Thanks for the review - Do you know if Windows Movie Maker can edit the video file on your PC? - or would that lose some of the resolution?

Hmm i think this may be just perfect for what i want, i am looking for a camera to attatch to my Nitro Heli, but everything seems either A, Cheap and poor quality video, or B, Too Heavy and too expensive to risk putting on my Heli.

I think this my be just what i am looking for unless there is something better that anyone can suggest? The flycamone2 which is actually designed for flying rc models really has poor quality video.

Hey thanks for your reviews. I have a few questions so sorry if it's a bit lengthy, but would be grateful if anyone can help:

1) Can you tell me if you need a powerful computer to playback the 720p clips from this camcorder (e.g. a pentium 2.4 with 128mb ati card ok)? Only some of the sample clips I see on the net play back slightly jittery, can't tell whether it's the camcorder or my computer. Or if you're not doing any editing and just want to play it back straight from the SD card, does the camcorder itself do a good job of direct playback through an HD tv?

2) Does it have a tripod socket?

3) Seems to be similar/exact features of the HITACHI DZ-HV564E (from Comet) - probably the difference is a UK plug and exlusive to Argos - Comet reviews seem to say the 564E has a European plug - does this have a UK plug? Incidentally, I believe both are a rebadged Sanyo HD100 - searching for video clips of this seem to show a decent quality little cam

4) I'm stuck between getting this, a Kodak Zi6 and a standard DVD quality SD camcorder with perhaps more features, e.g. JVC MS100 or Panasonic HDC-SD7. Though the quality of this for the price and the 5X optical zoom seems much better. Having had this for a few days, are you happy with the quality? I've seen awful picture drop outs/panning jitter from the Kodak Zi6, both lack image stabilisation, but I think this one seems better at that judging from the various clips on the net from this, the HV564E and Sanyo HD100 (if they are all indeed the same camera.....)

Any comments or opinions in response welcome :-) (and more sample video clips from this model would be great!)

Thanks
Simon

I hope you get to read this Richard as i believe we are encountering the same problems. I also bought mine from Argos.

A friend of mine just brought his camcorder over after i had explained my situation to him and we discovered it is the card. He has a 4GB SD no name brand he bought off ebay and it works perfectly in my camcorder. We tried my 8GB Lexar in his and it didn't work in his camcorder either.

So, there is good news and bad news here, there is no problem with the Hitachi, and from what ive seen so far i,m very impressed. I,m off to Toronto and Niagara Falls at end of month (hence reason for camcorder purchase) and looking forward to some great footage . The bad news i.m afraid is that Argos have a no refund policy on their SD cards so it looks like i wasted almost £30 on an 8GB card.

I hope this helps Richard and whoever else might be having these problems. I can assure you its not the device. Once you find the right card and i,m following Dans lead here and purchasing the SanDisk 4GB , i believe you will be more than happy with the Hitachi.

All the best.

Hi!

I've just bought the Hitachi camcorder from Argos. I've just taken a brief video run but have hit a problem. I have an excellent Philips 42" Ambilight HD television. At the back I located the sockets (ie colour coded the same as as the YPbPR HD out cable). Unfortunately I can't get the camcorder to talk to my TV. I had no problems with the normal AV cable so I set it with that and just unplugged that cable from the camcorder and, without any other adjustments plugged the yellow end of the HD cable into the HD camcorder socket but just got a blank screen on the camcorder and a blue one on the TV. Any suggestions?

Best wishes

Paul

Hi!

I am now able to link my camcorder using the HD cables. Since the camera option on my TV didn't work, despite doing so in the normal AV mode, I went down the complete list and, to my surprise it was the Ext3 DVD option which linked me up in the HD mode. With a 42" screen and standing close to the TV I couldn't say that the HD quality was quite up to my up-scaled DVDs but it was miles better than the AV output, presumably standard by default. I guess now I'd better learn to hold the camcorder steady and wait for a day when it's not raining!

Cheers

Paul

Hi Dan.

Great write up!

I think it is pretty much the same camera as the one on my blog It's just that my one was exclusive to Curry's and your one is exclusive to Argos! ... not very exclusive then eh!

