Good colour reproduction at a bargain price.

Hitachi DZ-MV100A

Video-on-demand servers running smoothly.

Hitachi pioneered the idea of consumer cameras capable of recording video direct to DVD. The early models were large and relatively expensive but high quality. It has taken a while for the idea to take off but it is certainly gaining momentum with a number of competitors now coming into the market. Hitachi has responded by progressively making its cameras more compact and adding extra features such as a SD memory card for storing still images or compressed video clips.

Blu-ray and HD DVD players will come out fighting this year. We reveal which format is best placed to be DVD’s successor.

Hitachi VM-D965LE Video

Burn straight onto a disc or choose the hybrid HDD model.

Hitachi pioneered the concept of recording digital video direct to DVD . Now into its third generation of DVD cameras, a few competitors have appeared on the horizon with its first generation models

HITACHI DZ-MV208E

Hitachi DZ-MV100E

Buying a digital video camera is a tough task, but you’ll be well prepared with our comprehensive guide.

If the CCD is the brain of a digital video camera it is logical that three should be better than one. A single CCD has to deal with all colours together while a 3-CCD system divides the primary red, green and blue (RGB) colours to individual CCDs to give a much more precise and accurate picture. The result is a high quality image that is as good as any of the cameras tested - including the Sony DVD201E, which provided the benchmark for most of the others.

Dan Chiappini delves into multimedia jargon in our monthly tech term glossary.

High-capacity desktop drives have never been so affordable. Darien Graham-Smith puts 23 to the test to find the best

The tools for home movie-making have become far more accessible and functionally more versatile. While truly broadcast-quality images are still the domain of 'prosumer' and professional video cameras

There are almost as many acronyms for the various standards of DVD as there are companies involved in DVD development.

At just on $4,400, the 500A cannot really be considered a consumer DV camera, however, it is no doubt a camera a lot of consumers would like to own. However, the price and some annoying little problems stopped this camera from being the Labs Winner this month.

DVD is said to be to movies what CD was to music. Well-filmed DVD movies are better in all respects than those recorded on VHS, so the idea of a digital video camera recording direct to DVD disc would appear sound.

A month's worth of HD news in digest form.