Finally, Back in the 21st Century, But Best Buy Can Bite Me

Well, after a lag of over three months and at least 9 months respectively, I finally am reconnected to the world or recorded video entertainment. Today, my nice new DVD recorder arrived from Amazon.com. I plugged the thing in, connected all the little bits, and viola -- I can watch movies and (well, I hope so) record shows when I'm not home. Yay!

My old DVD player stopped being able to read DVDs about three months ago. Since I was being lazy and not doing a whole lot of Pilates, I didn't get that uptight about it, and I decided to take it to the nice repairman to get the lens cleaned or whatever it is they do to it. I had done the similar thing with my CD player in my stereo a few years back, and it cost about $40. I figured that was cost-effective, not wasteful, and I liked my DVD player just fine. However, after a month in the shop (not quite sure what the repair guy was doing, but I was gone for much of that time, so I didn't really care), repair guy calls me and says it will be over $100 to fix it, and did I want to bother. Well, my VCR had died quite a while back, and I hadn't really cared except for one Friday when I wanted to tape an episode of Battlestar Galactica (aside -- it seems to be one of the only shows on cable that doesn't run a thousand times a week), but I figured that $100 was well on the way to rectifying all my video needs at once. So I picked up the DVD player and brought it home. I'm thinking of giving it to one of my friends who has a small child who loves to take things apart and say "let him have at it".

So I thought about my options. TiVO? I'm sorry, I refuse to pay an extra fee each month just to be able to time delay today's editions of What Not To Wear, which I've already seen before. It's the principle -- I don't tape enough to have it be worth setting up an extra account with the cable company (my building pays for a bulk subscription for our cable, so I don't pay them directly), and I just don't sit down to "watch" that much teevee. It's just on when I'm home, and I'm rarely paying close attention.

A DVD/VCR combo? More things to break, really. I have a multisystem VCR in the bedroom that can't record from all channels due to how that player works, but it can play back anything I already have.

So I decided upon a DVD-recorder. Seems to make sense. No extra fees, and I can tape that one show every three months that I'd like to see. Only one box in the living room under the tv. So I do some basic research on Amazon, C-net, etc. I identify several models in the $150 price range that do everything I need -- play DVDs, have a tuner, and can record shows. In that price range some of the fancier HD-upconvert stuff it doesn't do, but I don't have an HDTV, and I realize that in a couple of years I'll have to go out and get everything new anyway, so why spend an extra $100-$150 on something I have no need for?

However, I do like the idea of buying electronics from brick-and-mortar stores, even evil big box ones except for Circuit Shitty, as if there's something wrong, you just go back and get a new one, there's less chance of damage in shipping, and you can look it over and take it home with you. Kind of like a puppy, I suppose. So I start with Sears. Over the years, I have had good luck with Sears and electronics -- their prices are usually good on sale, I've never had to take stuff back there, and they're not hideously aggressive on the sale. Bonus was that the circular said "all DVD players on sale". I get to Sears, and they only have four DVD-recorders, none of which were on sale. Two of them were definitely out of my price range, one was brand x and lacking a tuner, and one seemed to be a clearance model that had some of the things I thought I wanted, but it seemed to be lacking in the ability to playback various kinds of DVD formats, and it was going on about upconvert. I still didn't know what that meant, so the guy comes over to me. Well, guy is a bit strong. "Child refugee from some vague South Asian area" is more accurate. So I start to ask him about what some of the terms meant, and why was this model on such a deep discount? "What does upconvert mean, and why would this matter to me?" "It mean you can upconvert. More numbers". "Huh?""It can do this three numbers (pointing to the card)". I won't go into the whole painful conversation, but I walked out when I said "well can I at least look at the manual" and he said no. If you're going to staff the electronics department and have them work on commission, they should know a LITTLE something about the product.

So I decided to head to Best Buy. In the past, I've had decent experience with BB, and they usually have something that will fit the bill. The biggest problem with BB is that they tend to get models that have slightly different numbers than other companies, so you can't actually use the "I've seen it somewhere else cheaper" clause, because they say "it's a different model". Whatever. I knew what I wanted and roughly how much it should cost. I am ignored in BB for while (you'd think electronics nerds would want to talk to (may I be immodest here) not hideously unattractive women who wander in, but apparently not, especially in Circuit Shitty), but then one of the salesman wanders over. I start asking him about upconverting, why I would want it, and I realized that with my setup, I really didn't need it. So I start looking at the models around $150, looking for some I had seen on the internet.

It's at this point, it gets nasty. "Well, you know, those don't have tuners. If you want a tuner, you have to start at this price point here." (pointing to the $269 Panasonic). "None of those have tuners?" "Not at that price point -- they don't make them". 'That's not remotely true. All of the major manufacturers have one at that price point with a tuner. I looked it up on the internet". "No, they don't" "Why would they make all these DVD recorders without tuners? "Well, EVERYONE has components now and uses their HDMI/HDTV/computer/1081i systems to record. No one uses a tuner." "Well, I have a perfectly good television with beautiful screen and I don't need the HDMI-HDTV. I'll have to get everything new in a couple of years, I just want to use what I've got." "Well, if you're going to stay so primitive and are so concerned about price, why don't you just go buy this brand X basic DVD player over here for $79. It's obvious you don't care about quality".

"Really? Here's what I see. You're lying to me to get me to buy something I don't want that you might not carry but should. People really do prefer to come into store to see what they're getting, and will buy it from you assuming the price is roughly in the same zone. However, they're not going to pay a $100 premium for it. Guess what, I was going to buy something from you today, and not only did you lose a sale, guess where I'm never coming again? I'm going to go home and order it from Amazon." So as I leave, I get a really snotty "happy surfing". From him.

So I'm sitting here looking at my very nice $160 Panasonic DVD-recorder from Amazon WITH a digital tuner that doesn't upconvert to 1080i, and I don't think has an HDMI port but might, since I don't need that and I didn't look. It plays DVDs nicely, lets me watch one thing on the TV while something else is on the DVD player's tuner, and I expect will record nicely when I go out and get a few DVD-RWs to record on.

So I'm back and now can actually watch a movie at home. It's been fun the last few months only watching what's on tv at the time, either HBO or a cable channel -- of course that means I watched You've Got Mail another 20 times or so.