I also found that mine locked up on some 8GB HCSD cards. One that I have found is the Kingston - Flash memory card - 8 GB - Class 4 - SDHC at Amazon for only £6.75

Last night I filmed my Scalextric in low light and also used the led light. It can be seen on Youtube for an idea of quality ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_04UeaL5AZg&fmt=18

@mackney

Hi, could someone answer a question for me. Im looking into buying a HD camcorder and was wondering when it comes to connecting to a HDTV is it done the same way as i would connect my PS3? Is the connection on the camera the same kind of HDMI as PS3/SKYHD? My t.v has a DVI input and in some pictures i have seen that some cameras come with blue and green cables for t.v so would like to know if its a different kind of HD connection altogether. Hope this makes sense, any help would be much appreciated. Matt

Just bought this beauty from Argos and couldn't wait to unpack it, However i inserted an SD card from my daughters camera and it failed to work (cheap Transcend 2GB). This doesn't concern me too much as i've noticed on this forum that the device can be quite choosy as to which cards it works with.
I've taken receipt at work of a Kingston 8GB sdhc class 6 card from Ebuyer (£12.99) so can't wait to get home and give it a whirl. I must add that the camcorder looks to be everything i expected for the price. Light in weight terms, Plastic but fairly well finished and small and neat. I'll keep you all informed and post some footage when i get chance.

I just got one of these cameras today.

Picked up an 8GB SanDisk SDHC Card from WHSmith for £14.99. Its a class 2 and works fine. I have tried recording on the highest setting (1440 x 1080, Fine) and not had any problems at all. I have a Canon Eos 450D and use an 8GB class 4 which was recommended. No problem with a class 2 for this camcorder though.

Managed to upload some test footage

http://www.vimeo.com/3253663

Comments welcome

David

Hi Dan, have amended the upload - didn't realise that it defaulted to private footage - so should be available now. Think I know why the black bars are there......something to do with my editing it in Studio 12 but I still get the black bars on the flip out screen when videoing (Do you get the same ?)

The quality is poor on the PC when I have downloaded the file and played it through Quick Time even with the codec installed. I am just disappointed in general with the quality compared to the Zi6 and the fact that the Hitachi loses all the settings as soon as you turn it off. So if I preferred the colour that the vivid setting gave me I cannot store this is a user setting and use it. Similarly if I was skiing and wanted to use the beach/snow setting I would have to go in each time I wanted to take a movie and set it up - an incredible oversight by Hitachi. also the autofocus is pretty haphazard and it seems to lose focus for no reason or not get the focus at all....!

I genuinely thought this would be a step up and based on some of the footage linked from here I was looking forward to selling the Zi6 and moving on to the Hitachi but at the moment unless there is a way to get better footage from it....I will probably just eBay it and take the hit.

Grateful for your comments and anyone else who may have sussed out how to get it to work better..

Cheers

David

Hi Dan, you are spot on about the black bars being part of the editing of the video.

I have now uploaded both videos in their raw format to Vimeo

Zi6

http://www.vimeo.com/3258603

Hitachi

http://www.vimeo.com/3258549

You can see clearly though that the Hitachi has noticeable blur and little of the colour richness that the Zi6 is showing. I really don't expect miracles from these at the price but expected a lot more from the Hitachi at almost 1.5 times the price of the Kodak especially with the 5x zoom which is a major selling point.

Maybe on a bright day the Hitachi will come into its own but at the moment I will probably sell it on.

BTW Sony are bringing out an HD cam called the Webbie

See here for details

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet...

Cheers

David

Hi Dan,

Have you tried webcam mode? All I get is black screen with just the very brighest parts of the image showing faintly. Obviously the camera is recognized and is being received but the camera and PC disagree on what the numbers mean.

Cannot find any updated drivers, or indeed, any drivers on the intelyweb. HitachiUK disavow any knowledge of his camera. Cannot find a single Hitachi english site that mentions it. I reckon they only ever officially sold it in Japan.

