Hitachi Wooo series HD TV’s with iVDR hard disk

Hitachi Japan has expanded it’s Wooo line up of HD-TV’s with five new models which are the first in the world to support an iVDR (Information Versatile Disk for Removable Usage) disk, which is a removable hard drive and can be used with a variety of compatible products ranging from PC’s to car audio systems. They have onboard analog and digital TV tuners so you can record MTV on the onboard 250 GB hard drive while watching HBO. The top of the line 50 inch full HD Plasma has 1,100cd/m2 brightness and 10000:1 contrast ratio, whereas the 37 inch Plasma has a 7000:1 contrast ratio and 500 cd/m2 brightness. Both the models come with 3 x HDMI ports, 2 x D4, Various audio out jacks and SD / MMC card reader.

The latest entrants to the Wooo series go on sale in Japan from April 20. The iVDR catridge will also be available by then with the 80GB selling for 20,000 Yen and the 160GB drive selling for 35,000 Yen. Hitachi has partnered with Warner home video to release 40GB iVDR’s prerecorded with 5000 movie titles.

160GB iVDR disk