Hitachi DZ-GX3300A Camcorder Review

Compression (5.0)
The GX3300 compresses video onto DVDs in the MPEG2 format, which all DVD camcorders use. There are three quality settings available: STD, FINE, and XTRA, each of which corresponds to a data bit rate. The maximum bit rate of MPEG2 DVD camcorders is 9Mbps. By comparison, MiniDV has a bit rate of 25Mbps. On the average DVD, you will get 60 minutes of standard video, 30 minutes of fine quality, and 18 minutes of extra fine.

Media (5.5)
One of the GX3300’s main selling points is its ability to accept all the major DVD formats: DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM. Each of these formats has its own small merits and distinctions. While this might simplify your media purchase when you're faced with a wall of choices at Radio Shack, the real question is what formats your computer and home DVD player will accept. Chances are you’ll want to pop the DVD straight into some other device to watch the footage, and some formats have a harder time than others finding compatibility. DVD-R has the widest acceptance, but is one-time-use only. DVD-RW and DVD+RW are reusable, but older devices might not read them. DVD-RAM offers the most in-camera editing flexibility (a greatly exaggerated benefit, given the plentitude of cheap or free editing software), but is probably the least compatible with other devices. Know your options before you buy.

Editing (3.0)
The GX3300 ships with the ImageMixer 3 editing software suite, a rudimentary program that allows you to import footage from the DVDs, perform simple editing, and export to full size DVDs for universal playback.

A screenshot of the first page of the ImageMixer 3 software.

Using the software to obtain footage off of a DVD-RAM proved less than simple. Even after finalizing, the computer drive couldn't read most DVD. Instead, we had to import footage from the camcorder via USB. In all, the program proved to be rudimentary even for beginning editors, running slow, prone to crashing, and lacking a lot of tools that a program like iMovie or Avid FreeDV might offer.

Still, the multi-format DVD compatibility of the GX3000 gives you a few more editing options than exist on most camcorders. Reusable formats like DVD-RW, +RW, and –RAM are always useful and economical. DVD-RAM, in particular, gives you more in-camera editing capability, allowing you to delete scenes and stills and play the disc back on acceptable devices without finalizing.

ImageMixer's editing page.