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| Remanufactured Hitachi DZMV550A DVD Camcorder w/18x Optical Zoom | 
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| Brand: Hitachi
Category: CE
List Price: $999.99
Buy Used: $260.00
You Save: $739.99 (74%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 28246
Media: Electronics
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Optical Zoom: 18
Display Size: 2.5
Maximum Focal Length: 37.8
Minimum Focal Length: 2.1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.4
Dimensions (in): 13.3 x 12.8 x 8
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: DZMV550
Model: MV550A
UPC: 050585223431
EAN: 0050585223431
ASIN: B0001SADGC
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | 18x optical zoom lens; 500x digital zoom with Advanced Stable Pix electronic image stabilization | | • | 2.5-inch color LCD monitor; 113K pixel color viewfinder | | • | USB 2.0 compatible; Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot; Quick Mode menu | | • | Powered by DZ-BP14SW rechargeable Lithium-ion battery (included with AC adapter/charger) | | • | Compact DVD Camcorder and 1 MP digital still camera records to 3-inch DVD-R and DVD-RAM discs |
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| Accessories:
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| Editorial Reviews:
Note from the Manufacturer
DVD Camcorder Notice (from the manufacturer): Hitachi Home Electronics America can only verify Maxell brand DVD discs for use with Hitachi DVD Camcorders. Hitachi has three main reasons for not supporting other manufacturers discs:
- Not all discs have the same standards for actual construction, therefore some may not work. An example of this is a disc that has a very thin writing surface, one so thin that the DVD Camcorder laser cannot properly write information.
- Quality of discs...some discs may be able to be written to, but will also peel and become defective within a short period of time. This can happen within a year or so after writing a disc, which is unacceptable for someone trying to document memories.
- While some DVD-R discs can be written and finalized from our camcorder, the percentage of DVD players that can playback that disc is greatly reduced due to different writing surface depths.
While other manufacturers may make discs that appear to be compatible, and may sometimes work, the only discs that Hitachi can verify as suitable for the Hitachi DVD Camcorders, for functionality and longevity and playback, are the Maxell brand discs.
Product Description
The DZMV550A camcorder represents a revolution to create home movies. Record directly to DVD-R, finalize and remove the disc from the camcorder and play it on any standard DVD player. Added is the new "Quick Mode" menu design for easy operation. No need for fast-forwarding and rewinding with direct access to recorded scenes. These cameras feature high quality optics with multi-coated lens elements for optimal image contrast and color accuracy.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 DO NOT BUY THIS CAMCORDER! June 20, 2008
I own this camera and recently decided to just trash the darn thing. What a huge waste of money and a huge disappointment. My first problem with the camera is that it ONLY works with Maxell disks. I realize NOW that these are "recommended" by the manufacturer, but this was not made clear to me when I purchased it, and it surprising how many stores don't carry the Maxell brand. For the few years since I've had this camera, we are constantly losing disks mid-use and getting error messages. Recently there was another error message and the darn thing won't even open. I can't tell you how much has been lost. And, even if you didn't have all of the hard drive problems that seem to be common to the camera, I find the DVD loading mechanism unnecessarily tricky to load. So, my recommendation is--avoid this camera. I saw a good review of it and purchased it, and it has been nothing but trouble. And from what i've read on other message boards, I am definitely not alone!
Do Not Buy May 2, 2007
Huge Problems finalizing and using the disks, even using the recommended Maxell brand. I just spent $200 on video capture hardware, so I could get my video off the dvd-r. Manufacturer did not tell me about dvd-ram disk, as being the only way of using the dvd right out of the camera. As you probably know, the video capture hardware will convert my video into an analog signal and then back into digital, drastically reducing the video quality. I can't believe that this company would be so irresponsible with people's precious time and memories. Do not buy this camera.
 princess April 7, 2006
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
We ordered one from QVC last September 30th. I just started to use it in December 25th 2005. I have been having trouble with buying -RW and -R discs. It came with Maxwell -R and one -RW. I purchased -RW Sony and it would not read any of the three discs. I Purchased -R Memorix and out of 10 discs it was able to read and format only 6 in the package. I suggest to be careful when buying discs and opening carefully. Check with the stores return policy. Other than this concern the camera functions well. Amazon has a better price than QVC also.
 Major issues with camera March 13, 2006
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
I bought this camera with high hopes as it was recommended by Consumer Reports. I have had very mixed results. Using the camera is easy. No problems there. However, as soon as I am done with a disc the problems begin. First of all, I have had 4 out of 12 discs not finalize correctly. This causes the DVD to NOT be copyable. Basically, if my DVD ever scratches or gets lost, my video is gone forever. Big problem.
I just videotaped my daughter's first birthday. Got 27 minutes into it, when the DVD gave me an error message and the disc is officially done. I can't ever get this video back.
In summary, if you are willing to lose your most precious memories every so often, and don't mind not having a back up copy..this camera is great. Otherwise, you might want to shop with some other vendor.
A great camcorder, but..... March 8, 2005
50 out of 52 found this review helpful
I purchased this on a lark at a Circuit City store that was closing, so I only paid $450 and could return it with no restocking fee (because it was "open box"). For taking movies I really loved it. The image quality was very nice, the controls were fairly logical and easy to figure out, and the image stabilizer worked very nicely. On a cold Chicago day (20 deg F) I brought it into a butterfly garden (78 deg F and VERY humid) and the lens defogged faster than any other I've owned and the recorder was unaffected. The only problem was what to do AFTER shooting the video.
If you use the DVD-R discs (about $2 each at Sam's Club), you need to "finalize" the disc before it can be played in a regular DVD player. This takes 23 minutes and requires using the AC adapter, which is unacceptable. And you get poor DVD menus. Or, you can use the re-usable DVD-RAM discs ($18 each in stores, $6 on the internet) but these discs won't work in most DVD players or computer DVD burners.
So, I took some video with DVD-R discs, and it came out fine, but I didn't like spending $2 apiece for discs that held 30 minutes of video with poor menus.
And I took some video with a DVD-RAM disc. This video came out a little nicer, but was a little more work. First I had to download the video onto my computer (a late 2002 model Celeron). That was easy enough through the USB cable. If I updgraded to USB 2.0, it would be even faster. Then, on the computer, I loaded the video files into the DVD burning program. This was very un-intuitive, but I figured it out. Then the program burned my DVD. It took almost an hour, which is unacceptable, but the result was a beautiful and professional looking DVD disc. A more up-to-date computer, with a Pentium 4 processor and faster hard disk, probably would have done this task in much less time.
So I reluctantly returned the camcorder. I say reluctanly because it fit my hand almost perfectly, and I really enjoyed the quality of video produced by the DVD-RAM disc and software. Really it was much nicer than my Sharp VL-NZ50 camcorder. However, I didn't like time consuming requirements to get a disc that would play in a DVD player. Also, my old camcorder works fine, so it was hard to justify buying another one. I gave it 4 stars because of the price I paid. After I returned it to Circuit City, I looked at the regular price for this model and it was $699. I wouldn't pay $699 for this. In fact at $699 I would only give this 3 stars. For $699 I expect a 5 star++ experience.
My advice - If you want a DVD camcorder, and you have a good computer with a DVD burner on it, and you are computer literate, and have $700 to burn, then you will be able to enjoy using this camcorder. Otherwise you will hate it. I'm going to hold out another year. By then the price of this model will be much lower, and there will be new models much easier to use.
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