Has anyone been able to play around the the Hitachi Hybrid DZ-BD7HA Blu ray camcorder. I am wondering if it is worth buying. I know it it just the beginning of what blu-ray is going to do for video. The camera cost like $1500.

Should I wait or should I buy.

I read this review and I really want to get one.

www.videomaker.com/r/102

Any particular reason for choosing this monster? If you want built-in HDD, the Canon HG10 has the goods. If you want built-in BD disk... well, may I ask, what for? Please allow me to share my point of view, which may not correspond to yours, but the whole reason you asked for advice is because you were interested in others' opinions, weren't you?

First of all, this camera locks you up in 8cm disk format. 8cm BD-R/RE disk fits 7.5GB and costs $25-35 (searching the Net, I fould re-recordable disks for $30). 8cm DVD fits 1.4GB, this is not even funny.

Instead, you can buy the Canon HG10 for less than $700. It has 40GB HDD (10GB larger than the Hitachi) and produces beautiful picture. If you want BD-compatible video, just burn it on a regular DVD using your computer's DVD burner, about 20 minutes on a single layer DVD and about 35-40 minutes on a dual-layer DVD (You will need software that is able to create proper BD file system, or you need PS3 to play raw AVCHD files). DL disks cost 50c apiece, compare with $17-25 for a 12cm BD-R disk. If you don't have a DVD burner, you can buy one for $35 or even less.

If you need more playback time, then a proper BD burner will cost you less than $400. So for less than $1100 total you will have more flexible system, which also allows using proper 25GB 12cm disks instead of tiny 7.5GB mini BR disks. Really, you will not be shooting on BR disks anyway, they are so expensive, and you may not even want to keep all your footage. So why lugging a BD/DVD disk drive around?

The only reason to consider this Hitachi is if you don't edit your video and hate computers, or don't have one. Shoot onto a built-in HDD, select clips to save, and burn them onto BR disk, nice. Still, it would make more sense if Hitachi sold this camera as a bundle: HDD-based camera + BD burner, just like JVC does. On the other hand, if you are not afraid of computers, you can do the same thing with the HG10 + BD-burner, for the same money or less.

Other things to consider: the HG10 has headphone out (the Hitachi does not), has optical stabilization (the Hitachi has electronic) and can shoot in 24p mode.

In regards to Videomaker review, they never really push the negatives, they may mention some issues sometimes, but most of the times their reviews are sleek and round, they don't want to upset their advertisers.

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Michael, Canon Elura User Pages

There was a review also done here, it is listed here:
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ratings.php



Rich

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thank you for the feedback...

BLu-ray is the official winner now.... no more HDDVD