Hitachi DZ-MV270A DVD Camcorder

1. Finding a new cam:

I used the 8mm Video camera from Sharp for 4 years.
After heavy use from the trip to Europe, the LCD panel
occurred to have the problem which is turned off as
its own mind to white shower.
The battery life was too short due to the memory effect.

Now the technology made up for those deficiencies.
So I got the right time for buying a new cam for my family.

I looked up so many camcorders and reviews.
The final nominees were
A. Sony DCR-TRV50 / 27

B. Sony PC-120BT

C. Hitachi DZ-MV270A / 230A

A.B. use miniDV and C uses DVD-RAM(R).
So I had to decide the media first to exclude.

2. DVD vs Tape

This was important for me since I should exclude sony or Hitachi.

Before the decision of media, I considered following factors.

(a) the quality of media.

When I used 8mm cam tape(analog), sometimes the quality
of recording drops sharply to noise and that annoyed me much.
But since miniDV or DVD is digital recording, that kind of
problem will not exist.
I excluded VHS-C, Hi-8mm, 8mm cams first.

(b) the durability of media.

As I read all the related articles about miniDV and DVD, the durability of both miniDV and DVD is more or less the same.

(c) the availability of media
The miniDV tape can be found any stores, but mini DVD(3'') should be shipped from internet. I look up all the sites providing mini DVD and the optodisc mini DVD-RAM is about $11 for each. For miniDV tape, you can buy 3 pack about $15.
So relatively the price is high for DVD-RAM.

(d) random access

MiniDV is tape type, so random access is impossible as 8mm type.
This factor was crucial to make me set DVD over miniDV

First, I recalled the moment I bought my first portable miniDISC recorder MD-MT821 and 831 from Sharp.
I would never need tape for recording musics so I am
really enjoying music with those small miniDISC.
The most important benefit from miniDISC over was the random access to the song I want to listen like CD over Tape.

Random access is crucial when I want to find a movie that I want to directly.
I used to keep my 8mm tapes in the deck without watching it since I don't feel like finding the scenes I want with the time cost forwarding and rewarding the tapes.
As miniDISC, I thought DVD will outfit miniDV in this respect.

(e) Using the media with PC.

For PC, miniDV must send the movie thru IEEE.
But for DVD-RAM(R), you can directly do it with buying DVD-RAM drive or USB connection. (for MV230,200 , you must buy optional kit)
DVD-RAM drive soon will be changed to DVD-multi drive.
(in the market, panasonic make the DVD-multi record)
But in my opinion, the PC connection is optional for standard cam user like me.

In summary,

miniDV | DVD
-----------------
Random access no yes
Media Price low high
PC IEEE USB, direct insert
Editing on cam Hard Easy(DVR-RAM)
durability Good Good(no magenect influence)
100000 rewrite (DVD-RAM)

I decided DVD to exclude sony after all and
it was hard decision after knowing every features
sony give.


3. What model after choosing DVD

As I see the spec DZ-MV270A,
DZ-MV270A was different in three major parts from DZ-MV230A.

color viewfinder, 3.5' LCD, USB2.0(cable and driver, 40 faster than USB 1.1)

but using DVD and Movie quality are the same

If I pay $200 more to these three options.
I thought they would pay.

3. Shooting and handling

The movie quality was wonderful.
The 1.7lb weight can be problematic with respect to
the light camcorders from sony (PC120BT).
But I think it is good for me since almost every scene
will be made by me.
The image stable feature was also nice so that handshake
can be compensated.
So I think this is the average quality in the current $1000-price cam market.

DVD-R has the problem that it cann't be erased.
But future DVD-multi will support DVD-RAM (I didn't buy
the DVD player yet.) So that is no problem for future DVD
buyer like me.

4. Playing and editing

Since it is a DVD, I can see my movie with the
random access clicking the thumnails
with joystick on the cam.
It was really fast as selecting CD
audio.

I always thought the reason why I don't watch home video is that the home video is devided into too many unrelated scenes.

Although when you use miniDV cam, you can download the data
to computer and you can save it to DVD R or DVD RW.
But normally, people incluing me are not professional in
saving movies to another format.
But with this cam, you can use directly DVD-player with DVD-RAM or DVD-R. (Though DVD-RAM support is not universal nowadays.)
But I think I will not watch the home video with DVD-player
much. (as I have done with 8mm cam.)
I will use my cam to watch the interesting scene when
I invite other people to my home to enjoy together without
FORWARDING AND REWARDING.

Also, I could edit my video on my cam. Dividing, Entering title, Erase, etc. with joystick on the cam.

5. PC connection

I will review this point later after buying a laptop with
USB 2.0.

6. Future

Though I was the one who bought MiniDISC recorder giving $300 when other people buy their tape-player giving $100, I didn't regret my choice of MD over tape.
Now MD is popular and the media is also cheap.

I think though I bought this cam at the time of popular miniDV, I will not regret this buying.
Good product should concentrate on its original basics.
Home Cam is for shooting movie and watching it again.
Not for publishing or internet (Bluetooth. I think the one who use bluetooth will always bring his/ her laptop with him/her)

I think in the near future, it will be DVD-multi cam which
supports all DVD media except DVD plus R and DVD plus RW.