Hitachi DZMV200A DVD Camcorder

Review Date
December 18, 2007

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Reviewed by
mfry0365 , Casual

Price Paid
$800.00 at Circuit City

Photography Experience
0-1 years , People

Summary
My wife and I purchased this unit as our first camcorder. It was heartily recommended by the salesperson at Circuit City and he easily dazzled us with the features and benefits of owning this video camera. I guess in retrospect it was an exciting new technology and I'm sure there was a sales contest going on to promote and move this product.

For a short time we were happy with this camcorder, until we filled all of the disks that we purchased at the store the day we bought the unit. We then learned that you needed to have an optional 300 dollar kit to edit and "finalize" the disks. We decided to not purchase the kit, and we have documented our childrens growth through our digital cameras. The only way at this point to view the footage that we have taken is to keep this piece of junk and hook it up to the tv with av cables every time. I learned a valuable and expensive lesson with the purchase of this unit. Do your own research before buying electronics!

Strengths
Liked the thumbnail feature to search video.

Weaknesses
Need optional kit to edit and finalize the disks, battery life deteriorated quickly, toggle switch was sometimes difficult to use to navigate the functions.

Similar Products Used
none

Review Date
April 1, 2004

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
2-5 years

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
rkgurley , Casual

Price Paid
$800.00 at Circuit City

Summary
Unit works fine. Directions about capabilities of DVD-R vs. DVD-Ram are poor. New and expensive Dell computer combined with lack of driver support are enough to make me consider slitting my wrists. No reasonable help from Hitachi or Circuit City makes it worse.

Strengths
Good quality and easy to use. Plays DVD-R back on DVD player nicely

Weaknesses
Plays DVD-R back on DVD player only. DVD-Ram is rendered useless without ability to capture on PC

Customer Service
Un-helpful

Review Date
January 8, 2004

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
2.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
fabian , Expert

Price Paid
$700.00 at circuit city

Summary
this cam is great for its video quality is great

Strengths
the vivid colrs of the camera is unbelivable

Weaknesses
the drivers for the camera , still looking and no luck for cam drivers , i did go to the hitachi website all they have is a updater drivers without the original you are out of luck , you need to purchase a special kit

Similar Products Used
sony

Customer Service
great

Review Date
November 28, 2003

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
1.50 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
Billy , Professional

Price Paid
$750.00 at Sears

Summary
this was a poorly built camcorder, with no chance against it's competitors

Strengths
Gooz in-out zoom, nice 3" screen

Weaknesses
night shots, and not so good pictures

Similar Products Used
Hitachi DZ-MV200A

Customer Service
1-800-SONY411