Above: Hitachi DZ-BD7HA Blu-ray Camcorder Hitachi has been aggressive in the camcorder market, obtaining bragging rights for being the first manufacturer to have a "hybrid" camcorder that has a both a hard disk and a DVD recorder. And, now they're flexing their muscles again bringing the first Blu-ray camcorders to the Japanese and US markets. Their Hybrid camcorder move was timed well, but we have to wonder if a Blu-ray camcorder is a little premature. We understand the value of being first to do something, but we also understand that there is still a format war going on between HD DVD and Blu-ray. We also can't imagine the financial pain one might experience paying a high price for 8cm Blu-ray discs at around $20 a pop. Fortunately, Hitachi has taken the best of both their achievements and made a Hybrid Blu-ray camcorder, helping shooters avoid, or at least minimize the need for expensive Blu-ray media. The Hitachi DZ-BD7HA Hybrid Blu-ray camcorder sports a 30GB hard disk and a Blu-ray Disc write/read drive. This model is capable of dubbing from its hard drive to an 8cm Blu-ray Disc (both BD-R write and BD-RE re-writable discs) or standard 8cm DVDs. For standard definition DVDs, the Hitachi DZ-BD7HA Blur-ray camcorder will either record in SD or downconvert from HD resolution to SD resolution upon dubbing from the hard drive. The other model Hitachi is introducing, the DZ-BD70A, does not have a hard disk, but only a Blu-ray Disc write/read drive. Both the Hitachi DZ-BD7HA Hybrid Blu-ray camcorder and the DZ-BD70A Blu-ray camcorder have 1/2.8" CMOS progressive sensors that record 1920×1080 pixels in the 1080i video format. At the highest recording quality mode using the DZ-BD7HA's hard disc, one could record up to 4 hours, or on the either Blu-ray camcorder's Blu-ray disc drive, up to a single hour on a single sided 8cm Blu-ray disc. The Hitachi DZ-BD7HA Hybrid Blu-ray camcorder and the DZ-BD70A Blu-ray camcorder will be on sale early October for $1,500 and $1,300 respectively.
