Hitachi DZ-HS300A Review

Billy Nelms • February 13, 2008
Rating: 4/5

Just bought this camera because I don’t have one. I liked the idea of making the mini-DVD in the camera. I was so new to the DVD format that I thought it and a CD was the same thing. I have never had a digital camcorder in my hand so this new thing was daunting. The camera was easy to use but not knowing anything about DVD’s I had lots of trouble figuring how to copy to the disk from the HHD. I read and reread the manual as I progressed to making my first mini-DVD and am still learning to make copies on a recorder. I discovered I have no capability on any of my PC’s or even my DVD player so if you are like me behind the curve it will be a challenge getting caught up. The manual is wordy but by careful reading one can make this thing work. I am having a good time and getting lots of film of my kiddos, mostly grandkids. If you are already into DVD then this camera is a snap. I have spent about a week learning to use this camera and it will probably take a month to get a really good DVD home movie made up.

Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

Dave Lunsford • May 15, 2008
Rating: 2/5

I recently this Hitachi camcorder. I was originally sold on the ability to store about 2 hours of video on the HDD, but later discovered that the battery supplied with the unit only operates for about 30 minutes on average … my first disappointment. Low light performance was a critical feature to me, since I use the cam mostly for family video at home, school plays, piano recitals, etc. The store clerk convinced me that the low light performance of this unit was excellent, but my results so far are VERY disappointing with very underexposed video and lots of noise.

Rating: 4 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

Trint Hollins • July 9, 2008
Rating: 4/5

I just bought the DVD recorder today. Played with it, and I really enjoy the features that it offers. I have and old mini DVD recorder and went out to look for a new camera today for vacation. I checked out the stores for DVD recorders and HDD recorders. It was tough trying to choose. But I noticed that there was this hybrid and tried it. It was true after reading the pros and cons about the unit that I would still recommend it to anyone looking for a reasonably priced camera. For it to have an 8g HDD and the beauty to transfer the video straight to disk is sweet.

Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

Trish • September 28, 2009
Rating: 1/5

Not only did the camcorder freeze up and not even allow me to shut it off it also couldn’t read my DVD’s after they were removed. The finalizing process was a joke that all consumers should know this camera is NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY.

Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.