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Hitachi DZ-MV730A
The DZ-MV730 is Hitachi’s entry level DVD camcorder this year. It is armed with a mediocre imager, standard among lower-end DVD machines, and performs accordingly. While it also lacks a USB port, a big detriment to convenience-hungry consumers, the camcorder might be a nice, cheaper option to the DZ-MV780 or Sony's DCR-DVD7.
Video Performance(6.5)
The DZ-MV730 is Hitachi’s least advanced camcorder, CCD-wise. And it shows. The DZ-MV730 ships with a 1/6” CCD with 680K pixels (340K effective for both stills and video). The DZ-MV730 certainly performs worse than the other Hitachi we’ve tested, the DZ-MV780. This makes sense, as the DZ-MV780 has a bigger CCD with more pixels.
At 3000 lux, a testing environment equivalent to a bright sunny day, the DZ-MV730 produced noisier video that lacked the crispness of the DZ-MV780. Also, the DZ-MV780 shows a better grayscale, especially in the whites. The colors between these two camcorders are, surprisingly, of equal quality.
Compared to last year’s Hitachis, the DZ-MV730 performs differently than the DZ-MV550, but not necessarily better. Colors are crisper, but the DZ-MV550 shows better colors overall. The DZ-MV550 also has some blue noise which has been corrected on this year’s model.
Video Resolution(11.4)
The Hitachi DZ-MV730 captured video footage of a standard resolution chart in its standard 4:3 aspect. The stills were exported to Imatest Imaging software to determine the camcorder’s true video resolution. In 4:3 mode, the camcorder gave us approximately 261.1 lines of vertical resolution at its best, with approximately 436 line of horizontal resolution, producing a true resolution of 113839.6(0.1MP). In 16:9 mode the Hitachi gave us approximately 258 lines of vertical resolution, at its best, and approximately 331.7 lines of horizontal resolution, yielding a true resolution of 85578.6 (0.08 MP).
Zoom Control (6.0)
The zoom control on the Hitachi DZ-MV730 is okay. It is perfectly placed, but suffers from being hard to control. While a bit easier than some Panasonic zoom toggles, to which it is similar in shape, it still suffers from the lack of grip that many of Panasonic’s MiniDV camcorders have. It’s right under the index finger though.
Focus (6.0)
The manual focus control on the DZ-MV730 is its worst manual control and is practically unusable. Adjusted using small, hard to press buttons under the LCD screen, focus provides no indication of whether or not it is “in” or “out” aside from the LCD screen’s image.
Exposure (Aperture) (4.0)
The Exposure control on the DZ-MV730 is almost as bad as the focus, and is virtually unusable. Controlled with the same buttons, this control is visualized along a long +/- meter on the LCD screen. No indication of F-stops or shutter speed settings are given.
Shutter Speed (0.0)
There are no shutter speed controls on the DZ-MV730, just a selection of Program AE presets.
White Balance (6.0)
Perhaps the most useful manual control on a camcorder severely lacking in the manual control department, white balance can be accessed in the DZ-MV730’s menu system, which is navigated by use of the navigational four-way button located above the LCD screen. Settings include Auto, Set (manual), Outdoor, Indoor 1, Indoor 2. Outdoor and both Indoors are presets, which hone the camcorder’s automatic adjustments to particular environments. Indoor 1 should be used when viewing incandescent bulbs, Indoor 2 for fluorescents.
Gain (0.0)
There are no manual gain controls on the Hitachi DZ-MV730.
Other Manual Control (0.0)
There are no other manual controls on the DZ-MV730.
Ease of Use(5.0)
While the DZ-MV730, as well as other Hitachi DVD camcorders this year, presents some improvements in the ease of use category, it should be noted that this camcorder is not easy to use when in manual mode, nor can it hold a candle to Sony’s DVD camcorder line this year.
Hitachi has, like Panasonic, eliminated the need to use cartridges on the DVD-RAMs used in the camcorder now, which makes things a bit easier, but now you have to take the discs out of the cartridge in the first place. This at least allows the camcorder to be a lot smaller than last year’s, which is a plus.
Still Features (4.0)
The DZ-MV730 has little in the way of still features. The Still Camera mode can be selected using the camcorder’s mode dial; just move to the camera icon. Menu options in still mode are very similar to those in camcorder mode. All the manual controls that exist in camcorder mode are available here, including focus, exposure, and white balance. Stills can only be captured at a resolution of 640 x 480, but they can be stored on either SD/MM card or DVD disc. The option of capturing stills on DVD disc alone is enticing, as the discs can hold so many pictures. The only bad thing is that these pictures will be of mediocre quality and small.
Still Performance (6.5)
The DZ-MV730 produces stills of lesser quality than the DZ-MV780. They have a lot more noise and really lack the crispness of the more advanced camcorder’s stills. The DZ-MV730 also can only capture stills at 640 x 480 which speaks against its versatility. The DZ-MV730 can capture stills to card media, which is something that the Sony DVD line cannot do.
Still Resolution (6.18)
Stills of a standard resolution chart from the Hitachi DZ-MV730 were exported to Imatest Imaging Software in order to calibrate it’s still resolution. The camcorder can only capture stills in the standard 4:3 mode at 640 x 480. This model produced best possible resolution of 82468.92 (0.08 MP).
Low Light Performance (2.25)
The DZ-MV730 was probably the worst performer of any Hitachi this year. Its low light results were marred with imperfections, and some blue noise that usually only occurs with such frequency on Sony camcorders
KIT INCLUDES
Hitachi DZ-MV730A NEW!
