Hitachi DZ-GX20A

August 28th, 2005 | by David Elrich

Performance

The Hitachi DVDCam could certainly use a Quick Start guide to get you up and running without having to settle into an easy chair for a scintillating evening's read.  Maybe next time.  Hitachi should also update the manual, which looks like something out of the ‘70s.  The illustrations are classic Japanese cute.  Yuck.  Even worse, the manual is for three models, so you have to make sure the instructions you're reading are for the right camcorder.  I'm all for saving trees, but this is ridiculous.  Better to have a well-done Quick Start Guide and put the manual on the supplied CD-ROM as a PDF file.  What a disappointment.  And trying to read this manual is challenge, with myriad screen shot illustrations that require a magnifying glass to read.

The next bummer is on Page 20 of the manual; they ask you to “try recording and playing back using disc.”  No problem—except that they want you to use a DVD-RAM blank, which is nowhere to be found.  Expect to buy a few before you leave the store.  Single-sided 1.4GB RAM discs, good for 30 minutes of high quality footage, cost around $9 each, while DVD-Rs can be had for around a buck.  A double-sided 2.8GB disc will set you back around $15.  No one said living on the edge is cheap, but the discs last a long time (100,000 read/rewrite times, according to manufacturers.)

Once we made it through the basics in the guide, charged the battery, adjusted the strap and loaded a 1.4GB RAM disc, it was time to see what this camcorder could do.  We set the Program Auto Exposure to Auto and to the highest resolution, which gives you 18 minutes of recording.  We shot the usual subjects:  Foliage, plants, the sun and sky, just to see the accuracy of color reproduction.  Unfortunately, it was poor when played back on a 36-inch Toshiba direct view digital TV, using the S-video input.  After adjusting the settings, the colors were still off—there's no kind way to put it.  In some scenes, objects were too red, and overall there was a lack of black.  I then put the disc in a Panasonic DMR-E60 DVD recorder with component video outputs, which plays DVD-RAM discs directly.  The color was a bit better, but still lacked contrast; there were swarms of digital artifacts as well.  I then tried it on my PC (a new Dell with a hot video card); the colors were off here, too, but not as badly.  The blues were a bit too red and the greens were not very life-like.  These better results were seen via the supplied playback software (DVD Movie Album SE) on an about 8" diagonal inset on my 17" Samsung LCD monitor.  This kind of defeats the purpose of a camcorder:  Sharing memories on a large screen with the family. 

Being somewhat surprised at these results, I tried again, using different Program AE settings, and adjusting the white balance and exposure compensation.  I changed Program AE to Outdoors and shot around the house, but the color was just not right.  There was a definite lack of contrast and the reds were just off.  Nothing really seemed to work.  On a positive note, the LCD screen was quite readable, even in dark situations and bright sunshine.  The screen nicely rotates, so you can make menu changes easily.  It was impressive—but you're not buying this for a screen.

Hitachi touts the fact that this camcorder takes 2.12-megapixel stills (1600 x 1200 pixels.)  Although the camera function works easily and taking snaps is, well, a snap, the results are pathetic when using the Auto mode as well as manual focus.  I took the SD card out and used the Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock to turn out some 4x6 prints.  I may be jaded, having played with high-quality digicams, but 2MP quality is unacceptable in 2005 unless you want to send an image via email.  For goodness's sake!  Camera phones now take 2-megapixel stills, and they're a lot easier to carry around.  (We're going to give the new Canon Optura 600 with its 4.3MP still capability a workout as soon as we get a production model.  Hopefully, Canon knows how to handle still/camcorder combos better than Hitachi.)

Not to throw any more salt in the wound, but battery life was weak.  Hitachi claims this is a two-hour battery.  When using the LCD screen, flash and playing back discs, the battery gave up the ghost in about an hour and a half. 

Image Courtesy of Hitachi America