Holiday shopping for a MiniDV camcorder

Posted on Mon 17 April 2006 in misc

Over the weekend I ordered a Sony DCR-H36image0 HandyCam camcorder from Best Buy Canada... the unit was on sale for $50.00 off, the shipping cost was $0.00, and its going to arrive within a couple of days. We have to have something to capture all of the images and sounds of the little bambino for maximum embarassment in the future. Speaking of which (whom?), the little bugger has not yet arrived, but it could happen any day now -- so my procrastination in securing this item isn't really a good thing.

Why a MiniDV (digital tape) camcorder instead of mini-DVD or hard drive version? Simple -- the price / quality ratio. The quality of the images captured by all three media is pretty much on par, but the price for MiniDV is far lower than the alternatives. I suppose the drawback is having to play back the recording through the camcorder and using FireWire to transfer the video to the computer... but hey, I'm in the process of ripping my CD collection for the third time (FLAC this time around), so I can deal with that minor inconvenience.

Two things about ordering online from Best Buy:

  1. Online shopping kicks ass. I don't feel guilty about shopping on a holiday weekend, because I get to spend maximum time with my family and friends instead of tromping through an overcrowded store with those poor employees who drew the short straw and ended up having to work over a holiday.
  2. Best Buy has a crazy online purchase process where, for the first seven or eight purchases, they actually send you an email asking you to call their customer service people to confirm every one of your orders. So some poor employee still has to work over the holidays after all... and I ended up having to talk to a person outside of the category of friend or family.

Oh, and if you're wondering why I'm linking to Amazon.com instead of Best Buy, well, as far as I know Best Buy doesn't have an associates program... So far Amazon has earned me a solid eight, yes, count-em, eight dollars in referrals. That's pure gold, ladies and gentlemen.

UPDATE: 2006/04/18 - Mike pointed out the doubled up Sony Sony, and w3 validator pointed out the b-a-d URL (ampersands need to be entities, Mr. Scott).

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