"...Digital Media Group of Hitachi today announced that on August 25 it will release the world's first DVD-RAM camcorder in Japan. In addition, a DVD-RAM video recorder will be released on the same day, and volume shipments of 4.7GB DVD-RAM and DVD-ROM drives for PCs will follow after the end of June. The DVD-RAM products are based on the 4.7GB DVD-RAM standard.

PRODUCTS AND AVAILABILITY (106 yen equals to one $dollar.)
- DVD camcorder
Model: DZ-MV100 Sales start August 25 in Japan. Price: 248,000yen

1. Uses 8cm DVD-RAM disks with of 1.46GB per side
2. AV/PC compatibility
3. The 8cm DVD-RAM format was established by the DVD Forum for combined AV/PC applications.
4. The camcorder can record for one hour in high-quality mode (30 minutes a side at a fixed rate of 6 Mbps), and two hours in standard mode (60 minutes a side at a fixed rate of 3 Mbps).

- DVD video recorder Model: DV-RX2000 Sales start August 25 in Japan. Price: 250,000yen
The DV-RX2000 is a high-performance, high quality 4.7GB DVD-RAM video recorder that is as easy to operate as a videotape recorder, and providing adequate copy protection features.

The DV-RX2000 incorporates MPEG-2 variable bit rate compression and a number of other high-performance features such as external input TBC (Time Base Corrector), 3D Y/C separation and digital noise reduction. Being a disk-based medium means that it has excellent random-access operability, and it is fully compatible with PC DVD-RAM drives and other DVD devices. This includes full playback compatibility with respect to DVD recordings made using the DZ-MV100 DVD video camcorder. The DV-RX2000 can also rearrange and erase images, and is cable-ready.

- Internal DVD-RAM drive for PCs
Model: GF-2000(ATAPI interface) Shipments start June 30
Model: GF-2050(SCSI interface) Shipments start in latter part of August
- External DVD-RAM drive for PCs
Model: GF-2055(SCSI interface) Shipments start August 25

The GF-2000 series DVD-RAM drive is the successor to the GF-1000 series 2.6GB DVD-RAM that Hitachi released in April 1998. At 4.7GB a side (double-sided capacity of 9.4GB), the GF-2000 has roughly twice the capacity of the earlier drive, and its data transfer rate of 22 Mbps during writing is twice as fast.

The GF-2000 series offers read/write compatibility with the 2.6GB DVD-RAM disks, enabling existing data assets on such disks to be utilized. Disks used by a GF-2000 series drive to store data can be read by the GD-7500 and GD-S200 DVD-RAM drives that Hitachi is releasing at the same time as the GF-2000

- Internal DVD-RAM drive for PCs (with DVD-RAM playback capability) Model: GD-7500(ATAPI interface) Shipments start in latter part of July Model: GD-S200(ATAPI interface, slim tray) Shipments start in latter part of August.

In July, Hitachi will start shipping the GD-7500 and GD-S200 internal DVD-ROM drives for PCs. Both drives come equipped with an ATAPI interface and can read 4.7GB/side (9.4GB/two sides) DVD-RAM media that complies with the 4.7GB DVD-RAM (rewritable DVD) standard, which means they are read-compatible with the latest DVD-RAM media format. This means that PCs can be used to read data stored on a DVD-RAM, and to play video data recorded by using Hitachi DVD camcorder, which also facilitate such data to be transferred to a PC's hard disk.." NULL