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Hitachi lets loose UWB-packin' Wooo LCD TVs, plus some plasmas
Hitachi has been touting its slim, UWB-packin Wooo UT series LCD TVs for some time now, but it looks like the company has now finally gotten around to dishing them out, and it's thrown in a few other new models for good measure. On the UT series front, the sets are the same 32-, 37- and 42-inch models we've seen before, with each boasting a 250GB hard drive, and a so-called iVDR port to accommodate Hitachi's iVDR hard drive cartridges for further expansion, with that aforementioned use of UWB helping to keep the thickness down about 1.4 inches. If you don't need your TVs quite that thin, you can opt for one of Hitachi's new Wooo XV LCD sets, also available in 32-, 36 -and 42-inch varieties (1366x768 and 1920x1080), which drop the UWB and internal hard drive but hang onto the iVDR port. Those that prefer plasmas can also take their pick of Hitachi's new 50- or 42-inch Wooo 02 series sets, both of which also boast an iVDR port, although only the 50-incher packs a 250GB internal hard drive (no UWB on these either). As if that wasn't enough, Hitachi also took the opportunity to announce its new Wooonet service for its UT series sets, which will not only let you transfer video from a PC to the TV, but give you access to a video on demand portal as well. No word on prices, but they're apparently all available in Japan now.
Hitachi's Ultra Thin LCD lineup to boast Tzero's UWB technology
We knew Hitachi's Ultra Thin HDTV family would boast ultra-wideband technology, and while little was said about this aspect during CES, we've now learned that Tzero will be responsible for handling the aforementioned UWB duties. As expected, the UT HDTVs will "be able to receive high-definition video wirelessly from any HDMI equipped audio / video component," as Tzero promises that users will see transmission speeds of up to 480Mbps. Interestingly, we're told that the UWB-equipped sets are available in Japan right now, but only time will tell if those luscious wireless abilities will make the trip stateside in Q2.
Hitachi intros GPS-packing W53H cellphone
Hitachi's no stranger to GPS-laden cellphones, and it now looks to be upping the ante even further, with it recenlty introducing a new phone that seemingly aims to replace your car's GPS entirely. As with its previous W51H model, the new W54H phone (also called the "Wooo") sports a reasonably-sized screen (2.8-inches in this case) that's able to flip around and cover up the keypad, along with 2 megapixel camera, a microSD slot, and a 1seg TV receiver. That mobile TV should look especially good on the phone's OLED screen, as it apparently boasts a 10,000:1 contrast ratio. As you can see, it also comes with a stand to prop it up for easier viewing in your car, and the GPS software boasts voice input so you can keep your hands on the wheel. No word on pricing or availability just yet, but you can no doubt guess where it won't be available.[Via Navigadget]
Hitachi's "world's thinnest" LCD TVs: Wooo UT-series with UWB wireless
At this point, we've certainly seen thinner LCDs announced by Sharp, Samsung, and LG.Philips. However, Hitachi is first -- the world's first -- to roll their relative 35-mm (1.37-inch) fatties out for production. The Wooo UT series announced this morning in Japan features a pair of 1080p sets measuring 42- or 37-inches with a lowly 32-incher throttling things back to a 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution. All feature just a single HDMI input, D-Sub 15 analog-in for your legacy PC, at least a 450cd/m2 brightness, 178-degree viewing angle, and 120Hz IPS panel wrapped in a bezel just 35-mm thick. So why just a single HDMI you rightly ask? Well, Hitachi has moved the tuner into an external Wooo Station box with 3x HDMI inputs (among others), SD slot, removable iVDR-S storage, LAN and optional ¥90,000 ($785) UWB module for up to 9-meters of wireless delivery. The V-42 is expected in early April, the V-37 by February, and V-32 in mid-December with prices of ¥430,000 ($3,753), ¥330,000 ($2,880), and ¥230,000 ($2,007), respectively. [Via Impress]
Hitachi's P42-HV01, L37-XR01 HDTVs sport removable iVDR-S
Cramming DVR functionality into an HDTV is nothing new, but Hitachi is blessing two of its newest sets with a removable iVDR-S drive (shown after the jump) in case you feel like plugging your theoretical DVR HDD into other compatible devices. Up first is the 42-inch plasma, which offers up a 1,024 x 1,080 resolution, three HDMI ports, digital audio output, a headphone jack, Ethernet, dual ten-watt speakers, an SD slot, and a silver stand in case you're not keen on hoisting this up on your wall. The 37-inch LCD TV boasts a 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD resolution, 500cd/m2 brightness, 7,000:1 contrast ratio, built-in speakers, and the same port assortment as the P42-HV01. As expected, neither of these sets will come sans a stiff premium, so look for the iVDR-S-equipped PDP to land in "late October" for ¥390,000 ($3,232), while the L37-XR01 LCD arrives a month earlier at ¥350,000 ($2,901).[Via AkihabaraNews]
