Hitachi DZ-BD7HA Camcorder Review

When the AVCHD format was announced last year, many critics derided it as a stop-gap measure created by an industry that had not yet found a way to record video directly to Blu-ray or its competitor, HD DVD. The industry apparently disagreed, releasing a multitude of camcorders using AVCHD, quickly advancing to the point where a few of them were actually worth buying. If the Hitachi DZ-BD7HA is representative of what we were supposed to be waiting for, they can keep it. The compression, as far as our testing shows, is quite bad. Compression artifacts were rampant, particularly compression-induced noise. The camcorder also showed signs of trailing, even in bright light. Granted, a lot the image quality issues we saw were not necessarily due to the compression, but enough of them were that we’re not impressed with this first-generation Blu-ray effort.

The Hitachi DZ-BD7HA offers three quality settings in high definition: The highest, HX, records in 1920 x 1080 at 15 Mbps. The next two qualities, HF and HS, record 1440 x 1080 at 11 Mbps and 7 Mbps, respectively.

The HDD media records on high definition video. However, the Hitachi DZ-BD7HA can record standard definition video to DVD if standard definition media is inserted. There are two quality settings: SX (9 Mbps) and SF (6 Mbps).

Media (7.0)
Like several camcorders this year, the Hitachi DZ-BD7HA is a hybrid camcorder, meaning it records video to two primary media, DVD and an internal 30 GB hard disk drive (HDD). Hybrid camcorders typically retail for more than a single-medium camcorder, but the flexibility it offers makes them worthy of consideration. Depending on your shooting or post-production requirements, one medium or another may be the most appropriate at the time. Also, if one breaks, you’ll have the other to fall back on.

The DVD media will prove the most tricky, as the camcorder uses special 8 centimeter DVDs (sometimes called miniDVDs) in the Blu-ray format, which are rather thin on the ground. For part of our testing, we used a “BD-RE” disc with a 7.5 GB capacity. Also compatible is the BD-R format. Just make sure before you order them online that they are the 8 centimeter size and not the 12 centimeter size.

By comparison, AVCHD camcorders recording to DVD use standard miniDVDs that can be purchased at almost any convenient store. The advantage of Blu-ray discs is capacity. Standard miniDVDs only hold about 20 minutes of AVCHD video in the highest quality. A Blu-ray miniDVD holds 60 minutes of video from the Hitachi DZ-BD7HA in the highest quality (HX). In the HF quality, it holds 80 minutes, and in HS quality, it holds 120 minutes.

The 30 GB internal HDD may have to be the medium of choice for the time being, which is not a problem. At that capacity, the DZ-BD7HA holds 4 hours in HX quality, 5 hours in HF quality, and 8 hours in HS quality.

Standard definition recording is only possible through DVD recording. Compatible formats include DVD-R/-RW/-RAM.

Editing (4.0)
As with most new formats, the Blu-Ray video from the Hitachi DZ-BD7HA is a complete pain to work with. As the new formats keep rolling in, we’re going to make a general recommendation of giving the industry a full year to catch up. Otherwise, you’re just setting yourself up for hours of frustration and research on message boards.

The Hitachi DZ-BD7HA outputs files in the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, with a .m2ts file extension. Though this is the same extension you’ll see from AVCHD camcorders, don’t expect the same software compatibility. Just for kicks, every manufacturer puts its own spin on file types. What fun would it be if your editing software always worked with new products?

The DZ-BD7HA includes a mediocre editing program in the box, standard for most camcorders: Image Mixer 3 HD Edition for BDCAM. The software allows you to import clips from the camcorder and output them as H.264 files in 1440 x 1080 or 1920 x 1080 in three quality settings, or down-converted to standard definition MPEG-2 files in 720 x 480. The software-outputted H.264 files don’t have any more compatibility than files dragged straight from the camcorder, not even the H.264 lovin’ QuickTime Pro. Of course, everything can read standard definition MPEG-2, but if you wanted that you wouldn’t have spent $1,600 on the DZ-BD7HA.

In summary, the support is not in place.