic packaging, and we'll bring the same care and attention to the design. Where we're upgrading an existing release, the design will match right down to the disc labels, so if you want to take advantage of the $20 Blu-ray upgrade program, your replacement disc will fit right into the design of your existing Criterion DVD edition. In the store, if you want to be sure you're buying the Blu-ray edition and not the standard-def DVD version, you'll know it by the smaller size and the blue Blu-ray sticker on the front.

Will there be spine numbers?

Spine numbers on our Blu-ray discs will match the existing DVD editions. Our Blu-ray releases represent a significant upgrade when it comes to audiovisual quality, and many of our customers will want to take advantage of that, but we're not starting over at number 1, and we're not expecting our longstanding DVD collectors to do so either. Where content is concerned, we aren't planning on publishing anything on our Blu-ray editions that won't also be available on DVD. Whether you collect only DVDs or only Blu-ray discs or a mix, it's all part of your Criterion collection—and they'll all line up in spine-number order.

What will Criterion Blu-ray discs cost?

Criterion's Blu-ray editions will generally be priced to match our DVDs. It makes sense to us: High-definition mastering and restoration has been a part of our DVD production standard for years. And for our customers who might be on the fence about whether to buy DVD or Blu-ray, we thought the best thing we could do was take price out of the equation.

*Rebate offer subject to change.

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How will the Blu-ray upgrade program work?

Just mail your disc to:

The Criterion Collection
Attn: Jon Mulvaney
215 Park Avenue South, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10003

Be sure to include your U.S. or Canadian mailing address inside the package, as we cannot ship outside of North America. Please also include your e-mail address in case we need to contact you. You can send in your disc for exchange anytime, but we won’t be sending out the Blu-ray discs until their release dates.

You can pay the $20 plus tax (New York State only) and $5 shipping and handling by a check or money order made payable to the Criterion Collection. You can also pay by PayPal by making a payment to [email protected] (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover welcome). If your shipping address is in New York State, the total is $26.50 for the upgrade of one DVD. If your shipping address is in any other state or in Canada, the total is $25.

We’ll mail the Blu-ray disc in a sleeve, and you'll be able to place the new disc in your existing packaging. This doesn't give you the new Blu-ray packaging, but it does give you an option if you want the Blu-ray version but don't want to buy the entire set again. This offer only applies to "like" editions. For example, you can return disc 1 of the rerelease of The Third Man but not the earlier, out-of-print edition.

If you have any questions about the Blu-ray upgrade offer please e-mail Jon Mulvaney at [email protected]. We reserve the right to change or discontinue this program at any time.

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