We want to buy a camcorder...

[mousy_in_canada]

before we go to Disney.. I am wondering where is the best place to get it? does anyone know of any great prices that I can scoop up..
I really want the one that burns on the DVD if I can...
have any of you dealt with Henry's or is future shop better... any suggestions???

 

[DSNY FN]

Henry's is really good so is Best Buy word of warning DO NOT BUY a DVD CAMCORDER the problem is once you stop recording on a DVD it is finnished wether it is 5 seconds or 5 minutes the disk is done and you need to start a new one that is with the DVD-R the DVD ram you can re use but not all DVD camcorders will use them. Buy a mini dv camcorder cheaper and reusable media for them. Plus a single 30 minute blank DVD-R is about 15 bucks for a cheap one. I work at Best Buy so I now all the horror stories about the camcorders. If you have any questions feel free to PM me
Darren

 

[mousy_in_canada]

I had no idea that you could not keep using the DVD's.. that is really dumb, I hope that they fix that part... weird. I was not aware that Canada had any best Buy's.. I wonder if they are in Hamilton. I will have to look that up.
Thanks for that advice I appreciate it!

 

[DSNY FN]

Closest stor to you will be in Oakville or St Catherines. Also have them in Mississauga Kitchener and alot around the GTA and Windsor. 10 more store openings are planned for the coming year. Oh ya and also the one here in London.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Check out the prices at Best Buy, Henry's, and Future Shop -- and then go check out the prices at www.tigerdirect.ca . I just bought a Fuji Digital Camera there for $60 less than available anywhere else. They operate out of Illinois, have an address in Markham, but ship across the border via UPS without customs duty and bill in Canadian dollars.

 

[MaMudduck]

Thank You Dsny FN & Royal Canadian the info you both gave has saved me from making a bad choice. thank you.

 

[NancyK]

Hi Darren,
It's funny that this post came up because I was out looking at camcorders for my husband for our 25th anniversary. I kind of liked the Canon ZR80 as well as the Sony DCRTRV 260. I believe the Canon is a MiniDV and the Sony is a Digital 8 or HI-8? What would be your preference?
Thanks in advance. Sorry I won't be at the meet tomorrow.
Nancy

 

[DSNY FN]

Go with the Canon Mini DV is a much better format to use the ZR80 is a great camcorder you can see the replacement for it and it does far fewer things than the 80 so for the money the 80 is the better deal. It also has a higher still image resolution than it,s new replacement
Hope that helps. Best bet is thik about your immediate use for it and what you see yourself doing with it down the road then go to each website for the brand you are looing at and look at specs and features then compare. We have had a few more Sony's return with problems then Canon's also just for your own knowledge and information gathering so reliability is also an issue.
Darren

 

[NancyK]

Thanks. The Canon is what the sales rep recommended also.

 

[DSNY FN]

Just make sure no matter what you buy it fits your needs today and tomorrow so to speak because the last hing you want to do is throw away money on something you will only use once in a very long time.

 

[mousy_in_canada]

I tried to look up in canada411.com Best Buy in St Catherines and it was unablwe to locate one.. I go there all the time and would love to check it out but I need to know where it is..
Do you happen to know?
Thanks
Kathleen

 

[DSNY FN]

Not sure of the address or phone number I am off work for awhile but if you call any of the other BB stores they will be able to give you the PH# and address for the St Catherines store hope this helps.
Darren

 

[FatCow]

Originally posted by DSNY FN
Henry's is really good so is Best Buy word of warning DO NOT BUY a DVD CAMCORDER the problem is once you stop recording on a DVD it is finnished wether it is 5 seconds or 5 minutes the disk is done and you need to start a new one that is with the DVD-R the DVD ram you can re use but not all DVD camcorders will use them. Buy a mini dv camcorder cheaper and reusable media for them. Plus a single 30 minute blank DVD-R is about 15 bucks for a cheap one. I work at Best Buy so I now all the horror stories about the camcorders. If you have any questions feel free to PM me
Darren

I beg to differ. Although I'm NOT a proponent of DVD Camcorder, I own one (a Panasonic, first generation).

1. The blank DVD-R is only CAD$6 each, and it's a Princo.

2. You can record multiple scenes and you can keep adding until the entire disc is full AND you finalize the disc. There is an option to finalize after every scene (which will lead to scenes as short as 5 seconds and the disc can't be further written), but you can leave it open until you're done with the disc and decided to finalize it.

