Philips Cinema 21:9 TV
Encyclopedia
The Philips
Cinema 21:9 TV is the world's first LCD television using a 64:27 aspect ratio (or 21:9 as a marketing term, compared to the common 16:9), with a resolution of 2560×1080. It is designed to show films recorded in CinemaScope
or the modern anamorphic format
of 2.37:1. The main benefit of this screen ratio is the absence of the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen when viewing content in this format. The first model launch was available in a 56-inch screen size, although was no taller than a conventional 16:9 42-inch television. Vizio
has since followed suit with their own Cinema TV's with identical resolution, similarly marketed as "21:9" and available in the United States.
All Blu-ray content with 1920 horizontal resolution has 1080 vertical resolution, though in the case of widescreen formats wider than 16:9, the image appears on 16:9 displays with letterboxing
. The Cinema TV eliminates the black bars by scaling the 1920 horizontal resolution to its full width of 2560 and the 800+ pixels of cinemascope images (actual pixel counts vary) is scaled to 1080 with the black space cropped. The result is an image which fills the screen, but does not provide higher quality due to the use of scaling
. Despite the intention being to fill the screen with a non-letterboxed image, the zoom mode can result in some cropping at the edges. Content with the full image at 1920×1080 can be displayed in the center of the screen with pillarboxing, and should the viewer choose to not display cinemascope content at full width, it appears windowboxed
.
Early reviews have claimed that it is "one of the coolest TVs" to enter the market for some time. This set was previewed in the UK in advance of its release date of 18 June 2009. Pre-release launch events were held at numerous Philips retailers throughout June 2009.
The online advertising campaign surrounding the Cinema 21:9 TV, titled Carousel
, went on to win the most prestigious award in the advertising industry, the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
.
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
Cinema 21:9 TV is the world's first LCD television using a 64:27 aspect ratio (or 21:9 as a marketing term, compared to the common 16:9), with a resolution of 2560×1080. It is designed to show films recorded in CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
or the modern anamorphic format
Anamorphic format
Anamorphic format is a term that can be used either for: the cinematography technique of capturing a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film, or other visual recording media, with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio; or a photographic projection format in which the original image requires an...
of 2.37:1. The main benefit of this screen ratio is the absence of the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen when viewing content in this format. The first model launch was available in a 56-inch screen size, although was no taller than a conventional 16:9 42-inch television. Vizio
Vizio
Vizio is a privately held producer of consumer electronics, based in Irvine, California, USA. It was founded in October 2002 as V Inc. Vizio's major partner in the consumer electronics arena is AmTran Technology, a Taiwan-based OEM/ODM that manufactures more than half of the televisions sold...
has since followed suit with their own Cinema TV's with identical resolution, similarly marketed as "21:9" and available in the United States.
All Blu-ray content with 1920 horizontal resolution has 1080 vertical resolution, though in the case of widescreen formats wider than 16:9, the image appears on 16:9 displays with letterboxing
Letterbox
Letterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes above and below it; these mattes are part of the image...
. The Cinema TV eliminates the black bars by scaling the 1920 horizontal resolution to its full width of 2560 and the 800+ pixels of cinemascope images (actual pixel counts vary) is scaled to 1080 with the black space cropped. The result is an image which fills the screen, but does not provide higher quality due to the use of scaling
Image scaling
In computer graphics, image scaling is the process of resizing a digital image. Scaling is a non-trivial process that involves a trade-off between efficiency, smoothness and sharpness. As the size of an image is increased, so the pixels which comprise the image become increasingly visible, making...
. Despite the intention being to fill the screen with a non-letterboxed image, the zoom mode can result in some cropping at the edges. Content with the full image at 1920×1080 can be displayed in the center of the screen with pillarboxing, and should the viewer choose to not display cinemascope content at full width, it appears windowboxed
Windowbox (film)
Windowboxing in the display of film or video occurs when the aspect ratio of the media is such that the letterbox effect and pillarbox effect occur simultaneously...
.
Early reviews have claimed that it is "one of the coolest TVs" to enter the market for some time. This set was previewed in the UK in advance of its release date of 18 June 2009. Pre-release launch events were held at numerous Philips retailers throughout June 2009.
The online advertising campaign surrounding the Cinema 21:9 TV, titled Carousel
Carousel (advert)
Carousel is an online advertisement launched in April 2009 by Philips to promote Philips Cinema 21:9 LCD televisions. The 139-second piece is a continuous tracking shot of a frozen moment after an armoured van heist gone wrong, with robbers dressed in clown masks holding a pitched battle with...
, went on to win the most prestigious award in the advertising industry, the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in advertising and related fields. The seven-day festival, incorporating the awarding of the Lions awards, is held yearly at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France...
.