This is a comparison of the above video cameras both set to HD mode and taken on an overcast day about 3pm. Not sure why the Hitachi has cropped the top and bottom of the video but as you can see the Kodak colour representation is much better than the lacklustre Hitachi.

Also you can probably tell that the Hitachi seems to have stretched the picture which is more noticeable when I pan to the shed which looks twice the size it really is.

I am sure that I must be doing something wrong with the Hitachi as I fully expected it to be much better than the Kodak so if anyone can enlighten me I would be grateful - Thanks