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HITACHI DZ-MV230 DVD
CAMCORDER
INTRO
Ever sat through a movie
and thought I could do that? So what’s stopping you? Cine cameras have been
around since forever – well, 1932 anyway, when the first 8 and 16mm movie cameras
appeared. Camcorders are nothing new either but until now movie making involved
a lot of faffing around with projectors, film or tape and editing equipment.
The latest twist, that might tempt you to have a go, is a new generation of
high performance digital camcorders from Hitachi that record direct to a mini
8cm DVD disc (lasting around 30 minutes) that you can – in theory -- pop
straight into your home DVD player.
Recordable DVD decks
first appeared a couple of years ago, starting a format battle that has yet to
be resolved, meanwhile Hitachi launched a DVD camcorder last year but discs
could only be played back on a PCs. So what’s new? The latest DVD camcorders
use the DVD-R format and that should be compatible with the majority of home
decks. As an added bonus there’s less to wear out on a DVD cam, editing is a
whole lot quicker and easier – especially if you’ve got a PC – and discs last
upwards of 30 years but we’ll have to take that one on trust…
COPY
Hitachi has developed
three machines designed with a broad appeal, from complete novices to serious
and semi-pro users. The cheapest model in the range is the DZ-MV200, it’s an
easy to use point-and-shoot model and the price – around £800 -- and
performance compares well with other types of digital camcorder. The model
we’ve been looking at is the mid-range DZ-MV230 costing around £1000, which
adds a 1-megapixel image sensor (for better quality still pictures) and
variable bit-rate recording for improved picture quality. At the top of the
range is the DZ-MV270 for £1300. The most important extra is a DVD ‘burner’
facility, to make discs from an external source, such as another camcorder, VCR
or PC, the MV270 also has a larger colour monitor screen, colour viewfinder and
improved PC connectivity.
The MV230, like all
pretty well all camcorders these days is virtually idiot-proof, and everything
you need to get started is included in the box. Just charge the battery, load a
disc, switch it on and it’s good to go.
Frame the shot in the black and white viewfinder or fold-out LCD colour
screen, press the go button and you’re in the movie business!
Complicated or fiddly
things like setting focus, exposure and colour balance are taken care of by
electronic minions, all you’ve got to do is work the zoom lever (12x optical,
up to 240x electronic) and decide when to start and stop recording, or flip the
mode switch to ‘photo’ and use it like a still camera. It’s got an image
stabiliser, to iron out camera shake and some simple manual controls, if you
want to get creative.
Discs last 30 minutes in
‘Fine’ recording mode or up to an hour in ‘Std’ mode; on models with variable
bit rate there’s an ‘Xtra’ mode; discs last between 18 and 60 minutes as the
camcorder changes the data rate automatically according to the amount of detail
and movement in the picture.
So far it’s all fairly
familiar territory and as far as basic operation is concerned a DVD camcorder
is little different to any other type, so you should get a watchable recording
in all but the most adverse lighting conditions. You can replay recordings on
the spot, through the viewfinder or on the 2.5-inch viewing screen – with
sound, it has a tiny built-in speaker -- or you can hook it up to your TV and
watch it on that using the supplied AV lead. Incidentally, if you’ve got a
widescreen TV you can opt to shoot your movies in 16:9 format.
However, DVD recording
has extra benefits, you can watch what you’ve recorded more or less instantly,
there’s no delay whilst the tape rewinds, and you can skip to any part of the
recording in less than a second. Another bonus of disc recording is that you
can’t accidentally record over earlier recordings, and like tape, you can
re-use discs almost indefinitely. Well, that’s not strictly true, there are
actually two types of disc and this is where it starts to get a bit
complicated. Type one is called DVD-RAM, these you can re-use but recordings
can only played through the camcorder or on a PC with a DVD-RAM drive. Type two
is DVD-R, these can be read in most DVD players but only after the disc has
been ‘finalised’, after which no more recordings can be added, moreover discs
are single-use only, so they cannot be erased and recycled. Both types of discs
are held in plastic protective ‘caddies’ but they’re easily removed and
virtually all DVD players and drives have an 8cm disc recess moulded into the
loading tray.
It sounds simple enough,
so what’s the catch? There isn’t one, if you’ve used a camcorder all of the
controls will be immediately familiar. Even if you never picked one up before
you can learn how to use it in about two minutes. However it’s worth knowing
that what you end up with is determined to a large extent by the type of disc
you use. If you record on a DVD-R then you get a simple sequence of shots that
the camera and DVD player (once the disc has been finalised) treat as
‘chapters’ so you can play the recording all the way through, or skip to a
particular scene. DVD-RAM discs on the other hand are much more flexible. You
can use the camcorder’s built-in editing facilities – accessed via a
‘Navigation screen (a visual menu of thumbnail images from the start of each
scene) to re-order, split or change the length of scenes and add wipes and
fades so you can end up with a very polished looking production, that you can
then copy to tape on a VCR.
