Panasonic Japan to introduce Plasma TVs with built-in 1 TB HDDs and YouTube support

Panasonic announced today in Japan [JP] they will release three Viera PDP TVs in this country starting September 10.

All models (42, 46 and 50 inches) of the new PZR900 series will house a 1TB HDD for recording terrestrial and digital TV programs, which can then be copied on DVDs or Blu-ray discs. From September 30, Japanese customers will also be able to view YouTube videos on their Panasonic TVs.

Panasonic’s PZ850, on sale in America for quite some time now, features the YouTube function already. At this point, it’s unclear whether the PZR900 series will also find its way over the pond. The new TVs are Panasonic’s first plasmas with built-in hard drives.

All models are full HD (of course) and feature 3 HDMI, 2 i.LINK , 4 component and 2 S-Video ports each. Prices: $5,000 for the 50-inch TV, $4,300 for the 46-inch model and $3,800 for the 42-inch plasma.