Dave

Hi I've just got back from the shops and have unpacked my new camcorder. I'm charging the battery as I type!
I was wondering if anyone one knows of a decent but small case for the HV545e or HV564E as the one it comes with is quite rubbish as I'm sure you will all attest to.
Please help if you can
Cheers

Rich

Hi Rich!

I, like others, have found that the Sandisk 8gb SDHC card (£9-52 inc postage from Amazon) works fine and I'm sure that you would get over 2 hours on 1080p fine.

I have a question for the experts. I have a Toshiba DVD recorder with up-scaling capability. Should it be possible when I'm playing back in HD (which I can now do) to record and put together a DVD of my clips?

Paul

Hi!

Clearly I have much to learn but I tried some shots of my young grandson's riding lesson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUV9Kvrt5-8

Paul

Been looking at getting one of these over the past few days thanks to this site, but cant find any in stock in any of the stores in my area. Either Argos had very few of these to begin with or they are selling like hot cakes...

Hi,

I have just bought one of these cameras today from Argos and bought the 2GB SD Card recommended from Argos.

Battery was fully charged when we got it (makes a change) but we have inserted the memory card and its saying...

CARD FULL (with a caution sign).

None of the menu's will work...any ideas, anyone please.

Thanks, Gemma

It's me again. I've now returned 2 of these to Argos and won't be getting a 3rd. I've tested my Kingston class 6 8gb sdhc card on 2 other camcorders and it works well. Both the Hitachi's would not record video or take stills. I followed the instructions and formatted the card via the camcorder itself. I'm guessing that this particular has some serious flaws if both of mine had the same problem. Not a happy customer. The problem now is that I can't seem to find a similar cam on the market within the price range capable of filming in 1080..very frustrated !!

I finally picked one of these up on monday and it worked fine with a 2 GB Sandisk class 2 card that I already have. I wanted a bigger card for longer recording times, so I ordered an 8 GB Sandisk SDHC Class 2 card from play.com, the same model that others have mentioned above as working. It arrived today and lo and behold, it records for 30 seconds and locks the camera up with the egg timer.

So just a warning for others out there, this camera is pretty finicky with sd cards, so its pretty much a matter of luck as to which card will actually work.

I'm going to try ordering another make of card, not sure which sort yet but i'll try and report back on the results.

Hi Dan,

thanks for the great blog been very helpful in choosing this. Happy with the quality, cant beleieve how good the external shots look on my 50" 1080p plasma, however internal shots look like a cheapo webcam...anyone know any good settings to improve internal shots

Re the firmware, would be great if there was, however I was looking around, came to the conclusion that some company in taiwan is making them and selling them to anyone to stick their label on it, i.e. see the link

http://www.amazon.com/SVP-1440x1080p-Camcorder-bat...

Im using a standard 2gb SD card (no label) with this and its working without any problems. I;ve orded the 8gb sdhc card for £9.59 from amazon that paul mentioned (thanks paul) so hopefully that works aswel, if not then i'll jut carry on using the SD card.

Fianlly I've got the option to select 7.7 mega pixals on the still side...do u have this?

Dan what 16gb card did u try on this? just wondering if anyone has any different ones from the one u have used to test?

Thanks

My firmware is showing ver 1.06HI...do we all have this?

Morning All,

I found these links after searcheing ebay for "1080p Camcorders"

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FULL-HD-DV-1080P-Optical-DIGITAL-VIDEO-CAMERA-CAMCORDER_W0QQitemZ160322607127QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamcorders_Professional_Video_Cameras?hash=item160322607127&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1690|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1309

http://forums.steves-digicams.com/forums/view_topi...

http://www.digilifeglobal.com/DV/DV.html
(they dont have anyhing under service and downloads but we can keep an eye on it if there are any updates)

Regards,

Hi guys,

I found this program called at http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html, its free and its really nice in converting the mp4 into avi's (I use DV) for editing. You can also convert to many other formats. Ofcourse there is some loss from the HD to the avi format etc etc

Hi Paul, I was kinda p-eed about the same thing, shame there is no remote with this. Stupidly there is a slideshow option for pictures but its not for movie clips so it does seem we have to get up to start every clip...err firmware upgrade pls.

