Customer Reviews

Hitachi DZHS300A DVD Hybrid Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom & 8GB Hard Disc Drive

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've only been playing with this camera for a week now but so far so good. It takes nice video and is very easy to use. Dubbed video directly from hard drive to disk without a problem. Disk played in my DVD player without a problem.

Love being able to just connect it to my PC with the USB cable and see the camera as a drive. Software that came with it is very basic movie editing, will probably rely on my other software that has more features.

I can see where I will rely primarily on the HDD and just use the DVD to make copies or backups. But it's nice to know that there is an option to use the disks if the HDD gets full while on vacation etc...

So far no complaints...

Ideal camcorder for first-timers...make sure to carry a seperate digital camera as the still capability is nothing to talk about.

Easy to operate and convenient to make multiple copies on mini dvd. Included software is user friendly and can do all basic editing.

This camcorder was purchased for a school so the students could learn how to video edit. While the videos taken with the camera play back ok, none of them will import into video editing software. We've tried Windows Movie Maker, EZ Media Creator 8 and 9, and an open source transcoder called Media Coder. All of these applications either crash, or produce garbled output when using files generated by this camera. This is true of both HD and mini-DVD footage. Hitachi's answer? If it plays back in windows media player and on dvd players, their job is done. If you just want to play back your raw footage, this camera might work for you. We are returning the camcorder...

Update- We found out that if you switch the camcorder to Wide Mode, it no longer has the broken video problems. We can now edit it using any video editing software. By "wide screen" I mean 720X480 mode, which really is still close to standard TV width and height. Look for it in the options menu when in record mode, before you start recording. I now give this product a 4* rating.

Used it now for 2+ weeks - first use was low-light stage performance and I used the spotlight setting (one of many Program settings) which worked perfectly - video quality (and sound!) was amazing considering it's not HD. Dubbing all or select scenes is easy. Not too concerned over low quality stills since any serious situation I would want a high res dig camera for - one nice thing is ability to easily create photo stills from any video scene. Only gripe is that program titles (which are tedious to key in one letter at a time on the LCD) are not preserved onto finalized DVD-RW disc (so seem only marginally useful when mini-dvd is played back from Camcorder itself). All in all, a great full-featured cam at the right price.

The Hybrid makes video as simple as possible without sacrificing sharp images and stereo audio. Users can get as sophisticated as they want by studying the 300 page user manual or just plug and play with the one page quick start manual. Save video to hard drive, decide which segments to keep, dub to dvd, finalize, and play on your home dvd player-all within minutes. The unit is high-quality build, images are sharp and audio is outstanding. I would recommend this camcorder to anyone. Probably the best on the market short of a high definition model. The 8gb hard drive is smaller than the basic JVC, but it is enough to hold 3 hours of fine quality video, which is ample because batteries only last about an hour on any camcorder and who wants to watch 8 hours of home movies anyway.

I took this camera on an extensive European vacation recently. I tryed out the various functions prior to the trip and was ready to return it but it was to complicated to get a fix on a return price. I found during my trip that the disc's just don't hold enough when you record in the best quality (22 minutes). A major problem was the camera accidentally turning itself on. I had the camera around my neck and several times, it turned itself on by rubbing against my chest. I found that you have to be very careful to record a steady picture especially if you want to zoom in on a subject, a tripod would be very helpful. The size of the camera is nice but it complicates your life having to use Small disc's and HDD and putting them together for one project. The Hybrid is a good idea but not so easy to use unless you are a techi so I only give it a two star rating.

Nice little camera. I'm still trying out all the features and learning how to use it but i've taken it on vacation and filled one dvd that has worked out fine. Even used the zoom to look across the lake for my kids--has quite a distance on it. I also bought the accessory kit with the bag and the larger battery and i was certainly glad i did that as the battery that came with the camera ran out, but the one that comes with the bag kit lasts a long time. I love the dual abilities to do hard drive or dvd's. I haven't tried the still shots as I have a digital camera and a 35mm to handle those. But overall am very pleased with my purchase.

IT is a great video camera having the 8G on board and the ability to record on the mini discs. The snap shot camera is poor. One must hold the camera extermely still to get clear shots.

This camcorder isn't all that bad. Video quality is average. Video looks decent on a regular tv, but not so good on a high-res widescreen, even though the camcorder can be set on 16:9. The only aspect of it that I think is excellent is the audio quality. I'm not very experienced with digital camcorders but I think I could've gotten something better for the money. Some other camcorders, like Panasonic, can double as a web cam also, which would be nice.

Received this unit today and compared with Elura 100 on tape, low light seemed poor by comparison. I'm sure HD and DVD features good for transfer from camera to PC, but without good picture quality, these features are useless. Overall very disappointed. Returning unit via prescribed return process.