Hitachi Makes Blu-Ray Camcorders Official: DZ-BD70 and DZ-BD7H

by David Kender
Published on Aug 2, 2007 8:50 AM

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August 2, 2007 – It appears that Hitachi will make good on its promises for Blu-Ray camcorders. Today in Tokyo, the company announced two new models, the DZ-BD70 and the DZ-BD7H. The latter is a hybrid model that also comes equipped with a 30GB HDD. Both camcorders will record in full 1920 x 1080 and 1440 x 1080. Shipping in Japan begins August 30th. Worldwide sales follow in October.
 
Camcorders implementing Blu-Ray technology have been on the periphery since last fall when Hitachi began teasing the project. There was some disagreement in the tech community as to whether such a camcorder would actually emerge any time soon. The rising popularity of the AVCHD format, which finally allowed HD video to record onto DVDs and HDDs, seemed likely to slow the demand for a straight-up Blu-Ray camcorder.
 
Both the DZ-BD70 and the DZ-BD7H come equipped with 5.3MP CMOS sensor, with effective pixel counts of 2.07MP for video and 4.32MP for stills. Video is recorded onto a 8cm Blu-Ray disc (BD), the same size as standard miniDVDs used in other camcorders. However, BD offers five times the capacity of standard DVDs. A single disc can hold up to one hour of 1920 x 1080 and two hours of 1440 x 1080 footage.
 
The original press release does not state prices for the DZ-BD70 and the DZ-BD7H Blu-Ray camcorders, but early sources indicate that they may sell in Japan for around $1350 and $1600, respectively. Worldwide shipping is set to commence in October. More images here.