With Blu-ray claiming a much larger installed base than HD DVD it was only a matter of time before we started to see camcorders show up that recorded directly to Blu-ray discs. Well here they are from Hitachi and they may be on store shelves this fall.

The samples you see here are non-functional but Hitachi is claiming that the camcorders will use the new 8cm BD/DVD drive coupled with a 5.3MP CMOS sensor that can record at 1920 x 1080.

The direct to disc recording is said to be able to save 7GB of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video. There is no word on the price, but with HD camcorders that record direct to HDD still tipping up at over $1000 frequently, it’s a safe bet to figure these will be much more expensive than that when they show up at your local store. Via Akihabara News