Hitachi to introduce DZHS500A hybrid DVD / hard drive camcorder

We've got another one here we've yet to learn a lot about: Hitachi's apparently working on a hybrid DVD / hard drive camcorder that not only records video to DVD and your drive (and even SD), but also records video to DVD from that very same internal drive, making burning DVD videos a PC-less process. Suhweet. Watch out for more info on the DZHS500A soon.

[Andrew Damin @ Nov 28th 2006 10:46PM]

how bigs that hdd is my only question

[Matt @ Nov 28th 2006 10:56PM]

Im scared to find out.

[Andrew Damin @ Nov 28th 2006 10:59PM]

id laugh if they cheaped out and put in like a 2 giger or something rofl...

[David @ Nov 28th 2006 11:00PM]

Typo: video to SD and your drive (and even SD)
Did you emphasize the fact it supports recording to SD enough?

So instead of recording to a replaceable medium that is easy to fubar, it records to a non-replaceable medium that is also easy to fubar. I hope this bugger has sudden motion detection and a fast-parking laptop drive. And I bet it will be hard to replace that harddrive with a larger one later.

Plus those mini dvds hold next to nothing. I wish the folks at RED Digital Cinema would come up with a prosumer camera that did 720p to removeable harddrive, and add in the ability to record to any firewire hdd box.

[Saurabh Minni @ Nov 28th 2006 11:05PM]

I think if the HDD is below 20GB it will defeat its purpose....But 40GB would be awesome

[nivz @ Nov 28th 2006 11:53PM]

love that word.. "suhweet", This this is will b a good cam, the SD is just pointless though. Who would record to SD cards when theres a built in HDD and DVDs? I'm still to buy a camcorder, and these things doesnt help making my mind up!!

[Aaron @ Nov 29th 2006 12:01AM]

I've yet to see any video with quality good enough for a full TV come from an SD card. It is handy sometimes, but for a movie you need some good old-fashioned Mini DV tapes.

[Jamie Harris @ Nov 29th 2006 1:42AM]

I dont get it. I work in Currys.digital in the UK and we stock this camera. amd have done for at least a month. I've seen it, played around with it, and almost sold one. It sells for �399, had an 8GB hard drive, and feels solid in the hand.

[Elliot @ Nov 29th 2006 1:46AM]

They've (hitachi) had a camcorder out for 2 months that does this.. It's got an 8gb hard drive.. The idea is that when the hard drive is full you can archive to dvd..

[atrain @ Nov 29th 2006 2:48AM]

I saw an ad for 3 different cameras today, of which each had a 30Gb harddrive. This is not new, though definitely useful.