With the format war all said and done, retail giant Best Buy is lending a helping hand to those who went with HD DVD. According to Home Media Magazine, Best Buy will give a $50 gift card to any customer who purchased an HD DVD player or add-on at the retail chain at any time before February 23, 2008.

"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 of Best Buy. "We understand and shared our customers' frustrations as they were being asked to choose one format or the other."

Under this $10 million program, customers do not have to return their HD DVD players, but they must have purchased them before the February 23 deadline. The Minneapolis-based electronics chain said that they will begin contacting HD DVD purchasers from their database through the mail.

If you want to get rid of your HD DVD player completely, Best Buy also will have a solution for that. Starting this Friday, March 21, HD DVD owners can visit the website BestBuyTradeIn.com, where they will receive estimates on their HD DVD players. If they wish to trade their hardware in based on the estimate, they can download a pre-paid shipping label to send their units away, and they will receive another gift card as payment. Unlike the first program, you did not have to purchase your HD DVD player at Best Buy to partake in this trade-in.

Customers who wish to know more about these programs can call 1-888-BEST-BUY for more information.