March 12, 2009
Philips Cinema 21:9 Widescreen LCD HDTV Actually 2.37:1



By Gary Reber

In my previous blog regarding the newly announced Philips Cinema 21:9 Widescreen LCD HDTV, I stated that the 2.33:1 aspect ratio (21 divided by 9) was "no where" in terms of a theatrical exhibition format. As it turns out, the actual pixel resolution is 2560 x 1080 or a 2.37:1 aspect ratio, which is a lot closer to the 2.39075:1 ratio (typically rounded to 2.40:1) used theatrically. The Philips ratio actually falls near the middle of theatrical home releases, which range from 2.30:1 to 2.42:1.

Still the other unanswered questioins presented in the previous blog remain. The claimed response time is 1ms with a 200 Hz frame-rate and a dynamic contrast ratio of 80,000:1. The set also is to support three HDMI 1.3a ports.

Sharp is making the panel for Philips. Philips does not sell HDTVs in the U.S. market. They market to Europeans. They licensed their U.S. product to Funai Electric Company, Ltd., which is headquarered in China. Funai is known for mass production technology and cost-competitiveness.

Given the limited Europen market, will Funai take on the Cinema 21:9 and successfully market it to the high-performance driven U.S. market segment? I suspect that a successful U.S. introduction will be too great of a challenge for Funai to mount, given their mass-market orientation. Will others step up to embrace the so-called "21:9" format?



Tags: - editor's couch - - Philips - - Cinema 21:9 - - LCD - - HDTV - - 2560 x 1080 -