CD Freaks presents a series of Questions and Answers with people working in the Consumer Electronics industry. Questions are gathered by posting a thread in the forums where community members can ask people working in the Consumer Electronics industry what they always really wanted to know.
After a week the questions are collected, send to the right person and the answers are posted here, at CDFreaks.com.
This week we post the answers to your questions asked to Hitachi.
1. Could you tell something about Hitachi ’s history in the camcorder market?
Hitachi has a heritage of bringing new innovations to the camcorder market, many people don’t know Hitachi invented the worlds first hard disk camcorder in 1999, the worlds first DVD camcorder in 2001, the worlds first Hybrid HDD+DVD camcorders in 2006 and last summer Hitachi launched the worlds first Blu-ray Disc Camcorders. Hitachi has always pioneered new camcorder innovations that match peoples needs to capture their families earliest memories and developments for viewing in years to come with increasingly easy to use and better performing camcorders.
2. You are part of the Blu-ray Disc Association. Why did Hitachi choose Blu-ray?
Blu-ray Disc has established the new benchmark in high definition optical disc for camcorder. Now it is possible to record full high definition 1920x1080 image quality on a removable media that is easily ejected from the camcorder and played back in home BD players or compatible games consoles offering great convenience and consumer friendliness. Blu-ray Disc media, like DVD, is also ideal for its reliable archiving characteristics, unlike PC hard disk drive storage it is more difficult for it to be written over inadvertently or become corrupted or just lost amongst other files. Right now BD offers the best possible image quality and for years to come it can hold family memories reliably in a compact and future proof format and as a comparably lower cost media than other alternatives such as memory stick and SD card it is a better way share with family and friends. Like 8cm DVD, Blu-ray Disc has many user friendly benefits but fundamentally the possibility to record up to 1 hour of full high definition 1920x1080 on each 8cm Blu-ray Disc makes it a great new format for high definition camcorders.
3. Do you expect Blu-ray to take over the DVD market? Will high-definition go mainstream?
In the camcorder market a much greater proportion of the market is currently occupied by DVD camcorders than Blu-ray Disc Camcorders however the camcorder market is changing and high definition is fast becoming the mainstream in Europe . Blu-ray Disc is a better media to record high definition footage than DVD because its greater capacity, nearly 5x that of DVD, means it is possible to record for 1 hour in full HD quality, significantly longer than what is possible to DVD in similar quality.
4. Apple is also part of the BDA. Your newest camcorder doesn’t support Mac, why is this and will this change in the future?
Regarding iMovie software support offered for digital camcorder products - please contact Apple
5.How do your features help the customer with using the camcorder?
Many features of DZ-BD7HE and DZ-BD70E Blu-ray Disc Camcorders are designed with user friendliness in mind including;
- Interactive Guide button; onscreen assistance with tasks such as choosing media, connecting the camcorder to TV etc
- Full Auto button; sets all camcorder functions to automatic point and shoot mode
- One Touch Dubbing button; by pressing this button scenes recorded to DZ-BD7HE’s hard disk drive can be copied to 8cm Blu-ray Discs or DVDs, without a PC
- Improved location and tactility of main buttons; playback navigation is located next to the LCD screen and can be controlled similar to a joystick allowing easier navigation through scene playback, fast forward reverse etc
- One Second Quick Start; the fastest BD CAM startup time from sleep mode – during sleep mode the camcorder also uses approximately 50% less battery power
6. On your website you say the following: “we continue to deliver technology and know how that improves your life”. Could you give an example?
Hitachi examines people’s needs and develops innovative digital media products to satisfy them. For example DZ-BD7HE Blu-ray Disc Camcorder features ‘Hybrid technology’ which combines the convenience of an on-board Blu-ray Disc / DVD burner with the capacity of a hard disk drive. This means customers can to record 4 hours of full high definition 1920x1080 footage the hard disk, edit it on board the camcorder then burn multiple Blu-ray Discs or DVDs that can be shared with friends quickly.
Imagine this in the context of a group of friends on holiday, on the last day of the holiday the person that has been using the camcorder can share the memories before even getting home, burning DVDs to share memories quickly and easily – other camcorders without hybrid technology require other processes and hardware such as PC connection simply just to share memories with others.
