UPDATE: Hitachi's New Blu-ray Camcorder: DZ-BD10HA

by Kaitlyn Chantry
Published on Jul 24, 2008 12:00 PM



UPDATE: August 11, 2008 – Hitachi confirmed today that its new Blu-ray/hard drive hybrid camcorder will be coming to North America. Previously announced only in Japan, the DZ-BD10HA is a more compact, slightly upgraded version of the DZ-BD9HA released last January. The new camcorder will be shipping in the U.S. this September at a minimum retail price of $999.

The U.S. version will carry with it the same upgrades as the Japanese version: a 20% reduction in size, a new 7-megapixel CMOS sensor, and the ability to record video on the optional SDHC memory card. In their most recent press release, Hitachi also describes the DZ-BDH10H's ability to transfer video from the internal hard drive or SDHC card to the Blu-ray drive. By placing three formats on a single camcorder and an easy method for moving video from one stoarge format to another, Hitachi is marketing the DZ-BDH10H as a flexible, "triple-format" camcorder. The DZ-BDH10H also has a Transcoding feature that will allow users to transfer high definition videos to standard definition DVDs.


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July 24, 2008 – Hitachi today announced the release of the DZ-BD10H Blu-ray camcorder, the successor to last January’s DZ-BD9H. The most significant improvements include a 20% reduction in the physical size of the unit, a slightly upgraded sensor, and the ability to record video to an SDHC memory card. So far, there’s no announcement for a US release, but the DZ-BD10H is due to ship in Japan on August 9.

Measuring approximately 79 x 87 x 140-mm and weighing about 500g, the DZ-BD10H promises to be more manageable than its 700g predecessor. It also comes equipped with a new 1/2.7-inch CMOS sensor with a gross pixel count of 7,000,000 and an effective video pixel count of 4,670,000. Last year’s DZ-BD7HA (Review, Specs, $595.00) had a similar pixel density and produced terrible low light results. Hitachi seems to be maintaining the same strategy for sensor design, so it’s reasonable to expect similar results.

The reduction in size and weight comes at a cost to storage capacity. Like the earlier model, the upgrade can record to the internal hard disc drive or Blu-Ray disc, but the hard drive is now half the size—just 30GB. At the lowest bitrate (7.5Mbps), the hard drive can store around 8.5 hours of video, plus a maximum of two hours on Blu-Ray. This is a major downgrade in capacity, but unlike the previous model, the DZ-BD10H will have the ability to record both stills and video to an optional SD/SDHC memory card.

As before, the DZ-BD10H records full 1920×1080 high definition images with Hitachi’s “Picture Master Full HD” processor. Video is outputted in a MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format. There is also still an option of recording to DVD in standard definition MPEG-2 (720 x 480) at 9Mbps or 6Mbps. The lens is the same as on the BD9H, with a 10x optical zoom, a 5-50mm focal length, and an aperture range of f/1.8 - f/3.0.

The new model has so far only been announced for Japan. AV Watch is reporting an expected retail price of ¥160,000 (approx. US$1503). Hitachi’s corporate site does not verify this price, but does state that the DZ-BD10H will ship on August 9.