The full kit for the world’s first Blu-ray camcorder, Hitachi’s DZBD7HA hybrid, has reached the Wired offices. For those of us who cultivate the development of super-sharp image technology, today is a day to savor, remember, and to aggravate fellow co-workers while taking their video.
The Hitachi DZBD7HA is a hybrid camcorder consisting of a 30GB internal Hard Disk Drive (HDD) that can record close to four hours of 1920 x 1080 (HX Mode) full high-definition video, and about eight hours at 1440 x 1080 HD (HS Mode). A special feature is the ability to copy video from the HDD to the 8-cm. Blu-ray disc internally, with the touch of a single button. We’ll go through the manufacturer’s listed options through our first few minutes with the camcorder. We’ve waited for this one awhile, so here we go. 
The camcorder captures high def video through a CMOS image sensor at 1920 x 1080/60Hz. We noticed that the widescreen 2.7” LCD viewfinder is far clearer than normal. We’ll see if this is really true when we put it through the test gauntlet, with other new camcorders. You can also see the rather large speaker at the top of the camcorder.
Go to the next page to see more pictures of the camcorder.
The unboxing images. It took less than 5 minutes to get everything ready, though most camcorders aren’t difficult to get going anyway.
The hybrid can take a frame from your videos and turn them into a 2.07 mega pixel still image. That’s what the SD slot is doing there at the base of the camcorder. The camcorder includes an 8cm BD/DVD drive, as seen in the pic to the right.
It also includes a high-res image processor (LSI) that takes huge volumes of data and improves upon the picture quality’s final result.
With the one-touch dubbing feature (the bottom left of the picture on the left), you can burn the HDD file you’ve already saved to the Blu-ray disc. So far, this seems like a great feature. And just look at that lens. You can already see it prying into your deepest, darkest, most highly-detailed fear. Basically, it’s HAL with a zoom. (For those of you who want the geekiest details, here’s the lens specs: F1.8–3.0 f = 3/16?–1-15/16? (5– 50 mm), with a filter diameter of 1-11/16?(43 mm) and a thread pitch of 0.75 mm.)
The LCD on the camcorder does attract fingerprints. As we’ve said previously with cameras, this isn’t something to be too concerned about.
The camcorder is supposed to go from standby to record-ready in less than a second. This proved about right, but barely. It was actually about 2 seconds, but who’s counting?
This blu-ray baby also records at 16:9 widescreen ratio, which will make it an appropriate match for the high-def television at the Fermoso family home. Christmas is right around the corner, and believe us, we’ve been good all year. The price of the Blu-ray cam will come out to about $1,200.
You can check out the Blu-ray cam for yourself right here. And thanks to Sean Hollister for helping us out with the unboxing and for making this awesome video below.
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