If i get some time im going to see if there is a good mp4/h.264 file joiner, maybe we can join all the files together in 1 and then put it on the sdhc card and play it without getting up and also without loseing any image quality. If anyone knws of any good joiners then let us knw.

Your other option which ive been doing is converting my files to avi (dv) using the software I mentioned above (its free) and then editing it and compiling it into a dvd. You can use windows movie maker (wmm) for this. I could not directly import the MP4 files into the WMM , I could hear the sound but could not see the image. This does however mean some loss in image quality but no biggie...as it still looks nice.

Hope that helps.

does this camera have shootmode, it would be quite useful have it.

Hi guys, first of all thanks a lot for the useful comments here. I got really interested in this camera so ended up buying myself one this week. It seems that Argos has now more of them in stock, so if you're interested in purchasing it better hurry up. ;-)

As for the camera, so far so good. Pretty good video quality and, apart from the low mic volume and shaky videos (I'm now considering a tripod), it is nonetheless a fairly good camera.

Luckily, I've managed to get the SD card right the first time: bought a Sandisk 4gb SDHC Ultra 2 Class 4 at Jessops. They've got another similar sandisk sd card for camcorders which comes in a fairly large packaging, be careful as that's *not* the one I bought.

I will post some links with a few samples next week after easter holiday.

I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago and this is what I have discovered so far...

Getting the footage onto a DVD to play on a normal dvd using a regular computer is a pain unless you use the 480i (VGA) resolution only. The VGA files can be edited easily in most editing software. If the editing package you use can't open the files change the file extension from 'MP4' to 'mov' Eg. change PIC100.MP4 to PIC100.mov. If you want to put 720 or 1080 res footage onto a dvd inorder to watch it on a normal dvd player then good luck as I really don't think it's possible as normal dvd discs can't provide HD to a normal dvd player. If you're really flash and have a computer that finds HD stuff a doddle then you can probably do anything (E.g Tri-core, water cooled, flux capaciterized doodah etc). I've just got a cheap Compaq computer who's processor is only about 1.9Ghz with a celeron chip and it plays the 480 footage perfectly, the 720 footage well enough although 1080 is jumpy.

The best way to keep all of your footage (whether it be 480, 720 or 1080i) and loose absolutely no quality during play back is to change the file extension from 'MP4' to 'mov' and burn all your footage onto a DVD (max 4.7Gb). Unfortunately this won't play back on any old dvd player but if you have an X-box 360 with an HDMI output or another type of upscaling dvd player with an hdmi output the files will play and be exactly as they were when they were recorded directly onto the sdhc memory card.

oh...that's another thing....if you are thinking of getting one of these Argos give you a £10 voucher for spending over £100. With this I was able to get the PNV 8gb class4 sdhc card that they sell for £4.69...BARGAIN!!! and it works fine!

Hi there all,

I am buying this wonderful looking piece of kit this week and i was just reading through here getting mighty confused at the minefield that is the memory card situation, i was wondering if anybody has tried these cards and if they worked

http://www.play.com/Search.aspx?searchtype=ELEC&se...

i am at university and i make documentaries and am very exicted at the thought of shooting in HD!

any help on picking a memory card that i will be shooting at 720 for the maximum amount of time allowed on the card.

many thanks

justin

Hi,

I just bought the video camera last week at Argos and slot in a 16 GB Sandisk SD card ... and it works just fine!

Recently got this camera it works fine now but I did have a problem with the memory card bought with it . It worked for a very short time then refused to save any video even after a re-format operation so I tried my Sandisk 4GB card from my phone it works well and I have ordered an 8GB one from Amazon as the local shops can't compete on price and hopefully it will work as well with more recording time. I note the manual says supports up to an 8GB card so it sounds good if it will support 16GB. A final point Transcend and Lexar SDHC cards do not work in my camera so watch out for any other reports on these two brands as it seems Sandisk are the ony cards that work with my camera?

PS3 can play the mp4 files immediately, if you have the 60gb PS3 you can pop the sd crad into the port in the front of it and just browse from the ps3 "video" menu on the XMB

Hi - very interested in this little camcorder, but for me sound quality is important. Could anyone tell me whether there is a microphone socket to add quality one? Also is there an online manual to check menu details?
Many thanks.

