Philips' 56-inch Cinema 21:9 HDTV: not for Americans
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 31st 2009 6:58AM
posted Jan 31st 2009 6:58AM
[Thanks, Sean]
posted Jan 31st 2009 6:58AM
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
I would like to have one of these as a computer monitor. Maybe not a 56". Something like a 32 would be nice to have. It would be like having two monitors without the thick bezel in between the two.
wow...that would actually be really sick
nice thought! running two virtual desktops side-by-side with drag-and-drop functionality for files and windows would be amazing.
Get a Dell 30inch... its the best computer thing I ever buyed. And its quite at the "too huge" limit, you will not want bigger.
uhh TVs SUCK as monitors something that big wont have the appropriate resolution to make it worth while, a 30" Dell would have a higher resolution than this and take up 20" less space.
20" is a measurement of length not space
A 32inch 21:9 screen would be almost exactly the same size as two 19inch 5:4 screens, although admittedly, no big black line down the middle would be nice.
Tvs are pretty bad as monitors, they are not generally not designed to show static images for very long without staining the screen, and they have a low resolution compared to a same sized monitor
Reason it won't be sold in the US:
Because most people here will use it to watch 4:3 TV programs stretched out to the width of the screen.
And that would make the engineers cry.
And weeping engineers aren't very productive, plus they miss stuff because everything looks blurry.
HTH.
I use a 37" LCD 1920x1080 HDTV for my computer monitor and it is great.
Actually, LCD TV's and LCD monitors are essentially the same technology, and neither really suffer from burn-in, but you are correct that the TV's tend to have lower resolution, as you are not going to be sitting a foot and a half away from a tv (at least I hope you won't be), but they are catching up.
I haven't been following this very much, so if these are plasmas I will eat my words, though even plasmas don't suffer as badly from burn in as they used to.
Dogs bollocks!
"to be reserved for those overseas"... you do not understand, they will NOT be sold overseas...
It's all a matter of perspective :)
That Americans lack of... :)
Um, this is an American-based web site written primarily by Americans. So the perspective is from an American point of view. Americans may lack some perspective, as you call it, but Europeans(at least the few dozen or so I've come in contact with) certainly don't lack the condescending attitude.
This seemed useless until I read the first comment.
I don't like the ultra wide screen thing.
It's like watching though a strip.
I would say the 10:9 is OK and maybe the current 16:9 but the 21:9 is annoyingly wide.
Sorry I meant 10:6 before.
Did you know that many ancient temples were made in a scale 10:6 ?
I think its a very good ratio since the ancients called the ration of beauty.
Wait til you see the price - then you'll understand that it might be a risky operation to put it in a huge market in ailing times. I think it'll be very hard to get one here in Yurp as well.
The Brits are doing ten times worse than the US is.
Okay, Philips, don't bring your wide TV to the USA. See if we care.
We don't need your kind here. And take your screwdrivers back too.
We're happy with our flatheads and whatever you call those things from Ikea.
8vP
Ahhh yes, Phillips (note the two els) screws, from the Phillips Screw Company, nothing at all do with Philips (Royal Philips, the electronics company), in fact, not even european, an American company.
Woooooosh! :)
@ miko34. Philips looks at statements like yours, shake their collective heads and says, "Do we really want to deal with idiots like this?" And, sales for their high end electronics bypass this market.
"And take your screwdrivers back too.
We're happy with our flatheads and whatever you call those things from Ikea." - Miko34
Henry Phillips purchased the (now called) Phillips screw head concept from an Oregon inventor. Research in the Metropolitan Museum of Art turned up a slotted screw from the 1480s, used for attaching parts of a suit of armor. Just a few hundred years before any of the English left Brittan and decided to come over to the Americas.
now a 2-engined Woooooosh! :)
are you guys that stupid? that was clearly sarcastic.
Henry Phillips's hair had a parting that went from side to side as well as from front to back.
Wasn't America colonised/colonized by the Dutch.
@miko:
I think those are called alan wrenches.
ymmit, I believe you're a little too literal minded.