7. Will there be support for recording in high definition to recordable DVD (AVCHD DVD) or SD media in future models?
Hitachi has no plans at this moment, but is always observing the market trends and needs so may consider SD media in camcorders if the needs among the consumers become more important.
8. Can these camcorders record in 720p or standard definition to Blu-ray disc, such as to allow for extended recording times when standard definition or 720p quality is sufficient?
Please observe the description of the various recording quality modes available for DZ-BD70E and DZ-BD7HE.
9. Are dual layer 8 cm BD-R and BD-RE discs supported?
No
10. Does Hitachi have any plans to develop HD DVD or dual format (HD DVD – Blu-ray) camcorder models
No
11. Can the recorded video content on Blu-ray, DVD or HDD be accessed over the camcorder’s USB connection?
Yes via PC USB 2.0 and supplied ImageMixer 3 HD Edition for BD CAM
12. What is the road map for 2.5" SATA drives to be released for 2008? Drive Size, RPM, and Approx Date?
Hitachi has introduced two new mobile 2.5-inch drives already in 2008. The first of these is the world’s highest capacity 2.5-inch mobile hard drive. The Travelstar 5K500 is a 5400 RPM, 3-disk (12.5mm height) mobile drive, available in 400 and 500GB capacities. Hitachi also recently introduced the Travelstar 5K320, a new 5,400 RPM drive with maximum available capacity of 320GB. The new drives deliver the right capacity and performance options to meet the needs of IT and consumer electronics manufacturers. The new drives feature optional Bulk Data Encryption (BDE) for users requiring increased data security and enhanced availability models designed for use in 24x7 environments.
13. Is it true that some 2.5" drives will be too thick to fit in current laptops? Which of the above drives have this issue?
The Travelstar 5K500 uses a 3-disk design platform, which results in a 12.5mm “z-height”. The majority of notebook PCs today are designed for use with 2.5-inch drives that have a 9.5mm z-height. While the market opportunity for 12.5mm drives may be relatively small today, we are expecting it to grow significantly over the next several years, as storage capacity requirements are growing rapidly.
14. I've heard that some of the latest big 2.5" SATA drives are only available to computer manufacturers and not the public. If there are two different dates, then also please tell us when some of the large drives will be available for us to order and install into our own personal laptop computers.
Because the Travelstar 5K500 (500GB maximum capacity) features a z-height of 12.5mm, it has limited application for end-users wanting to upgrade their notebook PC drives. For these users, we recommend the Travelstar 5K320 (maximum capacity of 320GB), which is now shipping to customers worldwide.
15. What is the road map for 3.5" drives for 2008?
As a matter of policy, we cannot comment on unannounced products.
16. Do you plan to release any 1TB or larger 3.5" PATA drives? I've noticed that PATA drives end at 750GB.
We cannot speculate about future product announcements, but can tell you that currently, the Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 is the highest-capacity (500GB) desktop-class drive to offer a Parallel ATA interface.
17. Do you have any plans for encrypted hard drives? In what form factor?
Hitachi has been shipping 2.5-inch Travelstar drives with Bulk Data Encryption (BDE) for the past three product generations. Most recently the Travelstar 5K500 and 5K320 ship with optional BDE Encryption technology provides increased data security by helping to guard against data loss and piracy. This new technology, where data is scrambled using a key as it is written to the disk then descrambled with the key as it is retrieved, gives users a higher level of data protection than traditional password-based security available today. An additional benefit of BDE is speeding and simplifying the drive re-deployment process. By deleting the encryption key, the data on the drive is rendered unreadable, thereby eliminating the need for time-consuming data-erasure.
18. You use Renesas and Panasonic controller chips on your drive while the rest drive manufacturers use one brand only. You release drives with almost identical specifications but one using Renesas and the other Panasonic chip. What is the reason?
As a matter of policy, Hitachi does not comment on relationships with its component suppliers.
19. Are there any thoughts on leaving Panasonic or Renesas?
As a matter of policy, Hitachi does not comment on relationships with its component suppliers.
20. Do you visit forums about data storage, like CDFreaks?
Yes, CDFreaks and similar forums that focus on digital storage are quite popular among Hitachi employees.
We would like to thank Hitachi for cooperating with us and answering the questions.