I too have experienced the SD card failure problem with Lexar twice now - the first one I returned to Argos thinking it was the card that was the problem and got a replacement. It is rather irritating - why on earth have Hitachi not QA'd the device with as many makes of SD card as possible before releasing it?

I will check out one of the other cards to see how it fares and post the results here. But thank goodness for this blog or I would have gone mad.

thanks for the the suggestion^^^^^^^^^

here is a direct link to the formatting software( download button right at the bottom of page):

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/sd/download/...,

if people who have cards that did not work, try formatting with the above software and report back, I will appreciate it.

Thanks for the help everyone it helped me decide on buying this.

Has anyone purchased a new or additional battery. If so what were your experience. I pose this question because while I am still young enough I tend to travel afar and an extra battery is essential. I am very happy with my purchase and use a Scandisc class 6 card bought from Play.com ( this is not an advert),this card gave excellent results of me driving a rally car.

Ok, so I decided to take the plunge too and go and buy one of these bad boys. A few flaws, such as; allot of white noise, an inability to read anything else on the memory card meaning you can't format an old memory card to use it a battery you have to take out to charge, and the strange habit of un-focusing during filming (which you can get rid of but it takes a little experience to work out how to stop it). However, the main problem that I've found is one that I hugely need help with! I can upload the clips to my computer, however, they ARE NOT mpeg files (the usual hd format) and perhaps because of this, they wont play, the cd has an uncoder on it, but this simply gives media player the ability to use it, when I put the files into movie maker, or even Sony Vegas! They won't play, a sixty second clip turns into six images, changing every ten seconds. I REALLY NEED HELP WITH THIS!!! can anyone help me? My E-mail is tom--hill@hotmail.com for if anyone has any ideas...
Oh, by the way, I tried changing the file format from MP4 files, to a better suited file type but it simply shrunk the video down to about an inch and decreased the pixels!

I know compatible SDHC cards is a common question but no one has mentioned any 32GB ones so I was just wondering if anyone has found a 32GB SDHC card that is compatible with this camera? I've tried a couple of unbranded ones from ebay (cos i didnt fancy spending £90 on a card!) but none have worked so far. another 16GB card didnt work and the only one the cam would accept was an old 512MB card i had lying around. It seems like a nice little camera for what I want but if I cant get a decent sized card in it my 3 months travelling will have to be condensed into 8minutes and 17seconds! not ideal! any recomendations? worst case scenario i could just buy a stack of 8GB cards to take! lol.

Hi everyone
This site proved a fascinating read and was the contributing factor on my purchase on this camcorder, so thank you all for that.
I have to say I'm a little confused as to which memory card to buy. I'm using a Kingston 2GB normal SD card with no problems whatsoever but would really like to get a 8GB SDHC card to extend my recording range.
The manual states greater than class 4 but the available cards are countless and there seem to be a lot of confusion as to which really do work with this camcorder. Does anyone have a definitive answer or is it just pot luck?
Thanks again for all the info, top quality.

Hi i took these video at a certain quite large race meeting this weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nZVEY0rpdc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFDxph9PW3Y

Althought the subject matter was a tiny bit to fast to capture perfectly i think this video might show off the amazing sound capture quality of this camera.
p.s. dont turn your speakers up too load ;o)
enjoy!!!

Hi,
I hope this helps others. Since purchasing the camera, I have tried various Memory Cards.
Kingston 8GB SDHC Class 6 - Does not work at all (card error displayed)
SanDisK 8GB SDHC Video HD Class 4 - Works for a short recording time & then stall with egg timer displayed (need to remove battery to restat camera).
Kingston 2GB SD Card - OK
SanDisk 2GB SD Card - OK
Just taken Delivery of SanDisk 8GB SDHC Class 2 & this is working OK on 720P Fine setting & no problems at all.
Others have suggested downloading various formatting tools etc. I have tried these with the various non working cards to no avail.
I have come to the conclusion that the camera works best with Non SDHC Cards up to 2 GB & SanDisk Class 2 SDHC cards.

