Anyone ever use/own a Hitachi Blu-Ray camcorder.?

Question

I've got a Hitachi dvdram camcorder and like it but want to upgrade to HD, Blu-ray seems the way to go as it will play in my PS3. Are they any good?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hitachi-DZ-BD70A-Hybrid-Blu-Ray-DVD-5-3MP-Hi-Def-New_W0QQitemZ150206579091QQihZ005QQcategoryZ148487QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

http://www.preferredphoto.com/viewproduct.aspx?ID=3725755&l=Froogle

Answer 1

If you ever want to edit the video or import it to your computer for uploading somewhere and expect decent results, you won't get a DVD camcorder.

Compressing the video that much as the first step will cause problems downstream. The best method is to compress as little as possible in the firs step - that way you have the flexibility downstream to compress as little or as much as you want and impact the quality however you want.

DVD based camcorders provide the worst available quality for editing.

Next best (because the compression is less) are hard drive and certain higher end flash memory based camcorders.

Best available quality continues to be from miniDV tape based camcorders because they compress the least - with DV or HDV.

Once the high definition video is in the computer and the editing is done and you are ready to render the project out to disc, using a BluRay burner makes sense... as the LAST step of the process...

If all you are planning to do is shoot the video and play it - no intention of editing or importing to your computer for upload, then go for the DVD camcorder. Personally, I would not waste my money on them...

And neither do the professionals:

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http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/contro...

http://www.usa.canon.com/html/industrial...

http://www.panasonic.com/business/provid...

http://pro.jvc.com/prof/main.jsp