First DVD Camcorder Hits the Streets

Hitachi is now shipping the world's first DVD camcorder. Instead of video tape, this standard sized camcorder records home movies on a DVD disc about 40-percent smaller than traditional DVDs.
This product is the first to combine DVD with camcording. Hitachi's DVD-RAM Camcorder offers up to two hours of video, or it hold a whopping 2,000 still images (at about 1 million pixels) onto a DVD-RAM disc (about 1/3 the size of standard DVD/CD disc.)

The DVD-RAM discs used by Hitachi's DVD-RAM Camcorder are rewritable up to 100,000 times with no image degradation. DVD-RAM discs also outlast tape and feature multi-compatibility with DVD products, such as DVD-RAM equipped personal computers, future DVD-RAM recorders and future DVD players (NOTE: HITACHI DVD MOVIES WILL NOT WORK ON TODAY'S DVD PLAYERS). To playback, users can connect to a TV or plug into a PC via USB port or simply drop the disc into a PC equipped with a DVD-RAM drive for editing, printing, e-mailing or even posting recorded memories on a personal home page. It sells for $2000. www.avpeople.com