Hitachi ups camcorder ante with heavenly hybrids
We have to admit, the phrase ‘hybrid camcorders’ sent a chill to our hearts. Thoughts of tape combined with DVD or maybe a video camera with an MP3 pl
We have to admit, the phrase ‘hybrid camcorders’ sent a chill to our hearts. Thoughts of tape combined with DVD or maybe a video camera with an MP3 player are enough to cripple our enthusiasm for tech.
Imagine our excitement, then, at these two movie stars. They both pack an 8GB hard disk – good for six hours of recording in standard quality – as well as a DVD burner. So they achieve the holy grail of high storage as well as immediate playback through a DVD player.
This being Hitachi, the burners are multi-format, taking DVD-RAM, DVD±RW and DVD±R. There’s also an SD card slot for storing your still photos, making for a storage hat trick.
The 1.3MP DZ-HS301E (above) is just slightly smaller than the 3.3MP DZ-HS303E (below), and the former has a 15x optical zoom lens while the latter has a 10x optical. Both have 2.7in widescreen LCDs to complement the 16:9 recording.
And don’t worry about the multi-format thing slowing you down – the One Second Quickstart is exactly what it sounds like.
Hitachi DZ-HS303E, DZ-HS301E
Price: Both £TBA
On sale: October, TBA
Contact: Hitachi
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Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief