Hitachi's high-def Blu-ray camcorders here in November

Hitachi's long talked about Blu-ray camcorders have moved from rumour to reality with its announcement of two high-def cameras.

There are two models in Hitachi's just announced high-definition, Blu-ray camcorder line-up, the DZ-BD7H and DZ-BD70. Both feature a half-size (8cm) Blu-ray and multi-format DVD recorder, 10x optical zoom, a CMOS sensor capable of 4.3-megapixel still photos and HDMI out. The hybrid model, the DZ-BD7H, also packs a 30GB hard disk.

In the high quality recording setting, video is encoded in full HD (1920 x 1080). A single-sided 8cm 7.5GB Blu-ray should be able to hold an hour's worth of footage, while the BD7H's hard disk can store up to four hours of action.

Come 30 August, Japanese customers will be able to get their hands on the world's first Blu-ray camcorders -- Y190,000 (AU$1,860) for the DZ-BD7H and Y160,000 (AU$1,570) for the DZ-BD70. Australians will have to wait until sometime in November. No word yet on Australian pricing, although given that all the high-def cameras from Sony, Panasonic and JVC are all north of AU$1,800, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect prices around AU$2,300.

Hybrid
DZ-BD7H	Price: Y190,000 (AU$1,860) Available: November 2007 Hard disk: 30GB Media: 8cm Blu-ray, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-R drive 10x optical zoom lens Sensor: CMOS (4.3-megapixel still) 2.7-inch LCD Video resolution: 1920 x 1080 (HD), 1440 x 1080, 720 x 480 (SD) HDMI out
Blu-ray
DZ-BD70	Price: Y160,000 (AU$1,570) Available: November 2007 Hard disk: None Media: 8cm Blu-ray, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-R drive 10x optical zoom lens Sensor: CMOS (4.3-megapixel still) 2.7-inch LCD Video resolution: 1920 x 1080 (HD), 1440 x 1080, 720 x 480 (SD) HDMI out