Hi
Received the card today, well done Amazon.
Whacked it in and recorded 2hrs at max resolution straight away, no format needed either.
Put it in my Dell laptop and the card was instantly recognized. Playback was fine with Windows Media Player direct from the card and transferred the file to my laptop at around 7 meg a second.
Absolutely delighted.
Thank you for all your help.
T

I bought this camcorder today, i am impressed with the video quality. BUT I am unsure if there is any software that can be used to mix / edit the vodeos from this camcorder ( I was planning on putting a few of my videos together with some backgroung music)
I was wondering if you knew what software could be used so i can make clips into videos ?

ps - ive tried windows moviemaker and Roxio software (they dont work)

despite installing the software not had any luck using @ pentium d processor running win xp with 1 gig ram any1 else had problems

I just wanted to say that I think it's amazing that people are still having problems with this camera and It's people like Dan who create great informational blogs and help so many people out. Manufacturers should take note and start supporting the people that are helping advise 'their' customers!

I still love my Hitachi DZ-HV565E and use it all the time to capture great memories.

Keep up the good wok Dan, it's appreciated by all.

Rich

I read this before buying the camera... then purchased it and so far, no problems. I bought a 8GB SDHC card from amazon.co.uk and have been out filming for the last month or so. My only issue is that you cannot pause recording and then carry on recording in the same clip. You have to start, stop and then start again - which means a new clip is recorded. So, you cannot pauses while recording. The other issue, it records in high quality MP4 which is not compatible with Windows Moviemaker, so you have to convert clips to AVI which makes you lose quality.

Other than that.. cracking camera...and you can check out my work @ www.umaronline.tk

Thanks

p.s.. anyone know where I can buy a decent tripod and another battery for the camera?

I tried plugging the camera into my hdTV and it didn't work. The camera LCD screen went blank, the camera was still on but blank and there was nothing on TV. Can anyone help on TV playback. Thanks

I know how to convert the .mp4 format from this camera and make vob files play smoothly on your home dvd player.
Took most of my hair mind and 3 nights of little sleep.
If you need the info just post here.
Thanks to the original poster for this page.
PS using a no thrills scandisk 2 gb sd card in mine and no problems.

Nice reviews here guys. I got one of these yesterday and I am very impressed. Like many I don't want £££££'s technology for taking away on holidays and trips out. For £117 this is the business. Proper HD, easy to use, takes cheap cards (more on that in a moment) and does what it says on the tin.

Like many I am always snapping stuff on my mobile and wanted better quality but small and light so I can chuck it in my pocket. I have very young children and miss out on so much stuff - in fact nearly all of my videos are from Mobile phone as that is convenient.

This camera does the job - there appears to be people moaning about the camera, but this always seems to be card quality. I played with one of these long ago when they were more expensive and put in a cheap card I had - it egg timered me out. In it now is a 8GB MicroSD HC (in a SD card holder of course!) and it is no problem. The first video I took with it though didn't save. When I put the card into my MAC it was empty (no folders nothing). I formatted it (using it's own menu) and since then no problems at all. Seems it needs a format to put it's folders in place and you are good to go. The fact there are so many impressive You Tube videos taken with it - snow vids will seriously test and cameras white balance - testifies to it's use.

If you want a pro, high end camera then this isn't it - but in todays YouTube Facebook world - we want light, easy to use and fun - this camera has all that.

I have made some vids on my Mac and even some DVD and the quality is superb. I haven't got a 1080 TV, just a 720 but the quality is very nice. Have mine set to 720 and Fine - get nearly 3 hours on a 8GB card - sorted!

Sorry, meant to say that my MicroSD HC is a Sandisk. Seems this brand is the one to get!

As for software, sorry guys but I have an iMac and guess what - you don't need to convert anything. Plug in the camera, screen pops up to import direct into iMovie/iDVD - a 30 minute movie/dvd takes about 20 minutes to process with menus and everything - and not a codec download in sight.

If you are seriously into your movie production - sell Bill Gate's PC and get a Mac. Worth every penny.