It gets even better if
you have a computer, with the optional PC transfer kit and software (provided
as standard with the MV270) movies and stills can be downloaded to the hard
drive using a standard USB interface. Once there they can be edited using the
supplied software and copied to tape (or re-re-recorded back to disc on the
MV270). Picture quality on both types of disc is excellent in Fine mode, close
to broadcast quality in fact and comparable with other digital machines on the
market.
The only thing to watch
out for is disc compatibility. Not all homedeck DVD players can handle DVD-R
recordings. We routinely test all new models and upwards of 25% of machines
won’t recognise DVD-Rs and the proportion is even higher on older decks. It’s a
good idea to check before you buy; ask the dealer for a demo or trial disc that
you can try in your player at home, before you part with the plastic.
The MV230 may not be the
smallest, lightest or cheapest ‘digital’ machine on the market but DVD
recording is a welcome alternative to tape and it does have a number of genuine
benefits, not least ease of use and the facility to play back on your home DVD
player and if you’ve got a reasonably up to date PC you can put together some
really slick looking productions.
BOX COPY 1
HOW IT WORKS
Think of the MV230 as a
DVD player in reverse. It takes the video image coming from the camera,
converts it into digital data, which is then ‘compressed’ by removing or
ignoring redundant information, (static backgrounds, for example, which change
little from one frame to the next). The data is then used to control the output
of a laser, focused onto the surface of the disc. The laser beam causes a
change in the transparency of a chemical film covering the disc’s shiny
reflective layer. This produces the characteristic spiral of microscopic
reflective ‘pits’ that a normal DVD player can read.
The camera compresses the
data using the same MPEG2 (Motion Picture Experts Group) system used to encode
regular pre-recorded DVDs. Incidentally, this is also the reason why it
possible to ‘download’ movies shot on the camcorder into a PC for editing,
using an ordinary USB connection. Because the data is highly compressed the
files are relatively small and easy to handle, so there’s no need for a fancy
PC or high-speed FireWire port, which you will need if you want to edit footage
shot on a ‘DV’ or Digital 8 camcorders.
BOX COPY 2
RICKS HOME MOVIE
1 (pix 1, 2 & 3)
Getting in close to the
action, as well as helping you to frame the shot the powerful 240x zoom – used
judiciously – can add a touch of drama to your production. Slowly pulling back
from a distant object is also a great way of establishing location.
2 (pic 4)
The camera’s auto
exposure systems are fairly basic and this is the kind of shot – with a
strongly lit centre ground -- where you might want to take control, and adjust
the exposure manually, though the dark and moody effect can be also be quite
evocative.
3 (pic 5)
Another difficult shot
involving poor light from an artificial source – in this case a fluorescent
tube – yet the camera’s auto white balance system manages to compensate and the
colours still manage to look reasonably natural
4 (pic 6)
Colour accuracy in
natural daylight is excellent, those Y-fronts and that T-shirt really are deep
purple and blue but it’s equally good at capturing subtle shades, like flesh
tones and natural colours, like the grassy background
5 (pic 7)
Indoor shots are always
difficult but again the MV230 does a good job in awkward conditions and
compares well with other mid-range digital camcorders
BOX COPY 3
CAMCORDER HISTORY’S
TURNING POINTS
The first ‘domestic’
camcorder was the Sony Betamovie, launched in 1983, a great lump of a thing
that used Betamax tapes. It had no replay facility and cost £1200 (around £2500
at today’s prices).
The first sensible
camcorder that could play back as well as record was the JVC GRC-1 in 1984. It
used compact VHS-C tapes and would have set you back around £1000 when it first
appeared.
Camcorders finally
started to get interesting (small, cute and relatively affordable) in 1989 with
the launch of the Sony TR55.
Picture quality took a
big leap forward after 1990 with the introduction of the Hi8 and Super VHS-C
‘high-band’ formats with classic machines like the Canon A1 and JVC GR-S70.
The next big thing was
digital camcorders delivering near broadcast quality. Hefty handheld models
from Sony and Panasonic appeared in late 1995 but it was the ultra-chic and
highly covetable pocket-sized Sony DCR-PC7 from 1996 that really got things
moving.
---end---
Ó R. Maybury 2002, 2105
Pix coming:
Sony Betamovie
JVC GR-C1
Sony TR55
Canon A1
JVC GR-S70
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