3. There are other places that sells electronics MUCH cheaper than FutureShop/BestBuy. For example, Mega Audio Video at Pacific Mall. I've been shopping there (and one other electronics/appliances store) for the past 10 years. Their prices are ranging from 5% to 25% CHEAPER than Futureshop/Bestbuy... and they are legitimate authorized dealers (no greymarket products there).

 

[DSNY FN]

Fat Cow our DVD camcorders we carry and blank DVD media are in stock and I agree there may be cheaper places to purchase the stuff. I know from first hand experiance the Panasonic we carry and the Sony all have the same issue after you have recorded to the disk it is finnished regardless if it was 5 seconds or 5 minutes. The media is also 15 dollars atleast we only sell Sony and Memorex media I have used princo and if the dvd media is anything like the cd media it isn't worth the powder to blow it to well you know where. The princo cd's only last about 6 months before the quality degrades and the disk becomes unreadable. No matter what you are putting on it music or otherwise. I had a spindle of 100 disks and 12 of the disks were no good right off the top then the ones I have written to are all now garbage after only about 6 months max and I was just putting some audio on them from the Disney pars I have. The DVD camcorders are also still quite expensive in comparison the the Mini DV ones.

 

[FatCow]

Sorry, I've personally used about 20,000 Princo media (both CD and DVD) in the past 4 years, and literally, the failure rate is less than half a percent.

In total I've used more than 500,000 blank media (it's part of my line of work to test these medias) and the bottom rung is, in fact, Memorex and the upper-middle range is Princo, with Verbatim at the top range.

PS: Princo have different grades. Lowest grade Princo is about CAD 80 cents for a regular DVD-R, A-grade Princo is about CAD$2.19

Funny about those camcorder. I never had that problem at all. Check the setting and make sure auto-finalize is not set to on.

I bought my Panasonic DVD camcorder for CAD$1200 including taxes from Eastview Electronics and the package also includes a Panasonic camera bag and 5 DVD-RAM. That was in December 2002. I can get the Sony DVD camcorder for CAD$1100 including taxes with a Sony camera bag included too from a different retailer.

Yes the DVD camcorder is more expensive, but also don't forget that they use larger size CCD (up to 25% larger in surface area than those $900 miniDV) which means better colour rendition and low-light absorption.

 

[DSNY FN]

Oh don't get me wrong I am not disagreeing with you on image quality etc the DVD is far better but for the average home user the Mini DV is a far better choice. I generally use TDK verbatim and Imation for my cd media I usually burn about 10 to 15 thousand disks a year yes I go through burners like crazy I wish Yamaha was still making cd burners I now have a sony which I will not buy again. The setting on the DVD camcorder I didn't play with the Sony rep had them set up so I am not sure what they were set at sorry about that one I should have asked but you would think they would set them up so that wouldn't happen especially when they are doing a PK seminar. Mind you I sometimes wonder who knows more about the product those of us that sell them or the reps hehehe.

 

[FatCow]

in terms of using blank medias... are we nuts or what!? Hey, at least I don't have to pay for the media (it's all business related) LOL.

PS: I like BestBuy people in general than FutureShop. One company, but very different mentality.

 

[mousy_in_canada]

What do you guys think of this one??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3806259205&category=20332

I looked up the reviews on it and it looks pretty good, but I always like other opinions. and I know that price will climb.. lol.. but it looks like they go around $375. usd
Thanks!

 

[DSNY FN]

At 129 US it is not a bad deal if you can get it for that then by all means pick it up just becaurefull of the duty shipping etc. Just mae sure your home dvd player wil play burned dvd media I have a Sony that will not and it is only a year old so just mae sure that it will work with your set top player unless you don't mind hooking up your camcorder any time you wish to watch what you have recorded. As for the comment Fatcow made about BB over FS you would not believe how often we hear that. I think hte biggest thing is that the FS guys are still all on commission and the BB guys are not. We find that sure makes people relax a little more when we talk to them they don't feel like we are trying to sell them everything under the sun even if they don't need it. I wish I recieved all my blank media for free I get the majority of it free but still pay for about half of it thankfully we get a discount.

 

[NancyK]

Originally posted by mousy_in_canada
I tried to look up in canada411.com Best Buy in St Catherines and it was unablwe to locate one.. I go there all the time and would love to check it out but I need to know where it is..
Do you happen to know?
Thanks
Kathleen

Hi Kathleen,
Don't know if you're still interested but Best Buy is right beside the Walmart on Fourth Ave and Vansickle. If you're coming from the QEW take the 406 and get off at Fourth Ave. Turn right. The Walmart and Best Buy are just a couple of stoplights up on the lefthand side. There are also other stores there - Payless, Sleep Country etc.