Took the plunge and bought this:
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/108...

got past the magic 26sec mark with no problems straight out of the box. thought they were great value for 2 8gb cards with free delivery

just thought i would share it with you guys!

Hi

I dont know anything about Camcorders but have found this site helpful
I looking at buying the above camcorder, will it record in good quality for banger racing etc? and fast moving objects?
And can some1 help with a decent memory card, as the reports are confusing on here
Thanks

SanDisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card, will this be a good card to have and will it work?
Also, how long roughly will it record for on this card?
Thanks

Bought this the other day, stuck my sandisk 8gig micro sdhc in it in a holder. Works perfectly, videos can only be viewed through media player, anything else and it stutters. Viewing the videos back on my panansonic 1080p tv the recording was very very good. Really was not expecting that quality. The zoom is smooth, autofocus is easily fixed by zooming in and out.
I really cant find anything bad to say about it. Obviously low light situations it suffers. Recording at 1080p res with fine detail apparently for 2hours 11 mins as stated in the instruction book provided.

Hi
Just bought the camcorder and an 8GB Sandisk SDHC card. Had problem on playback as the camera 'froze' when deleting pictures. It donned on me that the card needed to be formatted. This solved the problem.

When the card is placed in card reader the computer doesn't recognise the files. When bringing up the card reader drive in my computer it acts as though the disk is empty then says that the disk needs to be formatted.

Can you help?

Hi Paul!

Thanks for your comments. I tried a 2GB SD card. Took a few pics. Put it into card reader and it worked fine. May have to look into an up-date on my card reader.

Bill

As we've already discovered, Argos is licensed to use sell sorts of re-badged items including a whole raft of "Morphy Richards" products. I'm old enough to remember when we laughed at cheap Japanese imports but I reckon China is rapidly improving in some areas, though I'd still be wary, from a safety angle, of some of their toys for my grandchildren! I could possibly be the guy who mentioned going via VHS as a quick way to get an acceptable DVD, though I did say that there was a loss of quality from HD, which was slightly alleviated by the up-scaling of my Toshiba DVD/VCR recorder. I went this route as a quicker alternative to software when quality was not of the absolute essence since I'm well used to building up VHS tapes from the old VHSC ones in my antique camcorder. Overall I'm well pleased with the "Hitachi" though I do miss the ability to pause and edit within the recorder itself and also the fact that I'm unable to record HD quality directly onto DVD in my Toshiba.

Paul

Please help!!

I know this has been mentioned before, but no answer was posted.

When i record in anything other than VGA mode, I get a delay between the sound and the image (sound first, then video) of about 2 seconds (worse on full HD) ,

Is this a duff camera? duff cards? duff PC? or have i got a setting wrong somewhere?

I really need this sorting as I go on hols in 2 weeks and this is what the cam was bought for.

Any good tutorials on how to get this thing to capture HD quality vids,have the 8gb-6 class etc,but i just cant get that super hq quality.ive gone from 720-1080-even vga,ut its still grainy for me.
thank you

There is a new version of Windows live movie maker that supports HD videos in 720p and 1080p. Here is the link

(edited) http://download.live.com/moviemaker

The program does not run on Windows XP. It works on Windows Vista and Windows 7. Hopefully it will support these mp4 files also.

I have not installed the program as I am running XP. If you dont want to use the link I provided just google Windows Live Movie Maker and that should send you to the right place.

I have tried converting the files to a format that windows movie maker does support but it usually stretches the picture and the images look crap.............. hopefully this will help you guys out.

Hi all, not been here for sometime now, been happy with my purchase (still no firmware update though). I found this software called MediaShow Espresso its by cyberlink of all people. Link is:

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/mediashow-espres...

Software cost £29.99 but you can try the trial first. Its really simple and works very well on my old p4 machie. God nows how well it will perform on a more up to date machine.... I've been leaving it to convert bulk lots of 1080p files to mpeg2/wmv, and im now able to edit without ne hassles in adobe premiere and windows movie maker. I cant tell you how highly i rate this conversion software.