Waterproof Storage Bag
NEW Battery Charger
2 NEW Batteries
4 FREE Ready DVD's
Retail $ 950.00
On Sale $499.99
Video Performance(6.5)
The DZ-MV730 is Hitachi’s least advanced camcorder, CCD-wise. And it shows. The DZ-MV730 ships with a 1/6” CCD with 680K pixels (340K effective for both stills and video). The DZ-MV730 certainly performs worse than the other Hitachi we’ve tested, the DZ-MV780. This makes sense, as the DZ-MV780 has a bigger CCD with more pixels.
At 3000 lux, a testing environment equivalent to a bright sunny day, the DZ-MV730 produced noisier video that lacked the crispness of the DZ-MV780. Also, the DZ-MV780 shows a better grayscale, especially in the whites. The colors between these two camcorders are, surprisingly, of equal quality.
Compared to last year’s Hitachis, the DZ-MV730 performs differently than the DZ-MV550, but not necessarily better. Colors are crisper, but the DZ-MV550 shows better colors overall. The DZ-MV550 also has some blue noise which has been corrected on this year’s model.
Video Resolution(11.4)
The Hitachi DZ-MV730 captured video footage of a standard resolution chart in its standard 4:3 aspect. The stills were exported to Imatest Imaging software to determine the camcorder’s true video resolution. In 4:3 mode, the camcorder gave us approximately 261.1 lines of vertical resolution at its best, with approximately 436 line of horizontal resolution, producing a true resolution of 113839.6(0.1MP). In 16:9 mode the Hitachi gave us approximately 258 lines of vertical resolution, at its best, and approximately 331.7 lines of horizontal resolution, yielding a true resolution of 85578.6 (0.08 MP).
Zoom Control (6.0)
The zoom control on the Hitachi DZ-MV730 is okay. It is perfectly placed, but suffers from being hard to control. While a bit easier than some Panasonic zoom toggles, to which it is similar in shape, it still suffers from the lack of grip that many of Panasonic’s MiniDV camcorders have. It’s right under the index finger though.
Focus (6.0)
The manual focus control on the DZ-MV730 is its worst manual control and is practically unusable. Adjusted using small, hard to press buttons under the LCD screen, focus provides no indication of whether or not it is “in” or “out” aside from the LCD screen’s image.
Exposure (Aperture) (4.0)
The Exposure control on the DZ-MV730 is almost as bad as the focus, and is virtually unusable. Controlled with the same buttons, this control is visualized along a long +/- meter on the LCD screen. No indication of F-stops or shutter speed settings are given.
Shutter Speed (0.0)
There are no shutter speed controls on the DZ-MV730, just a selection of Program AE presets.
White Balance (6.0)
Perhaps the most useful manual control on a camcorder severely lacking in the manual control department, white balance can be accessed in the DZ-MV730’s menu system, which is navigated by use of the navigational four-way button located above the LCD screen. Settings include Auto, Set (manual), Outdoor, Indoor 1, Indoor 2. Outdoor and both Indoors are presets, which hone the camcorder’s automatic adjustments to particular environments. Indoor 1 should be used when viewing incandescent bulbs, Indoor 2 for fluorescents.
Gain (0.0)
There are no manual gain controls on the Hitachi DZ-MV730.
Other Manual Control (0.0)
There are no other manual controls on the DZ-MV730.
Ease of Use(5.0)
While the DZ-MV730, as well as other Hitachi DVD camcorders this year, presents some improvements in the ease of use category, it should be noted that this camcorder is not easy to use when in manual mode, nor can it hold a candle to Sony’s DVD camcorder line this year.
Hitachi has, like Panasonic, eliminated the need to use cartridges on the DVD-RAMs used in the camcorder now, which makes things a bit easier, but now you have to take the discs out of the cartridge in the first place. This at least allows the camcorder to be a lot smaller than last year’s, which is a plus.
Still Features (4.0)
The DZ-MV730 has little in the way of still features. The Still Camera mode can be selected using the camcorder’s mode dial; just move to the camera icon. Menu options in still mode are very similar to those in camcorder mode. All the manual controls that exist in camcorder mode are available here, including focus, exposure, and white balance. Stills can only be captured at a resolution of 640 x 480, but they can be stored on either SD/MM card or DVD disc. The option of capturing stills on DVD disc alone is enticing, as the discs can hold so many pictures. The only bad thing is that these pictures will be of mediocre quality and small.
Still Performance (6.5)
The DZ-MV730 produces stills of lesser quality than the DZ-MV780. They have a lot more noise and really lack the crispness of the more advanced camcorder’s stills. The DZ-MV730 also can only capture stills at 640 x 480 which speaks against its versatility. The DZ-MV730 can capture stills to card media, which is something that the Sony DVD line cannot do.
Still Resolution (6.18)
Stills of a standard resolution chart from the Hitachi DZ-MV730 were exported to Imatest Imaging Software in order to calibrate it’s still resolution. The camcorder can only capture stills in the standard 4:3 mode at 640 x 480. This model produced best possible resolution of 82468.92 (0.08 MP).
Low Light Performance (2.25)
The DZ-MV730 was probably the worst performer of any Hitachi this year. Its low light results were marred with imperfections, and some blue noise that usually only occurs with such frequency on Sony camcorders
KIT INCLUDES
Hitachi DZ-MV730A NEW!
Waterproof Storage Bag
NEW Battery Charger
2 NEW Batteries
4 FREE Ready DVD's
Retail $ 950.00
On Sale $499.99
