Philips to make your movies fit once and for all!

(Credit: Philips)

Many people may just now be getting used to the idea of the 16:9 aspect ratio HDTVs have. The whole black bars at the top and bottom just kinda throw people off I guess.

Personally, I've never had a problem with this. I just never understood how someone could prefer pan scan movies over letterbox once the difference was explained to them. I mean, you're getting the whole movie with Letterbox and a cheap knockoff with "Fullscreen" that has its edges cut off. Not to mention really awkward pans. Yeah, I'm a movie snob, so what?

Phillips will attempt to end any association home movies have with black bars when it releases what is, according to them, the world's first 21:9 aspect ratio HDTV, the Cinema 21:9.

Until now, all HDTVs had an aspect ratio of 16:9. Movies shot in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio when converted to DVD can roughly fit on 16:9 HDTVs without the need of black bars. Movies shot in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio have a wider picture. When these movies are brought home, the black bars are necessary to see the entire picture, otherwise the image would be stretched or zoomed and the right and left edges clipped off.

The Cinema 21:9 will attempt to remedy this inconstancy through a means that Philips hasn't gone into detail with yet. According to the company, you'll be able to view 2.35:1 content, full screen, sans the black bars or zooming. In addition, regular 16:9 content from TV broadcasts and games will also be automatically adapted to fill the 21:9 screen.

Philips plans to release the Cinema 21:9 this spring with more info coming in February.

[Notoapplefanbois]

First, you forgot the . in 2.35:1 and 1.85:1

And second, there's no point in buying a flatscreen with that aspect ratio, it needs to be curved like the alienware screen.

[lmychajluk]

It's 2.35:1, not 235:1.

"The Cinema 21:9 will attempt to remedy this inconstancy through a means that Philips haven't gone into detail with yet."

What's to go into detail about? 21:9 is ~2.33:1, or roughly 2.35:1. Ever reduce a fraction?

[Notoapplefanbois]

47 minutes to late man

[checodaman]

Theyre probably trying to show the comparison to 16:9...because of course if you dig reduction *AND* whole numbers 21:9 could be a gorgeous 7:3

[schnydz]

Curious, if 21:9 ratio can be reduced to 7:3 (nice round number checodaman), then why not build a monitor for that size? Would it look awkward? I'm assuming there would be black bars. Kind of like going from 16:9 to 4:3.

[tekkblade]

Technically it doesn't need to be curved since most movie screens, excluding IMAX screens, are not curved.

[Notoapplefanbois]

It doesn't need to be curved but it'll look better curved and assuming it is about 50" diagonal then it would make a good gaming screen which I'm guessing ultra widescreen's are for since it'll be too short to watch movies on.

[stuntman_mike]

@Notoapplefanbois,

Why would you say that it is too short to watch movies on when many movies are actually shot at that exact ratio?

If you like big blockbuster movies, then this is the perfect TV to watch them on because they will mirror what you see in a theater exactly.

However, you would just be trading one set of black bars for another. Instead of having black bars on big budget/ action movies, you will now see them on smaller budget/ independent/ no-spectacle movies that are shot in 16:9, and of course HDTV.

The only real solution is for everything to be shot in the same aspect ratio.

Me personally, I'm a big budget/ action/ sci-fi movie snob lol, so if I had my druthers, I'd rather have a 21:9 TV and deal with the black bars on everything else.

[tonycoyle]

a 21:9 aspect screen adds about a foot to the width (13.some ") of a 50" 16:9 screen (assuming you still want 50" diagonal for the 16:9 display)

Why not use flat speakers - about 6" wide on each side - they could pivot or slide in/out depending on the screen ratio. They could even tuck all the way to the back (for a cleaner HT look), but would sit in front of the 'black bars' at each side of the screen for regular 16:9 shows.

I'm also a movie snob and refuse to buy a DVD that's fullscreen (caveat: shows/old movies produced only in 4:3)

[stuntman_mike]

Maybe the Tv could have a curtain on both sides that you can open and close depending on the aspect ratio of the program you're watching, just like at the theater lol. Just kidding.

Your idea is interesting though.

[wavjockey]

You're not a movie snob.
You just want to see the movie the director actually shot and you paid for.

[MrMurder]

That TV is going to be as long as two CRT TVs. If you watched a movie shot at 1.85:1 on this upcoming set, the pan lines would appear vertically, the same issue if you're watching a movie shot for a CRT TV on a 16:9 TV. The same would happen with video games made for 16:9 TVs. If it uses pan and scan, than you couldn't see the full shot. Besides screen is probably far too wide to view close-up. Anyways I think I'll see this set in person in Spring 2009 before I buy or critisize it. For now I'll stick with 16:9, which has the same aspect ratio issues except for being to wide. I think they should just make one aspect ratio standard in the world so we wouldn't have these problems.