I'm part of the "PHILIPS Sensorium" which is an online focus group for Philips. One of the surveys I took part of a while back was requesting feedback for their new TV being released, a 21:9 aspect ratio "Cinema" TV that's closer to the original movie experience.

Since it's been released on websites, I guess I'm able to post info about it here. It's pretty freakin' cool... from 4:3 to 16:9 and now 21:9

http://issue.igizmo.co.uk/1Y4989c4b17c444517.cde - See Pages 3 and 4 for the video

 

pretty neat stuff.. seems to wide for me though. i think i like the 16:9 ratio better. i HATE 4:3 though.

the 21:9 will result is an essentially smaller (shorter) picture in the same amount of space.

for example in a 5' wide space, the TV will have a screen thats ~2.8' tall in 16:9 but only ~2.1' tall in 21:9. over 6" difference in height with the same width.

id rather have them cut off the little bit from the actual cinema experience to fit a taller TV in the same space width wise. but for the people who have a ton of space, and $$$ to get a huge TV and hang it on the wall or w/e the 21:9 would be a neat thing.

 

I'm not sure if you're correct... the movies you see in the theater are shot in 21:9 aspect ratio from what I understand. This allows you to see the full wideness. The surveys and discussions I've been involved in say that it's actual ORIGINAL footage without the "formatted to fit your TV" stuff

 

yeah, i know the stuff in the cinemas is 21:9. but im saying that i think it may be to wide for my tastes, as i would rather have a TV that is wide, but i don't think with those proportions.

yes viewing the formatted 16:9 will be cutting off some of the left/right edges, but i would rather see a taller picture on the same size width TV.

16:9 dimensions would be roughly 5' x 2.8' screen. the same width in a 21:9 would be 5' x 2.1' im just saying i would rather have that extra height and cut off a little bit of the edges.

when i said shorter i meant in height, not width.

i think the idea is really cool, but i don't really see a need for it unless you have a mini theater set up in your home. all the current blue-rays/dvds, etc are in 16:9 for the most part and TV shows are 4:3 and 16:9. with a 21:9 screen your 4:3 stuff would be small, and your 16:9 stuff would have bars on the side giving you a smaller picture.

 

CinemaScope is 21:9, but not all movies are filmed in CinemaScope. This is why theaters have curtains on the sides of their screens. They move in and out based on the width of the picture.

 

i like it, and i think wide is the way to go! it's one of the reasons they made a lot of youtube videos wide. i think there's a lot more quality involved. i think it's great, like panoramic.