Hitachi's XR01 and HR01 series HDTVs -- world's first with iVDR portable storage
We're already seen Hitachi's 2007 domestic HDTV line-up at CES. However, Hitachi saved a bit of Wooo-niqueness for their Japanese launch. The new XR01 and HR01 series of sets consists of five new TVs boasting a world's first: an integrated iVDR removable storage module -- a portable storage format used almost exclusively in Japan. In fact, Hitachi stuffs a 250GB IVDR-S ("S" as in SAFIA DRM) disk into the bay to get your started. These disks can then be plugged into compatible bays on your video recorder, PC, camcorder, etc, for easy portability of your media. The XR01 series is the only set to offer 1080p panels: the 50-inch P50-XR01 Full HD ALIS plasma and 37-inch L37-XR01 Full HD IPSα (120Hz) LCD. The P50 features 1100cd/m2 brightness and 10,000:1 contrast ratio while the L37 brings along a 500cd/m2 brightness and 7,000:1 contrast. The pair of HR01 PDPs pack a 1024 x 1080 resolution with the 42-inch P42-HR01 offering a 10,000:1 contrast and 1,500cd/m2 brightness while the 37-inch P37-HR01 goes 3,000:1 and 1,300cd/m2. Bringing up the tail is the 32-inch L32-HR01 with 1366 x 768 resolution, 500cd/m2 brightness and 7,000:1 contrast. All the sets ship with a dual terrestrial digital tuners coupled with dual terrestrial analog tuners and come loaded with inputs: 3x HDMI, 2x Japanese D4, 2x S-Video, 3x composite, Firewire, and Ethernet just to name a few. The top end P50 plasma is expected by mid-May for ¥570,000 ($4,840) while the L32 LCD is expected to pop on April 20th for about ¥250,000 ($2,123). Japan only, naturally.[Via Impress]
Hitachi's Wooo DZ-HS503 hybrid DVD / HDD camcorder with 2x dubbing
Hitachi's Wooo DZ-HS503 hyrbid camcorder just busted out a can of Wooopass (har!) on the competition. Yeah, "hybrid" as in it records to both an internal 30GB hard disk drive and 8-centimeter DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, and DVD+RW discs. It will even record direct from that HDD to DVDs for 2x PC-less dubbing action. It appears to be the Japanese version of the DZ-HS500A mentioned in passing by Hitachi at CES. Inside you'll find a 3.31 megapixel CCD (suitable for 2.18 megapixel video or 3.05 megapixel stills), a lesser 10x optical zoom instead of 30x since the Japanese tend to be less creepy than Americans (ok, maybe not), a 2.7-inch 120,000 pixel TFT LCD, and even an SD slot for photographs. Expect the HS503 to hit for retail at about ¥140,000 or right around $1,162 -- beaucoup bucks for convenience over the quality of a 3CCD system. Also loosed are the Japanese equivs of the 8GB HDD / DVD hybrid DZ-HS301 and DZ-HS303 camcorders which shall hail by the names DZ-HS403 and DZ-HS401 in the land of the rising sun. Those will pop a bit sooner in February for ¥120,000 ($996) and ¥100,000 ($830), respectively.[Via Impress]
Hitachi unveils Wooo DZ-GX5300 DVD camcorder
Adding yet another item to what's likely one of the oddest titled product lines to ever grace the consumer electronics universe, Hitachi has now introduced the Wooo DZ-GX5300 DVD camcorder. This handheld unit rocks a compact, lightweight design and records SD video onto 8-centimeter (single-layer only) DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, and DVD+RW discs; additionally, the 3.3-megapixel 3CCD can snap stills and store them on the recordable disc or an SD card for easy transferring, and you can keep track of the action on the 2.7-inch swingout LCD. Users who like grabbing frames from full motion video will find lots to love here, and it sports a built-in capture function that grabs one second of time from a clip and automatically stores it separately without any fuss or post-processing. With an estimated run time of approximately 105 minutes, the newest Wooo should land later this month for a currently undisclosed price.[Via Impress]
Hitachi Wooo10000 series of 60 and 50-inch plasmas
In a fit of marketing orb-asm, Hitachi just went big in Japan with their Wooo 10000 series of plasma displays with HDMI. The top of the line W60P-XR10000 brings a new 60-inch 1080i ALIS panel rockin' a 1920×1080 pixel resolution, dual-digital and terrestrial analog TV-tuners, and 250GB of disk for hosting MPEG-2 recordings dumped from the integrated DVR. The W50P-HR10000 and W50P-H10000 both bring 50-inch panels capable of a 1280x1080 resolution with the HR packin' that dual-digital/analog tuner, DVR, and 250GB hard drive, while the H skips the DVR altogether while paring back the tuner to a single digital/analog hybrid. Price/availability breaks down like this: W60P-XR10000 in late December for an expected ¥950,000 (about $8,160), W50P-HR10000 in mid November for ¥550,000 (about $4,723), and the W50P-H10000 in late November for approximately ¥500,000 (about $4,295).
