Mile High Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 Can someone recommend a good website to purchase a digital camcorder? If it saves me some money that would be great. Also if anyone has any suggestions with brands to buy that would be great as well. Even models would be fine due to the fact that I have no clue about this stuff. Oh, and by the way this is going to be a gift for my girlfriend who is a tv major. Please help a brother out ! Thanks guys. Mile High Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gross Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 There are a bunch of consumer-related sites in the "Consumer Digest" forum. Thread is http://205.134.161.85/forums/index.php?showtopic=5568 Includes product and etail opinion sites, and "deal" sites that outline the latest coupons and deals, etc. For opinions on products, I'll go to amazon when possible. You'll be limited to what they carry though. Do a GG search to find appropriate forums. My favorite home theater forum is http://www.avsforum.com/ but they don't seem to have a "camcorder" forum. I personally buy quite a bit from ecost.com. Not always the cheapest, but they've been reliable. This camcorder looks nice: http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/digital-cam...amcorder-025582 but alas, it won't be available until Feb... Just some thoughts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 http://www.bhphotovideo.com Not cheap, but you won't get ripped off either. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mile High Posted November 13, 2004 Author Share Posted November 13, 2004 When dealing with mpixells in a camcorder whats good? Whats bad? Memory? Thanks. Mile High Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric/Hawaii Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 When dealing with mpixells in a camcorder whats good? Whats bad? Memory? Thanks. Mile High 115551[/snapback] Mike how much do you want to spend? That is the main question. If your going to buy her anything worth even close to broadcast quality your going to have to buy a camera with 3 CCD chips (one for each color) anything else is just for home movies. unfortunately your looking at about $2000.00 What does she want to do with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mile High Posted November 13, 2004 Author Share Posted November 13, 2004 Mike how much do you want to spend?That is the main question. If your going to buy her anything worth even close to broadcast quality your going to have to buy a camera with 3 CCD chips (one for each color) anything else is just for home movies. unfortunately your looking at about $2000.00 What does she want to do with it? 115562[/snapback] Thanks Eric. I guess what I'm really looking for is probably a camcorder that is something for the home that has really good quality between the 300 to 600 dollar price range. Is there anything out their that is that nice for that amount of money. She was home last night and was using a Sharp that one of her friends let her borrow for a project. I don't think it has to be anything extravagant, but just good quality. Thanks again, Mile High Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mile High Posted November 13, 2004 Author Share Posted November 13, 2004 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBTG81 Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 You can check www.overstock.com You can get some great deals there if ya know what you're looking for... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerJ Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 I just bought two digital still cameras from Tiger Direct.com, but I did a ton of comparison shopping on the internet before I ordered. There are a number of websites that link to estores and do the price comparisons on specific products for you. There are also some sites that rate products. Frankly, unless you know exactly what you want (make and model), I don't know of any shortcut if you want to get the right product from the right dealer at the best possible price. Overstock.com has some stuff at a good price, but it's not always the cheapest for every item they carry, and sometimes if you aren't careful, you can end up buying something that is essentially obsolete. BTW, I ended up buying refurbished digital cameras (Kodak Easyshare CX7830) because I could get a lot more camera for the same price compared with buying new. Refurbished means that someone bought it, took it out of the box, maybe took a few pictures with it and returned it. The refurbisher (often the original manufacturer) looks it over, tests it, makes repairs if needed, makes sure all accessories that are supposed to be present are there, then repackages it for resale. Some comparison shopping websites include: nextag.com, bizrate.com, pricescan.com, msnshopping.com. There is a fair amount of overlap. A lot of products and sellers are rated and often you can read consumer reviews of specific products. You'll also want to decide what kind of digital camcorder you want, that is to what kind of media do you want it to record. Some record to various types of flash memory, some to mini DV tapes, some to DVDs, some to 8mm tapes. Mini DV is probably the most popular format. Amazon.com sells a lot of stuff and mostly at competitive prices. One caution, however, I ordered digital cameras on Amazon.com from a third party source. Amazon's website was screwed up and specified the wrong product. Office Depot (the third party source) received faulty information, basically that I had ordered a different product from the ones I wanted. I caught it before we received it via UPS. Otherwise it would have been a royal pain to try and return the things and get credit for shipping costs. Good luck. It's a jungle out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
successawaitsus Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 IN ALL SERIOUSNESS!!! Find what you want by searching the Internet. Check the items reliability and how others have rated it. THEN, Go to E-bay and find your best price from a reliable e-bayer. I have been using e-bay to buy now for over the last 7 years or so. Just bought an $800.00 Nikon Camera for $85.00. Used but barely. I am serious e-bay is great if you work with reputable sellers. Best to you and I hope you find what you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric/Hawaii Posted November 14, 2004 Share Posted November 14, 2004 Thanks Eric. I guess what I'm really looking for is probably a camcorder that is something for the home that has really good quality between the 300 to 600 dollar price range. Is there anything out their that is that nice for that amount of money. She was home last night and was using a Sharp that one of her friends let her borrow for a project. I don't think it has to be anything extravagant, but just good quality. Thanks again, Mile High 115568[/snapback] Make sure you have the "extras" on the camera. If she is going to use it for projects make sure it has a shoe adapter and a mic input. Sony is hard to beat, but any brand will do. Ask her what she wants. her instructors might have a recommendation. PM me with any other questions. I film and edit an outdoor program for community access as a hobby so I can always ask around if you got questions. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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