Camcorders that record directly to DVD used to be bigger and bulkier than tape-based machines, but that's no longer the case. The $750 Hitachi DZGX20A weighs the same as the Canon Optura 60 and only a little more than the Panasonic PV-GS250; and at 3.5 inches by 2 inches by 4.9 inches, it's not much bigger than either. The 2.5-inch LCD is easily viewable in all lighting conditions.
Changing discs involves a few steps: If you are using a DVD-R, you have to format the new blank disc before you use it--a process that includes going through a couple of warning screens and waiting about 20 seconds. All in all, the prep takes a couple of minutes, by which time your subject may have stopped engaging in the cute behavior you wanted to capture. The camcorder can also record to DVD-RAM discs, which don't need formatting or finalizing; but these discs cost $10 each and aren't widely available. (Mini DVD-R media can cost as little as $1.30 each.) A USB 2.0 port lets you connect your computer to your camera and use it as a rewritable DVD drive.
One of the major advantages of DVD camcorders is that you can take the disc straight from the camera and play it in most set-top DVD players. But before you can do that, you need to finalize the disc (a process in which the camcorder writes the final part of the disc to make it look like a normal movie DVD); this can take up to 15 minutes. The Hitachi allows you to finalize a disc only when it is connected to the AC adapter; you can't do it on battery power. This is perhaps a reasonable precaution (if the battery were to give out while the disc was being finalized, it might ruin the entire disc), but having to drag around the adapter is a pain. Also, most computer video editing applications don't allow you to import the MPEG-2 video that this model generates, although Hitachi does include the DVDfunStudio program, which lets you perform some basic edits.
One annoyance: We found we couldn't change the quality mode or switch to 16:9 wide-aspect mode once we started using a DVD-R disc. If you forget to change these settings, you have to either stick with them or insert a new disc.
The quality of the recorded video was generally very good--but disappointing in low-light mode. Our testers rated the Hitachi's output in this mode the lowest of the camcorders we tested. Though the colors were reasonably accurate, the video was plagued with noise, which showed as static in areas of flat color.
The unit has no infrared emitter or white LED to add light; however, you can use the LCD screen as a light. You set it to low-light mode and flip the screen around; the camcorder then sets the screen to white and cranks up the backlight. This method is much less effective than the white LEDs that other models have, but it's better than nothing. There's also a small flash alongside the 10X zoom for taking still images. These images were somewhat fuzzy, with colors that looked pale and unrealistic.
The DZGX20A has three quality modes (LP, SP, and XTRA, in ascending order of quality), but there's a price to pay. At the highest-quality mode (which we used for our tests) you can store only 20 minutes of video on a disc. The lowest quality mode allows you to store 60 minutes on a disc, but the quality suffers significantly: In our tests, colors looked less vibrant, and movement (such as when panning the camera across a landscape) produced video that had a distinctly jittery feel to it.
Battery life was quite good: The large battery lasted 2 hours, 20 minutes--the second longest time of those we tested.
You can conveniently record straight to DVD with the Hitachi DZGX20A and then watch your video in a set-top DVD player. But this camera doesn't match Sony's DCR-DVD403 DVD Handycam for overall quality.
Richard Baguley