Hitachi's DV-DH1000D WOOO DVR maxed out at 1TB
Yesterday we joked that we'd all have 1TB storage devices hard-wired to our brains by 2056. We're not quite there yet, but today we're taking some of the first steps: Hitachi has just announced three new models of its WOOO DVR, which top out at 1TB. These sleek little players, the DV-DH1000D, DV-DH500D and the DV-DH160D all record in Hi-Vision (Japan's version of HDTV) and come in three colors including "piano black," "champagne silver" and another metallic color that Google couldn't translate for us. Hitachi's latest range from ¥120,000 and ¥200,000 ($1,020 and $1,700), and while the two higher-end versions will be released in early October, the DV-DH160D won't be out until the middle of that month. Each recorder comes loaded with two terrestrial digital tuners and two BS / CS digital tuners (a Japanese digital stream standard), along with three sets of component and S-Video ports on the back, HDMI, iLink (on the DV-DH1000D only), Ethernet, an SD card slot and a DVD-R / RW recorder. So if you're in Japan, get ready to smash your piggy bank or whatever it is that the Japanese are keeping money in these days -- knowing them, it's probably something way kawaii-er than ceramic swine anyway.[Via Akihabara News]
Hitachi expands Wooo H9000 and H90 series of TVs
Hitachi filled out their Wooo TV clan today with the introduction of 37, 32, and 26-inch LCDs and 37-inch plasma. Squeezing its way into the Wooo9000 series is the 37-inch W37L (pictured) offered with and without a built-in hard drive recorder. This LCD panel features a rather lackluster 1366 x 768 resolution for such a large screen with a 100:1 contrast ratio and 178-degree viewing angle. The W37L-HR9000 includes the built-in HDD recorder with 250GB disk, an electronic program guide for easy recording off the integrated hi-vision digital and analog tuners, and the ability to write shows to disc over compatible Firewire connected DVD writers. At the budget end of the Wooo family tree come the H90-series W32L and W26L LCDs and W37P plasma all with integrated digital/analog tuners. Both LCDs offer that same 1366 x 768 resolution which is more appropriate for these panel sizes while the 37-inch W37P chokes up a miserable 1024x1080 resolution. All the new panels feature 2 x HDMI, Japanese D4, Ethernet, and the usual suite of in/outs you'll need. Expect to pay ¥350,000 (about $3,040) for the W37L-HR9000 with HDD recorder (or ¥300,000/$2,606 without) down to about ¥200,000 (about $1,737) for that 26-incher. All these new panels should be available by September in Japan. Read -- W37L-H9000 Read -- H90 series
Hitachi's Wooo DZ-HS303 DVD camcorder with HDD
T'is the season for DVD camcorders: following the 3CCD VDR-D400 from Panasonic and the iVIS DC22 from Canon that we just spotted comes a model from Hitachi called the Wooo DZ-HS303 (yes, you read that right); unlike these other devices, though, the Hitachi -- dropping August 30th -- also lets your capture video to an 8GB MicroDrive. Billed as the world's first camcorder to sport both a DVD and hard drive, the HS303 features a 10x optical zoom, standard 2.7-inch LCD, and three megapixel CCD, all in a 560-gram package. All-in-all a pretty decent feature set for 130,000 yen ($1,132), but as Digital World Tokyo points out, Canon will give you HD capabilities for only a few bucks more. [Via Digital World Tokyo]
