Tiny MP-EG1A a peek into future - Hitachi Corp's MP-EG1A - Hardware Review - Evaluation

MP-EG1A 4 (Very good)

While the term "desktop video" has been bandied about for years, the technology itself has remained too expensive to become as ubiquitous as desktop publishing. Hitachi Home Electronics (America) Inc.'s $2,399.95 MP-EG1A - a tiny camera with facilities for transferring digital video to the Mac - is not a complete solution, but it points the way to a future where video production is as common as page layout.

Targeted at multimedia and Web designers, the 19.3-ounce MP-EG1A is an amazing feat of miniaturization. Roughly the size of a portable cassette player, the camera measures 3.27 by 5.65 by 2.20 inches and features a 180-degree swivel lens and a 1.8-inch color LCD. Controls are well-organized on the unit's back panel.

The device stores images and video on an internal Type 3 PC Card hard drive that can be accessed by removing a door on the bottom and pushing a lever to eject the drive. Although quick to remove, the door mechanism is a bit clumsy.

The heart of the camera is a single-chip MPEG compressor developed by Hitachi. Able to perform MPEG-1 compression of video and audio on the fly, the MP-EG1A manages to squeeze up to 20 minutes of full-motion, full-screen video on its tiny PC Card hard drive.

In a clever move, Hitachi has expanded the camera's versatility by letting you capture up to 3,000 still images instead of video. You can capture a single still with audio, a sequence of five stills at two frames per second or automatically timed sequences at specific intervals (30 seconds, or one or five minutes). Any combination of still images, audio and video can be mixed on the drive.

The camera is comfortable and simple to operate. Depending on the mode, a button starts recording or snaps a picture. A rocker switch controls the 3-to-1 optical zoom. With the addition of a digital zoom the camera achieves a 6-to-1 zoom ratio, but the digital zoom produces unacceptably blurry images.

The camera has no viewfinder, so you must rely on the unit's bright, clear LCD. For outdoor use Hitachi provides a snap-on hood that makes the LCD much easier to see in bright sunlight.

Although it's hard to shoot stills without a viewfinder, shooting video with the MP-EG1A is a joy. Because it's so small, it is surprisingly easy to shoot smooth, steady footage, while the viewfinder is easy to see no matter where you hold the camera. The size and ease of use also make the unit unobtrusive, so it's ideal for meetings or other situations where a larger camera would be inappropriate.

The MP-EG1A's specs are theoretically close to VHS quality, but the camera's actual output falls short of this level. Suffering from a too-soft focus, the MP-EG1A's video has a curious blur to its motion. This blur is a smart move by Hitachi as it minimizes MPEG artifacts inherent in handheld video. While it's not annoying - the effect actually has an attractive, film-like quality - if you need consumer- or industrial-grade video, you'll be better served by a normal camcorder. Web and multimedia authors, who most likely will compress their video anyway, will be less concerned with the lower frame rates and soft focus.

While QuickTime 2.5 can play MPEG movies, editing requires some work. Adobe Systems Inc.'s After Effects and Premiere don't recognize the MPEG track in a QuickTime movie. With Apple's Movie Player, you can export an MPEG movie's video and audio tracks, and then reassemble them for editing using a video editor. However, if you want to move your edited video back into the camera, you'll need a QuickTime MPEG encoder such as Astarte GmbH's MPack.

The camera's still-image quality is more problematic than video quality. With only a 640-by-480 resolution, the optics, combined with clumsy JPEG compression, results in soft, noisy images laden with JPEG artifacts. Still images compare to those from low-end still cameras - disappointing at this price. The still feature is further limited by the lack of a flash, but bolstered by the fact that you can shoot so many images.

Managing your media

Because you can store thousands of images in the camera, Hitachi includes a Media Navigator facility for organizing media in up to six folders. It's a good idea, but it lacks some necessary features. You can't move more than one image at a time or delete a whole folder, for example.

You have two options for transferring media to your Mac. The easiest and fastest is to remove the camera's PC Card hard drive and insert it in the PC Card slot on a PowerBook. You can then access it like any other hard drive. If you don't have a PowerBook, you must pay an extra $299 for the Hitachi SCSI adapter and the PreStage software needed to move files between the camera and the Mac. PreStage is usable but clumsy, with shortcomings similar to Media Navigator. For a feature that many users may need, the adapter's price is awfully steep and the software underpowered.

You can also dump video or stills directly to tape using the included adapter cable, which provides standard RCA jacks that can be plugged into a VCR or TV. Two high-performance rechargeable batteries each allow 40 minutes of recording. Unfortunately, the MP-EG1A lacks a built-in presentation or slide mode, so you can't help but record some of camera's internal interface for managing movies.

Conclusions

The MP-EG1A is an amazing technical feat, offering a glimpse into a tapeless future where video cameras are tiny, high-quality devices that interface seamlessly with desktop machines. Although it is well-designed and fun to use, the camera's video and still-image quality make it suitable only for Web or multimedia work.

Hitachi should be commended for putting together such a complete package. Although you could spend the same amount of money on separate still and video cameras (and a video digitizer if you need it), you'd be hard-pressed to assemble a system as easy to use as Hitachi's.

Hitachi Home Electronics (America) Inc. of Norcross, Ga., can be reached at (770) 279-5600 or (800) 241-6558; fax (770) 279-5699; http://www.hitachi.com.

Score card: MP-EG1A 4 (Very good)

Hitachi Corp.

List price: $2,399.95*

Hits: Tiny; combines video, still or audio recording; well-designed controls; removable PC Card drive.

Misses: Camera has a soft focus; poor still-image quality; MPEG video editing requires extra steps.

*Optional SCSI adapter, PreStage software, $299.

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