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"easy to use hdd/camcorder hybrid" on by djps55
Pros: ease of use/lightweight/good video/photos
Cons: have to learn as you go,book too much to read.
Summary: i have been using this product for about three months,i have been recording videos and taking pictures with the hs300a and my kodak easyshare,i thought i was getting good and clear videos and pictures until i started using the hatachi,you can zoom in and out while you record or take pictures no need to stop while zooming,i don't know how they gave this product low points,i use my roxio media9 suite to edit and make my dvd projects,i do not use software they supplied does not work well on vista,they offer poor support,sent three repair tics. no response(image mixer3)i never realized spending $550.00 on this product is considered cheap.
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"Very poor product" on by clanmogur
Pros: Love the video discs so I can go on long vacations!
Cons: Hmmm, let me list under details - too many problems.
Summary: 1. There is no way to "light" a subject under dark light conditions. OK, you can turn around the viewing screen during video, but this does not cast nearly enough light to be useful. My old Sony, 10 years ago, did a better job of lighting than this.
2. Since there is no light source under low light conditions, the Hitachi cannot focus on the subject.
3. The software provided to unload videos clips from the camera fails about 15% of the time. This is really not acceptable if 15% means you lost all of your pictures of Cyprus. I've taken about 150 hours of video over the last year, and I throw out about 1 video disc out of every 6 because the Hitachi cannot recover the contents (see below).
4. The camera HATES humidity and temperature (see their manual). You can take the video, but when you get home you can't recover the video on the discs. My estimate is that the recording range goes only to about 90 degrees F before intermitant failures take over.
5. If there is ANY failure on a disc, you can't recover anything from that side of the disc. That's why I keep throwing away the discs. There is no ability to say, "OK, I know you had trouble reading that clip I took when it was rainy, but please recover the rest for me." If ONE clip on disc is bad, you can't recover anything else from that side of the disc (about 30 minutes worth, in my case).
If you are shooting video in real life (on vacation, around a barbeque, in the South Pacific), Don't Buy This VideoCamera!!!
Editors: before you delete my comments, I suggest you try using this camera in the conditions I have suggested. Oh, by the way, shooting 10 hours of video is not enough to uncover these problems. Do take a vacation with your children and record 20 hours of video before you delete my comments. I'd show you my vacation in Italy with my children, but I'm missing about 4 hours of the 15 hours I shot because the software could not recover if there was one bad file on a disc.
This camera performs at about the 20% level compared with my old Sony.
Regards, John Brabson -
"it's cool to have a combo camcorder like this one!" on by zizouchannelis
Pros: excelent day shooting video quality
Cons: night shooting...that's the main problem of this cam!
Summary: despite of its average quality, average features, and its poor night shooting quality (unfortunately) to complete darkness, its combination at least between Hard Drive and DVD Recorder and its easy dubbing between them both, make from this camcorder interesting to try it out, but i'm not agree with CNet Editors about its mediocre picture on day time because i give it easily 5 stars for video quality (daytime).
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"Good value, versitile for family gatherings and multiple in camera copiing!" on by rosco2007
Pros: Simple menus, 8 gig is plenty for casual use, easy to use, good basic home movie camera.
Cons: Some quirks in recording on different media (mainly a user (me) problem), slowish downloading to computer, software nothing special on OS X.
Summary: I found this camera to be a great value if you can find it for under $300! The DZ-HS500a (the 30 gig model) does not have a good enough camera or video rez to justify the extra 50% in cost, but this DZ-HS300a is a great value. Sure its not pro quality, but you can go to visit grandma, edit and dub multiple copies of a video of different combinations of video clips for different people, burn them to DVD right in the camera while talking with fiends and DO NOT HAVE TO USE A COMPUTER! I love it, and would have rated it a 9 except the digital camera is a little low rez and their is no flash on this model. the 303A was available overseas with a 3 meg camera and AV/s-video in but they did not bring that one here sadly.!!! Anyway, i would buy this unit again until the panasonic comes down in price or someone else makes a true competitor! The dual DVD and Hard Disk IS THE ONLY way to go as far as im concerned!
Hitachi DZ-HS300A user reviews
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