When i use to play the 1080p hi res files they use to stutter and go out of sync in VLC, to fix this i did the following:

- Open the "Preferences" dialog and select show all settings, navigate to "Input / Codecs" -> "Other Codecs" -> "FFmpeg"
- Change the setting of "Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding" to "All"

Umaronline, when your screen goes blank on you camera, I know this might be silly but are you changing your source on your tv? coz the screen on my camera goes blank aswel, i then chnage the source to component i think on my 50" Sammi and then i can see the screen from the cam on the tv. Anyhow to be honest with you connecting it directly to the tv is shite. I use my laptop through the vga connection (full 1080p) and the 1080p files look crystal clear. howver im thinking of buying a hd media player, one that maybe has a SD port, like the AC ryan playonHD player, or the popcorn hour (usb port), and using that for all my media plus when i wana watch my camera files id just take the card out pop it into the machine which would be connected to the plasma via a hdmi cable.

nehow i think i waffled on too much, better get back to some work....night shift...grrr

let me know how u get on.

Rick

could you tell me what charger I need for this as I cannot find one anywhere

can anyone please tell me if you can change the shutter speeds ?
from what i know is that you need to select different modes to obtain the desired shutter speed. Any ideas as to which mode has the fastest/slowest shutter speed ?

thank you

Have found this blog extremely useful in deciding whether to get this camera or not. Have bought it today and just put the battery on charge, it says, in notes on battery usage, to charge and discharge once then recharge before use. What is the way to discharge it? I would appreciate some advice, thanks

Thanks Dan, now I can get on and use the camera.

Well here you go. Here is my first effort with this camera. And first shot at editing too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2EWpuuPXcY

hello.

No one else here seems to have this problem but I have not idea what I can be doing wrong. if anyone could help that would be great.

When I drag and drop the files fromn the camera to my pc I get this error message -

'Cannot copy PICT...the parameter is incorrect'

This seems to happen with files over 20mb - and because that's only about 2 minutes that's pretty much all of them!

The card is formatted (SanDisc SD 2, 2GB). Surely this camera is designed to take films longer than 2 minutes?

Any solutions would be most welcome. thanks.

D.

I bought this camera a couple of months ago ..... thought i would share some of the things i have been shooting with this .... they are very very random pics and videos but thats all i do :) lol

check out the pics at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asajid/

or view some videos at

http://www.youtube.com/user/The8941
http://www.youtube.com/user/The8941#p/u/3/mGeLr4v9yzg

thanks :)

I'm selling mine

Used only once but it wasn't practical for what i wanted
I thought it was small enough to fit strapped to my goggles for skiing but it was a little too bulky and i didn't want to be holding it.
I tried it in an indoor slope last month

I've ended up with a second hand samsung miniket that has a built in helmet bullet cam.
quality isn't anywhere as good but I will use it

I've taken less than 10 mins of video with The Hitachi and was pleased with the results but i'm not a great skier and cant be holding a camcorder and trying to miss the others

It comes with an 8gb card that i had no issues with

Don't suppose i've got the box as i buy too much rubbish to keep all the boxes.
Manual, charger and 8gb card included

I want £70 plus postage call it £75

Jason
07958 459725

How can i put the videos straight into Movie maker and edit them and publish?
Everytime i do it, it crashes and the files are huge- I have to convert them and then put them into movie maker, publish them but i lose a lot of quality once compressed etc
I have the disc at home but doesnt seem to be anything of use on it!
can u help or give advice?
Thanks

I contacted Hitachi about downloading the neccessary drivers for this camera (I broke the disk). I recieved this reply:

There are no Drivers available to download. Everything that you need would be on the Disc supplied.

Additional copies of this disc, if available, can be obtained from our spares supplier, Charles Hyde Ltd., Tel. No. 01759 303 068

Last month I spent 2 weeks with my family in Sicily (just below Mount Etna). For reasons of convenience and weight the only camera I took was this little Hitachi with an 8 gig card. The decision proved to be excellent and I now have a great mix of video runs and stills. Occasionally I mistakenly forgot to change the mode when I wanted a still shot so there are a few unintentional mini video runs but all in all I am still impressed with this great little camera.