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Hitachi DZ HS500

Hitachi DZ HS500
Hitachi DZ HS500Hitachi DZ HS500Hitachi DZ HS500Hitachi DZ HS500Hitachi DZ HS500Hitachi DZ HS500Hitachi DZ HS500Hitachi DZ HS500Hitachi DZ HS500Hitachi DZ HS500
alaScore 84

43 reviews

Jun, 2025

alaTest has collected and analyzed 43 reviews of Hitachi DZ HS500. The average rating for this product is 4.1/5, compared to an average rating of 4.0/5 for other Camcorders for all reviews. Reviews about the battery and size are generally positive. The image quality and usability are also mentioned favorably. There are some negative views about the memory and durability.

price, usability, image quality, size, battery

portability, durability, memory

We analyzed user and expert ratings, product age and more factors. Compared to other Camcorders the Hitachi DZ HS500 is awarded an overall alaScore™ of 84/100 = Very good quality.

Review analysis

(Based on 43 reviews)

Expert Reviews  

User Reviews  

Review Ratings

  (37% of reviews)
Show all 5 star reviews   (47% of reviews)
Show all 4 star reviews   (8% of reviews)
Show all 3 star reviews   (3% of reviews)
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Showing 32 review(s)

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Showing 1 - 21 of 32 Show Reviews: in English | in other languages (10)

Consumer review (amazon.co.uk)

Amazon.co.uk review summary for Hitachi DZ HS500

 

alaTest has collected and analyzed 11 user reviews of Hitachi DZ HS500 from Amazon.co.uk. The average user rating for this product is 4.5/5, compared to an average user rating of 4.0/5 for other Camcorders on Amazon.co.uk. Reviews about the usability and reliability are on the whole positive. The image quality and price are also mentioned favorably.

price, image quality, reliability, usability

100% of the reviews on Amazon.co.uk give this product a positive rating.

Jun, 2025

Expert review by : tech.co.uk staff (techradar.com)

Hitachi DZ-HS500 review

 

It's the world's first hybrid camcorder

Comfortable in use ; Great concept ; Good spread of features

Flawed picture performance

There's loads and loads to recommend here but needs to beef up the image clarity to be a real contender

Jun, 2007
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Expert review by (camuser.co.uk)

Hitachi DZ-HS500

 

In the land of digital video, the consumer is king. Even so, consumers can feel slightly overwhelmed by the choice of digital video now available. Hence Hitachi's new idea. Why choose, it argues, when one camcorder can give you both?

Comfortable in use, Great concept, Good spread of features

Flawed picture performance

There's loads and loads to recommend here but needs to beef up the image clarity to be a real contender

Jun, 2007
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Expert review by : Andrew Kliem (goodgearguide.com.au)

Hitachi DZ-HS500

 

Hybrid recording, Good image quality, 30x optical zoom

A little chunky

A great digital video camera from Hitachi, the HS500SW combines two recording formats for added convenience and offers great quality video footage to boot.

Jun, 2007
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Expert review by : Derek Fung (cnet.com.au)

Hitachi DZ-HS500

 

It's got a larger hard disk than the more expensive HS303, but we'd still plump for the older model because of its superior video quality.

Larger hard disk ; Burn video straight to DVD ; Menus are logical

but slow and clunky ; Poor video quality ; Long start-up and mode switching times ; Other faults from HS303 all carried over

All the faults we've noted with the HS500 except the video quality were present in the HS303 which was released late last year. So while we think it would've been wiser to marry the HS500's larger capacity hard disk with the HS303 sensor, we're...

Jul, 2007
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Consumer review (reevoo.com)

Hitachi DZ-HS500E

 

can share video straight away

no points for atachments ie hot shoe for camera light & extenal mic

Apr, 2008
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Consumer review (reevoo.com)

Hitachi DZ-HS500E

 

This camera is exceptional in quality of recording, value for money and ease of use. The length of recording time on the HDD even at best quality is superb with the added advantage of being able to record striaght to DVD is such a bonus.

Cant think of any really. The still picture quality isnt great, but of you want to do still photography but a stills camera as this machine was designed for filming.

Apr, 2008
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Consumer review (reevoo.com)

Hitachi DZ-HS500E

 

I find it very easy to use,and being able to record on the hard drive the put on a dvd is great.I haven't tried using it with the SD card yet.

Battery life as usual could always be longer make sure you have a spare ready at all times then you won't get caught.

Apr, 2008
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Consumer review (reevoo.com)

Hitachi DZ-HS500E

 

We like the ease of use mostly and with its price tag, this is real value for money

none so far

Apr, 2008
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Consumer review (reevoo.com)

Hitachi DZ-HS500E

 

very good quality.quick and easy to set up. no major fault

goes into dubbing mode after recording for long period of time

Apr, 2008
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Consumer review (reevoo.com)

Hitachi DZ-HS500E

 

Really useful tape-free system, love how quickly it can be used and how long the battery lasts.

It has been tricky to find 8cm discs to copy from the hdd and the software is a bit clumsy - no drag and drop facility that I can find

Apr, 2008
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Price comparison for Hitachi DZ HS500