Camcorder Reviews

I purchased the kit with the BP514 battery which gives me almost twice the life of the BP508 battery that came with my ZR85 camcorder.

The case can accomodate just about all the accessories you will need. The only complaint I have is the strap is cheap.

Over all for a little more than the cost of the battery itself you are also getting the case and a Canon mini DV cassette.

It is a very good value

I own a Sony trv8 camcorder.The head was dirty and this cleaning cassette worked for me although I have to clean it 4 times.

I got one of these chargers for my Canon BP-511 battery.
When the package came I was pleasantly surprised to see
pretty long list of supported batteries on the back of the
package. When I've opened it, along with the charger, power
supply and car power adapter I've found several different
plates, some of them supporting batteries not even on the
list. Nikon's EN-EL1 is one of them, which was good news for
me because my older camera uses them.

In use it's OK. Some of the plates are a bit tricky to insert
until you figure out the right way to do it. Once it's done
though, charger "just works". I just wish that there was some
sort of standard form factor for Li-Ion batteries - sort of
like AAA/AA/C/D we're all used to, so we would not have to
deal with a zillion different battery shapes.

This battery is great. I am a novice cameraman and I mostly do action shots. This battery is great for the beginner to the expert.

The items in the accessory kit are all very high quality. The batteries and charger are great. The charger can handle AA and AAA batteries and there is room for up to 4 batteries. The DC adapter is handy when you want to save battery power and you don't plan on moving around much. The case, handy for traveling with your camera, has a belt loop, but makes for a bulky load when the camera is attached to the belt. The mini-tripod is fun, but the camera can cause the tripod to fall over because of the lop-sided weight. The tripod legs to not expand. Overall, the kit is by no means and requirement for DVS20 owners, but full of high quality and very useful items.

We gambled on this Hitachi package because its description and photographs appeared to fit the FAMILY Vs. Unitied Artists FILMAKER category, seeking a "User Friendly" model. The gamble paid the following dividends. A CamCorder that is light, simple to operate without requiring the 3 eyed camera-person. 1 to film and 2 to consult the owners manual. This model comes with a lo light feature Vs. built in lights on other models. Our lo light filming in both indoor and outdoor settings proved positive with "tru color" imagery without the lamp glare that is common with the built ins. The Autofocus feature will require more attention, as it is very positive to the dead-center subject rule, especially involving indoor moving targets i.e. 5 year old grandsons. One feature not advertised was this CamCorder's 2.5" Flip out screen: its COLOR! The camera bag is attractive and roomy. Tripod is ok, but its a lightweight model. We're Very Happy with our USER FRIENDLY HITACHI.

This is a NICE handy little item to have. You just pop your mini cassette in and it then can be played right in your VCR. It runs on batteries. It may degrade the image some, but I think it is worth it to be able to watch home movies in our VCR.

My first cam, for home video only.

pic and sound are good, with adapter you can play tape on any VCRs. pretty light in my view, i can easily operate with one hand, battery life is 1.5 hour, compatible batteries can provide better number.

only has black & white viewfinder, no LCD, but for this low price, i can live with it.

overall, good cam for first time or entry level user who just want to record some family moments and share it, for that purpose this is a good choice.

This camera is a good midline camera with a pretty good level of control in the manual mode and well automated in the auto mode. The DV port is the small 4 pin connector that ships with a lot of after market IEEE-1394(Firewire) cards. If you intend to capture the video off this camera onto your computer you need a FAST PC, I'd say 1.5GHz or better, and over 512MB of RAM with a fast hard drive with LOTS of space, it goes QUICK. Price/Value is good, and I'd buy again knowing what I know about it. The onboard light is very taxing on the battery and should probably not be used unless you are plugged in. Enjoy it. Its a good camera.

Wanted to say that the picture quality is somewhat lacking. Could have been better. And to state that there is NO analog to digital pass through feature on this camera. You can record from an analog source to the miniDV tape on the camera but it is NOT pass through. Thats all...the rest of the functions are up to par with what they have advertised. All in all a pretty good package.