Look here Hitachi, according to our extensive community college experience "Wooo" is always an indicator of a good time to be had by all, new experiences, possible overnight police station stays and most recently, UWB wireless shenanigans, super slim HDTVs or other examples of display imagination. Following that trend from your Japanese arm, these 5 spec bumped models of XP035 series plasmas (42-, 46- and 50-inch, pictured) and XP35 LCDs (42- and 47-inch) don't quite live up to the name, while spec bumps over last year's edition with thorough DLNA and DTCP-IP support and 500GB hard drives with iVDR slots to add even more space might impress some, we've come to expect more. Come 2010, we're looking for super resolution or something else you haven't done before, don't let us down this time. Click through for even more detailed prices and specs, we'll be in the corner checking our CES reservations one more time.

Read - Hitachi, 500GB HDD built-in full HD plasma / LCD TV - High-definition recording eight times / DLNA support "Wooo" 5 models
Read - Hitachi Announces Several PDPs and LCD TVs with Both a 500GB HDD and DLNA Support

This year's edition of the Hitachi Wooo line of flat panels look a lot like their predecessors on the outside (120Hz IPS LCDs, 250GB HDD equipped models with iVDR slots for additional hard drives and Wooonet DLNA network support) but it's what's inside that counts. The four new XP plasma models range from 42- to 50-inches and promise even better contrast ratios, as high as 40,000:1, with better color reproduction and the promise of greater energy efficiency. The ultra-thin 35mm / 1.4-inch thick LCDs are back in four new models, with UWB wirelessly connected tuners, auto sensing/adjusting brightness and aforementioned "eco" power sipping improvements. The relatively fat XP line of LCDs consists of just three displays, but just like all the rest, buyers can still hook up to the 'net and pull down video on-demand or Yahoo! Japan's web TV portal -- features unlikely to make the jump when we see U.S. versions of these later this year. The XP plasmas and LCDs go on sale in Japan later this month or next, while the ultra-thins will be crash dieting until October.

Read - Hitachi, recording double-35mm-thin LCD TV "Wooo UT800"
Read - Hitachi, 7 new plasma / LCD

Hitachi sure was busting out the prototypes at CEATEC: a 15mm 37-inch LCD TV, wireless HD camcorder and a slew of custom framing options for its Wooo HDTVs. This isn't the first (far from it, actually) attempt we've seen at covering those traditional black / silver bezels with something a bit more flashy, but it's not often that a TV manufacturer gets involved. Unfortunately, there's still a good chance the pre-production frames will be held as Japan-only accessories depending on US demand, but we hear planes fly to Tokyo everyday if you're dead-set on eventually acquiring one.

Expect to see these new 47-inch Wooo LCD varietals outside of Japan sometime, but for now these are Japan-only. Up for grabs are the UT47-XP770 and UT47-XV700 models, with nary a difference in the panels themselves. Sure, the XP770 model comes in black or white trim, but what really sets the models apart is the 250GB HD DVR included in the XP770 tuner module. For now, at least, Hitachi is sticking with the iVDR media format for both the XP770 and XV700 models. All around, a pretty boring spec bump in the series whose name is supposed to illicit excitement. The specs that you loved in the Wooo lineup before haven't changed: 35-mm svelte profile, 1920 x 1080 pixel count and Wooonet connectivity. The UT47-XP770 will go for ¥480,000 ($4,400), but we couldn't find pricing on the UT47-XV700 model.

Funny -- just this week we heard Hitachi President Kazuo Furukawa make mention of a forthcoming Wooonet networking scheme for its Wooo HDTVs, and now we're getting a few more details on potentially related peripherals. Analog Devices has just announced that its Advantiv technology is playing a huge role in the TP-WL700H. Said device is an ultra-wideband (UWB) based wireless transmission hub, which is currently available exclusively in Japan and designed to bring high-definition material to Wooo HDTVs sans extra cabling. There's not a peep about the unit ever heading Stateside, but given that everyone and their second cousin once removed is wondering when wireless HD will ever take off here, we'd sure like to see it make the journey.

[Image courtesy of Impress]

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.

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]

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]

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]

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).