DZ-BD7H and DZ-BD70 camcorders from Hitachi record straight to Blu-ray discs

If you've already chosen your side in the format wars between Blu-ray and HD DVD, you might want to check out these two new camcorders from Hitachi. That is if you're a Blu-ray supporter.

The DZ-BD7H and DZ-BD70 each have the ability to record an hour of 1920 x 1080 HD footage on a single Blu-ray disc. They each feature a 5.3MP CMOS sensor with 2.07MP for video and 4.32MP for still shots. A 10x electronically stabilized zoom and 2.7-inch LCD top the list of features. Unfortunately, not much information was given on what actually separates the two models.

Unless these come pretty cheap (which I doubt) I wouldn't really bother with them. Even if you're a Blu-ray enthusiast you're still only getting an hour of video. Not to mention that you'll be paying an arm and a leg for the discs. Plus these are currently only slated for release in Japan.

HITACHI to release Blu-ray camcorder [via aving]