Photos: Philips ultra wide-screen 21:9 TV unveiled

First pics of the new Philips TVs unveiled Thursday.

(Credit: Crave UK)

We already knew this was coming, but now we have actual pics that give a better sense of its scale.

Philips introduced its new Cinema 21:9 TV with a wider-than-wide-screen display at a press event in London. Our favorite blokes at Crave UK were in attendance and snapped a few frames of the "mutant telly."

Head over to Crave UK for a whole gallery of photos, as well as their take on the trouble of a new viewing format. (Alternatively, if you find wide screen worthless, head here.)

[Someone-else]

Well... another screen ratio to cause confusion. Isn't 3:4, 4:5, 16:10 and 16:9 enough?

I see few uses for such an wide screen

[wusupjohn]

Watching movies?

[Notoapplefanbois]

not really cos the bezel is too wide

[jonathan_bennion]

nice move philips - without a dominant format, you should have taken your ratio even more absurd - think 12 feet long and 1 feet high, just because you can.

[wusupjohn]

or the same ratio movies are filmed in. Whichever works

[darkcobra]

Years ago the manufacturers were all arguing about what should be the HDTV format. As we know 16:9 won out, but a number of manufacturers actually wanted a wider format way back then. The funny thing is even if you were watching Ben Hur on this 21:9 set you'd still have black bars because Ben Hur is in an incredible 2.76:1 format! At best, this otherwise very interesting set is going to be more of a novelty item than a serious new format. It's just not practical and like I said STILL doesn't cover t

[synthetikz]

this would have been a great idea if this ratio had beenadopted as the standard years ago, but it wasn't. no tv (whether in hd or standard definition) is encoded in this ratio, and there are not movies (blu-ray or dvd) that i'm familar with that would display in this ratio either. at the end of the day, you'd be buying this in the hopes that a few studios start releasing their blu-rays and dvd's in this ratio. doubtful.

[Throttlebody1]

Now if they'll just produce content that uses this high end home theater monster.

[commonsensenot]

21:9 is 2.33:1. Many movies are in 2.35:1, including "Lords of the Rings" and "Star Wars" series. Here is the list of some of them: http://www.imdb.com/Sections/DVDs/AspectRatios/2.35_:_1/

[dctech08]

what about the movies that alternate between the two formats? like the dark night? it changes from this and the 16:9 throughout the movie. so we get black bars on the sides rather then the top and bottoms?

[The User]

Good move!

Why not something like a triangular screen - it will be even more original and just as well supported by cable companies/BlueRay/DVDs

[LamendolaM]

I think the triangular screen has already been invented... Doesn't everyone have an Interocetor at their house?

[the_iceman]

and I thought that buying a 16:9 hdtv would mean no more annoying black bars, ha.

why cant they (both film & TV studios) just agree on a standard, what a concept, huh?

1.78:1 fills the entire screen of 16:9 tvs, if not mistaken

[the_iceman]

whatever, as long as its not 1980 retro 3D

[dodgeman007]

there are several other aspect ratios besides the std if you can even call it that of 16:9. I was uber pissed when my BR of transformers had bars on the top and bottom... the problem is the studio not the tv makers...

[lukenuke]

A question I haven't seen people address yet. Since every Blu-ray Disc and DVD are anamorphically enhanced for 16x9 TV's and Blu-ray and DVD players are meant to output for 16x9 TV's how would or could you set your players for 21:9? I doubt most peole are going to by a new player just for this TV.

[the_iceman]

I believe you wouldnt need a new player. The 2.35:1 format, which many widescreen movies are in would fill the 21:9 screen.

[lukenuke]

Well I'm not too sure about that. Just like when early DVD's were not anamorphically enhanced but letter boxed. You would have to choose a stretch and zoom option on your TV to fill the screen. So I am wondering how this TV would display "enhanced for 16x9" TV DVD's and Blu-Ray. I would think you would still have to do some kind of zooming and stretching which seems rather lame unless some new blu-ray discs and or players become encoded with this aspect ration TV.

[abundantsnotbob]

I think they should stick to the format movies are filmed in. If you watched a movie on this, a huge part of the top and bottom would be cut off. Also, how come the camera has a round lens, the projector has a round lens, but the picture is a square.

[stuntman_mike]

It is amazing to me how many of you posters, who most likely have HDTVs and Blu-ray's, have no idea what are actual aspect ratios. If I see one more post saying that this is a bad idea because nothing is shot at this ratio, I'm going to scream.

