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.

It has done all this without losing any of the quality. DVD has some advantages over most mini DV tape cameras, in particular the amount of in-camera editing that can be done and the ability to transfer video via USB rather than having to rely on an IEEE 1394 DV connection, which most Windows PCs don't have anyway.

However, Hitachi has a couple of disadvantages over its competitors. In particular its continued use of the outmoded DVD-RAM as its rewritable format and the fact that its DVD's are encased in a cartridge making it difficult to use finalised DVD's in ordinary players or PCs.

Despite that the use of DVD means a cleaner design and less connectors to have to place or hide around the body of the camera. In fact, Hitachi even has the space to provide interchangeable lens covers so you can treat your camera as a virtual fashion accessory.
The MV550E has an 800,000 pixel CCD which provides a good quality image without being spectacular. The 18x power zoom is smooth to operate and the design of the camera makes it easy to access. Everything can be controlled by your thumb and forefinger and you have two choices for recording still photographs - memory cards or disc.

However, the MV550E offers only 640 x 480 still resolution which is too low to be of any use so the claim of being able to store almost 2000 images on a single disc means nothing unless you intend putting a lot of photos on the web, which is about all they are good for.

Overall, the MV550E has some good features but if you are looking for still images as well it would be better to pay the extra $200 and go for its brother the DZ-580E.