I have had this model for a month now and am pleased with the performance. Recording with DVD-RAM is a snap and editing is just as easy. I have a ... Panasonic dvd player s-31 and I can plop the DVD-RAM directly from the camcorder into the dvd player and watch my movies and view my photos. My first generation JVC DVD player spits the disc out and swears at me in Japanese.
It comes with sonic MyDvd which makes pretty decent DVDs. It also comes with a program that can convert the camcorder files into Mpeg files. Once they are mpeg files you can use them in any decent video editing software. I usually edit the video files and then use Sonic to burn a DVD. I have not tried VCD and considering the poor quality of a VCD, I don't know why someone would want to.
As far as video quality, I used it to tape my daughter surfing and the quality was excellent. The optical zoom is great but the digital zoom pixilates heavily at anything higher than 40x. I have tested the different recording formats (std, fine and xtra) and I now only use the highest format as the other ones show up with scanning lines on my 40 inch TV. In auto mode it sucks at low light...until I manually set it to low light mode and everything showed up but had a brownish hue.
The media is still more expensive than DV tapes... At highest quality a single DVD-RAM holds a half an hour (15 min each side). I have not tried the DVD-R as I am having a hard time justifying spending [the money] to record to a disk and not be able to do any post editing. The discs are nice as each time I turn the record on and off it creates a small movie that is accessed much like a scene menu on a regular DVD. On a DVD-RAM, I can then edit it, add transition effects or I can delete it. No more rewinding tape. Let me write that again no more rewinding tape. That has to be the nicest thing about this toy no more tape.
It only has a USB connection no fire wire. I am running XP and connection to the computer was a snap.
It takes 1 mega pixel photos which are the quality of, well, 1 mega pixel photos. I have an old 2.5 mega pixel Olympus that obviously blows it away but in a pinch it makes decent small pics.
Would I buy this again? Yes. So far the overall quality is on par with its peers and not having to muck with tape is a big benefit for me. It loses 1 star for the media recording length and price of the DVD discs.
This camcorder is what many have waited for: consumer grade digital video without tape. The decision to use mainly DVD-R or DVD-RAM is best made early. For me, DVD-R is still too expensive to use. DVD-RAM allows reuse, as well as in-camera editing. But don't be fooled by this editing capability, this camera would be extremely frustrating without a computer for offline processing...
Which brings us to the bundled software. As a Mac user, and knowing that video is still very Mac-friendly, the Windows-only software was a grave disappointment. Even within the Windows environment, this software is still quite clumsy. The DVD-RAM disks require drivers to read (Included Windows drivers seem to work well). The video files are *.VRO, which is an MPEG-2 variant many decoders cannot parse, including QuickTime.
Still the bundled software allows rudimentary DVD editing and some degree of MPEG transcoding. For serious offline editing, you'll need an expensive suite of software and a good computer.
Despite its software limitations, this camera is an excellent device for capturing source material. Its three DVD-RAM resolution modes, STD/FINE/EXTRA provide a useful set of tradeoffs. Don't use the STD mode unless 60 minute continuity is essential. My 4 megapixel still camera means its unlikely I'll ever know how well the DZMV-380A operates in still mode.
In short, if you're serious about DVD content creation and have the computer tools and expertise, this camera is second to none. But the casual user will be disappointed at the expense of DVD-R disks and the complexity of using DVD-RAM.
A Five-Star camera bundled with Two-Star software. Four stars.
Buy Hitachi DZMV380A DVD-RAM/R Camcorder with 2.5-inch LCD, 10x Optical Zoom, and Remote Control Now
It's difficult to translate into suitable words how I feel about this camcorder. To set the stage, I run a software development company and consider myself extremely comfortable with technology. So I'm no amature user of video and software.
This camcorder produces fairly decent image quality in it's middle of the road resolution, but you can only fit about 30 minutes of record time on one of the min-DVD disks, if you want more time on one disk, you need to record at the lowest resolution, which is OK, but not ideal. That is somewhat disappointing, but not the biggest problem.
