January 29 launch set for Philips 21:9 set

chris

The Dutch consumer electronics firm Philips has confirmed it will officially launch the first cinematic widescreen TV set with a 21:9 aspect ratio on January 29. Sets will become available this spring in selected European markets.

Called the Cinema 21:9, the LCD set is the very first on the market to correctly display widescreen movies without black bars on the screen, as is the case with regular widescreen models with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

The display is 56 inches across and boasts Ambilight technology.

The set will be available in Germany, Belgium, the UK and France.

No pricing for the ultra-widescreen set has yet been announced.


Source: BroadbandTVNews

rolfw

Hmm, I wonder how well this will do, I can only see it being of use in dedicated home cinema setups, as for most homes who watch daily scheduled TV, they will have black vertical bands at the sides for most of the time.

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PaulR

Given the price that it will undoubtedly sell for it'll probably have some kind of "smart" image stretching to make a 16:9 picture fill the 21:9 screen.

I used to be sceptical of the idea but I have to say that Philips do a very good job of making a 4:3 picture fill my 16:9 screen. Sometimes I have to look twice to make sure of what the original ratio was!

What it'll do to a 4:3 picture though is anyone's guess!!

I'd be interested to know what the pixel count of the screen is, as well.

PaulR As I get older I find myself thinking about the hereafter - I go into a room and then wonder what I'm here after.