Just about all blockbuster/ action/ sci-fi/ spectacle movies are shot at an aspect ratio that is higher than 16:9. Have you ever looked at the back of a DVD or Blu-ray to see what it is actually shot in? Have you ever watched a movie on a widescreen TV and noticed that you still have black bars???????

16:9 is a standard for TV. Movies are filmed in several aspect ratios and the 2.33:1 and 2.35:1 ratios ARE extremely popular.

I'd be willing to bet that at least half of the movies that these people who are mocking this TV own are in this very aspect ratio lol.

Would you still have black bars on this set? Of course. You would just be trading black bars on movies for black bars on TV shows, so there is no perfect solution as long as there are multiple aspect ratios that directors choose to shoot in. But don't come on here and say stupid things like why don't they make triangle TVs or some other nonsense because you are too stupid to understand that a great majority of what is out there IS shot in this aspect ratio. If your common sense fails, there is always the internet to educate yourself from sounding like a moron.

Class dismissed.

[lukenuke]

Understandable, yes. This isn't about aspect ratios though. The problem I see is the actual size of the TV which is 21:9. Blu-ray and DVD players and discs are designed for 16x9 sets (black bar/letter boxing isn't the concern.) Not sure what Philips answer would be to this.

[stuntman_mike]

I think that there is still a disconnect here lol. Blu-ray's are not optimized for 16:9 TVs. Blu-ray's and and DVDs, unless they are non-widescreen versions, are not optimized for anything. They come with the original aspect ratio that the movie was shot in. It will tell you on the box what ratio that is.

If they were optimized for 16:9 TVs then you would not have black bars. The only time that you won't see black bars on the screen is if the movie is ACTUALLY SHOT in 16:9.

Again, they are not optimized for 16:9 TVs. As soon as you understand that, then you will see that there is nothing wrong with them making a TV in this ratio. It just comes down to whether you would rather see black bars on TV shows and movies that are shot in something other than 2.33:1, or if you would rather see black bars on movies that aren't shot in 16:9.

It is a personal choice, not a mistake in design.

[craigtheplague]

Im going to invent a self adjusting screen that works with 3 standard auto detected aspect ratios, obviously those being 4:3 16:9 & 21:9 the latter having manual adjustment for varied cinimatic ratios.
They put man on the moon they can solve the letterbox conundrum.

[FargoUT]

IMAX is a 16:9 format, which is why the IMAX scenes of "The Dark Knight" fill a standard 16:9 widescreen TV. However, the rest of the film was shot using 2.35:1, which leaves bars on the top and bottom of the 16:9 screen. If you were to watch "The Dark Knight" on this TV, you would have vertical bars on the left and right side during the IMAX scenes, as opposed to horizontal bars on the top and bottom during non-IMAX scenes.

I guess it's a matter of preference. Which would you prefer to see? I like the horizontal bars, as I tend to find them less distracting.

[Gorifyny]

IMAX is actually closer to 3:4 aspect ratio.

What I don't see specified here is the actual number of horizontal and vertical pixels used in this screen. Since I believe Blu-ray has 1920x1080 pixels regardless of the aspect ratio of the film, that is what will be mapped to the screen. Regardless of the display ratio, there will be unused pixels on any film that is not in the 16:9 ratio - black bars at the top and bottom if a ratio greater than 16:9 and at the top and bottom if a ratio less than 16:9.

[Gorifyny]

Sorry --- Regardless of the display ratio, there will be unused pixels on any film that is not in the 16:9 ratio - black bars at the top and bottom if a ratio greater than 16:9 and at the sides if a ratio less than 16:9.

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

In another article, it mentions that the Cinema 21:9 is 2560 horizontal pixels by 1080 vertical pixels progressive scan, so basically 1080p but in 2.40:1 aspect ratio

[Gorifyny]

OK - check the Crave UK article for a more complete analysis of the pixel issue - sorry I didn't look there first.

[MrMurder]

I am so not going to buy this tv. The design is nice and the picture quality is good. But this 'mutant telly' (I'm not British I just like saying "mutant telly" because it sounds funny) introduces some new cons more than pros. First off, and this is the worst part off it, PHILIPS IS NOT SELLING MR. WIDESCREEN IN THE USA (Which is Philips' dumbest mistake on making this televison)!!!!!!!! Also it's pretty expensive at around $5750, but less expensive than a 55" Sony Bravia XBR8 (becuase it doesn't use LED backlights unlike the Bravia, which makes this set stink more than it does). It also has a resolution of I 2160x1080 which will probably make movies on Blu-ray Disc (It's not spelled Blue ray, look at the name on the cover!) pixelate.