The REAL problem with this camcorder is the crappy software it ships with and the proprietary format Hitachi records the movie images on the DVD. You see, the movies as they are recorded on the DVD are not in a standard movie format such as MPEG that can be read into any other standard video editing device. The ONLY way you can download and view, edit, and customize your video images is by using their software...So this software requires you to first connect and download all your video from the DVD camcorder to your harddrive and convert it into the MPEG format if you want to use another program like Roxio Media Creator. This connect, convert and download can take several hours and usually, for a full DVD, requires a battery change. (It requires a battery change because the DC/AV connectivity for the camera also sucks, you can not plug the camcorder into the wall, but rather you have to plug the camcorder into the battery charger which then plugs into the wall, a real pain since you have to have all the gear at hand just to download your movies to your computer.)
After you download it of course, you now need to make sure you can create a DVD from your computer that can be read by a DVD player so you can playback your movies. Now, I know, the reason you buy a DVD camcorder is so that you can just pop out your DVDS and play them on the TV in your DVD player! The real world though is more like this, you record dozens of different times on a DVD, like with your new baby, we turn it on for 5 minutes to capture a moment, then turn it off....So ultiamtely, you want to be able to easily edit the entire video so you can create cut-aways, delete junk you recorded by accident etc, so you really want a camcorder to be easy to download and edit. This is not the model for you, and frankly, we're selling ours on EBay and buying a Sony.
FYI, Hitachi technocal support sucks. and FYI, their proprietary software that came with the unit will NOT work at all if ROXIO media creator 5.0 or higher is installed on your computer, so if you, like us, have this program, you'll find yourself spending hours trying to figure out why you can't access your DVD camcorder to download images because their software simply won't work. Total joke.
Take a pass on this one.
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I have had a mini-DV camcorder for a couple of years, but when a friend bought this DVD camcorder, I became jealous. I had left the mini-DV out in the sprinkler about a year ago, and it finally succomed to reclaimed water rot (actually quite a ringing endorsement for my old Canon ZR-10 that it could withstand that). This was my excuse to buy this camcorder.
The quality of the video is fine but not quite as good as mini-DV. Also, I would like a wide-screen mode, like was available on the ZR-10. It is, however, immensely convenient to record to DVD-RAM. To me, it's worth the 20 fewer lines of resolution and the lossy compression of MPEG-2.
The battery only lasts about 1/2 hour, but I'm OK with that. If you shoot more than 1/2 hour at a clip, you're making boring movies, but it would be nice to have a bit more leeway.
I download the video to my hard drive and edit with Vegas Video so haven't tried the in-camera editing and probably never will.
The software that ships with it has a definite Japanese accent, and it not all that fabulous. However, it is stable once you figure out the wierd menus and procedures.
I find that I must pay a bit more attention to the exposure modes than I did with my ZR-10. But if you set it for low light, it does a pretty good job in low light. Don't set it to "Sports" and shoot in incandenscent light. Trust me on this.
I have used both DVD-RAM and DVD-R. I prefer DVD-RAM, since it acts like a disk drive. In fact, you can connected it to your computer via USB 2.0 as a DVD-RAM drive. You can't drag and drop the movies, however. You need to transcode it with the included software.
It seems to be a bit finicky about media. It didn't like Sony DVD-R media, but works fine with Maxell.
I just bought a 256MB SD card which will hold over 1000 pictures at the 1 Mpx resolution. The photos are good enough for web and video, but not for printing. You can't record photos to DVD-R, but you can record them to DVD-RAM.
Overall a good camcorder, but don't throw away your Mini-DV if you want the highest picture quality availaible in consumer gear today.
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Overall, we like the camcorder... love the technology. The day after I got it, I used the camcorder to shoot video of my cousin's HS graduation. The downfall is the software, I still haven't gotten it installed and haven't taken the time to research. I have a scandisk drive to load pic and works well. Because there is no flash, pics at night aren't great, but overall I have liked the pictures. Because the camera is only 1 MP, they aren't going to be SUPER pictures, but good for capturing pics to send to friends & family.
Highly recommend the camcorder/camera... just don't expect the software to work immediately.
this camera shuts off for no reason. the battery compartment cover broke off the first day i had it, chintzy. the video mode does not work at all (and yes i have a 8g memory card installed) it runs through batteries very quickly. it takes 3-5 seconds to take a picture after you press the shutter button down. i paid $27 dollars for this camera and it it not even worth that price.
