Two new models offer Blu-ray capture with one including addition HDD recording built in.

Japanese camcorder specialist Hitachi has announced the release of the world’s first Blu-ray camcorders. The two models capture high-resolution video at 1920x1080-pixel resolution to mini 8cm Blu-ray discs that can then be loaded into any Blu-ray disc player, including Sony’s PLAYSTATION3 games console.

The BD70 features disc capture only but the internal drive burns to both Blu-ray and multi-format DVD media, with sufficient space on the Blu-ray media to capture one hour of full 1920x1080-pixel high-definition video. The BD7H adds a 30GB hard drive to the BD70’s optical capabilities, able to store up to four hours of full HD video in highest-quality HX mode.

Both cameras use the new compact 8cm Blu-ray discs that will come in capacities of either 7.5 or 15GB.

“With the explosion of affordable large screen High Definition (HD) TV’s, consumers have come to realise the limitations of the Standard Definition video recorded on DVD and home camcorder movies. To many people, even the crisp clear images of HD broadcast started to look a little fragmented when viewed on a screen of 50 inches. Then in late 2006, flat panel displays took another exciting leap forward with the introduction of Full HD” said Mark Lawson, Hitachi Product Specialist, Visual.

Each model has a 5.3-megapixel (5.3MP) image sensor able to capture still images at up to 2400x1800-pixels in JPEG format. Still images are captured onto SecureDigital storage card and according to Hitachi, approximately 400 shots can be stored on a 1GB SD card.

Both cameras include a 10X-optical zoom lens and they also include HDMI output to connect directly to a high-definition television. There is no HDMI input for recording.

The BD7H also features a dubbing function to record video captured on the hard drive onto a Blu-ray disc in HD quality or in standard-definition (SD) format on an 8cm DVD.

In addition to Blu-ray (write-once and rewritable) media, the camcorders will also burn DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD-R media. UPDATE: DVD+RW media will also be supported but on PAL models only.

High-definition video is captured in MPEG4 AVC (also known as H.264) video format while the standard-definition clips captured to DVD are converted to MPEG2.

Both cameras have three HD modes – HX, which features 1920x1080-pixel capture at 15-megabits-per-second (15Mbps), HF, which uses a slightly lower 1440x1080-pixel resolution capture at 11Mbps and HS, the same resolution as HF but at a lower 7.5Mbps.

On a 7.5GB Blu-ray disc, HX gives you one hour recording time, HF 1hr20mins and HS two hours. You cannot record HD video onto DVD media as both models do an automatic down-conversion to SD resolution.

Recording to DVD is available in two modes – SX and SF, both at DVD resolutions (720x480 or 576-pixels depending on region) with SX offering a higher video bit rate of 9Mbps while SF captures at a lower-quality 6Mbps.

Battery life on the BD7H recording to hard drive is said to be approximately 100 minutes while recording to Blu-ray disc will give you 90minutes battery life.

The new camcorder models will be available in Japan on August 30 and are expected to arrive in the US starting from October 2007. The Australian market will see the new models launch in November.