Now that HD DVD has drawn its last gasp and the format war is over, Hitachi must be breathing a sigh of relief, having just introduced a pair of Blu-ray supporting HD camcorders, of which the 5.3mp CMOS sensor DZ-BD7HE is one. Due to the fact that it writes HD footage direct to 8cm diameter Blu-ray disc (and 4.3mp stills to SD card) – which slots into one side, much like a mini DV tape – it is, however, the bulkiest camcorder here, though a gentle curve to the metallic silver body does its best to disguise the fact.

It’s also the only one to feature moving recordable media, so there is a gentle operational hum and body vibration in use, unless you opt to record to the 30GB hard disk instead. There is additional flexibility and backwards compatibility – standard definition DVDs can also be read and written. Although this handily circumnavigates any compatibility issues, it rather negates the purpose of buying an HD model. It’s worth noting that when used in conjunction with the DZ-BD7HE, a Blu-ray disc allows for just 60 minutes of full HD recording time, but the hard drive boosts it to four hours. It is, however, worth keeping an eye on which option you have selected before pressing that record button.

Footage and stills are composed either using the flip-out 2.7in widescreen LCD or, like the Canon model, pullout electronic viewfinder. If you’re recording to hard drive rather than disc, an HDMI cable, standard video leads and USB 2.0 connectivity is provided.

We found the Hitachi a little slow to adjust focus when panning between subjects, while switching between one of the manually selectable white balance settings gave more accurate results than full auto. The small joystick located on the screen for tabbing between these options is awkward to use. It’s also lacks optical image stabilisation and too many recording options over-complicates operation.

Unfortunately, the Hitachi also delivers one of the noisiest low light performances here, and its lens provides a narrower field of view than the others. While colour is vivid, it’s too warm to match reality, and the audio is a little hollow sounding.