@ Sweet Greggo... Thanks.
@ Justin ... Actually, I looked up the Ikea things. I was thinking of pancakes ... mmm pancakes.
loving the double-whoosh.
@miko34
"take your screwdrivers back too" HAHAHAHAH! I love it..
Reading the comments last time it was clear everyone here thought it sucked anyway, so no loss apparently.
"Did someone give you the impression that Yanks wouldn't buy one of these completely mesmerizing new panels?"
With what money? $$ are worth less than the paper they're printed on.
Not so true anymore, I live in the UK and the dollar is stronger against the £ than it has been in years.
The $ has dropped slower than the £ has into the shitter.
And i must say that due to the fact that the pound has been so low compared to the euro i have been making some sweet deals at amazon.co.uk :D
I hope it keeps drowning (even though it has been going up the last few days).
Yea every bill in the U.S says Federal Reserve Note on it so yea its just paper its not backed up by anything, therefor its not worth anything. Stupid U.S.... But owell, as long as everyone thinks its real money then its all good right?
I don't get it. Whats the point of an 21:9 ratio if movies are 16:9? The only thing you will get are black bars on the sides...? I think its just stupid :D Maybe I missed something? If so please someone tell me whats the use of this ratio ?!
According to Trusted reviews 16:9 content will display without any pillar boxing, so it should look good.
And although I like the idea behind it (as a persons field of view is invariably wider then it is tall) the technology behind it is but a little out dated, CCFL backlighting in a high end consumer/enthusiast model? No thanks.
Pretty much all movies are filmed in 21:9 (or 2.35:1)...so if you mainly use your TV to watch DVDs/Blu-Rays, it actually makes sense.
I reckon the better solution is they stop filming in ridiculously wide angle...
Sure it's made that way for theaters but a huge percentage of their revenue comes from those you purchase the damn movies to watch at home on their 16:9 screens.
I'm guessing one of the main reasons we all went from 4:3 to 16:9 at home is a mid-way point to 21:9 to make the ratio closer to 'cinemascope'. Now it's time for film directors to meet us at the half-way point and lower their ratio... enough of this "black bars are there for a reason" purist sh*t.
I still don't understand it, though
most movies aren't film in anamorphic ratio (2.35/2.4:1), most are filmed 1.85 (academy standard). on top of that, post production houses who make dvds generally reformat everything to 1.78 or 1.85 anyway, so there isn't even any media to be played on this that is straight anamorphic, unless maybe you're looking at dailies or something.
other than using one as a monitor and getting extra desktop space, I don't see the point in this at all
And how would the 16:9 content be displayed without pillarboxing? By stretching the image to fit? No, gnormie...it won't look good...
I'm also wondering about all of the movies that are at the 1.85:1 aspect ratio...and those that are filmed at 1.78:1(16:9). Which, a lot of low budget films are (Dimension Extreme). I guess if you have the money to buy this so you can get the most out of your 2.4:1 movies, then go ahead.
Still, as a computer monitor it would rule. I would love running Avid and FCP with one of these.
Only shitty American releasers reformat to 1.78:1, in Europe that practise is frowned upon (there used to be that P&S BS when people used video tapes, though).
Also, films are not made in Cinemascope to annoy TV watchers but for the effect the film has on the viewer. Different aspect ratios look different (d'oh), and if you want an epic, beautiful look, you're usually going for Cinemascope. Lord of the Rings would have looked terribly small and non-epic if composed for 16:9.
Kadajawi, it's purist douche bags like you that give them the idea it's okay to continue completely wasting huge amounts of viewable areas on 16:9 televisions. Full 16:9 screen FTW!
Philips just bailed on the Australian market (31 Dec 2008), so it doesn't surprise me they're scaling back overseas launches too. I think they'll start focusing on the European market and maybe withdraw from CE in USA altogether.
What's the cry ? Just order it from Europe.
shipping prices would kill you.
If you've got $4,300 to drop on one of these, chances are the shipping costs aren't going to kill you...