Philips gives Cinema 21:9 HDTV a price and release date
We'd already heard during a UK preview show that Philips' Euro-only Cinema 21:9 HDTV would be priced around £3,000 when it launched sometime this Spring, but now we've got some more official details to share (and only half of it is good). So, the good news -- we're told that this behemoth will start shipping "as soon as June." The bad? The 56-inch ultra-widescreen panel will run you €4,000 ($5,045). Don't bother turning your head, that's just your wallet over in the corner wailing.
[Via Register Hardware]
[Via Register Hardware]


















corner?
ever think the mistakes are not really "mistakes?"..
And Im guessing since its MSRP is 5K, its probably going to cost on avg 3k-ish online..
Really almost 2K off MSRP? Where do you shop? Online to start it will probably be around $4,600 to $4,3000. Leaning towards the former.
Really... $38,000 over MSRP, where do YOU shop?!
So...does the sea facing mansion come with the TV for the price??
How did those people get into my apartment?
typo obviously
Looking through the pics allowed me to realize how futuristic this tv is. I predict 21:9 will be the next standard in the next 10-15 years.
Looking at the pic made me realize how much my living room sucks.
Pounds to Euro.. not a huge difference.. but that's 1 Pound to 1.13 Euros..
So they were expecting about 3400 Euros and got 4000 Euros.. Not sure why they switched back and forth.. but it may confuse some of us Americans..
some?
This has got to be the dumbest thing I've seen. We finally get people to buy 16:9 televisions and now they are trying to tell me I need a wider TV? What's next, after everyone gets a 21:9 television they'll decide that oh 16:9 was better lets go back to that. Or ever better yet lets make it ever wider oh let's say a resolution of 10x20000. Yeah that should about do it. Morons.
This isn't supposed to be a general consumer TV, it's for people who want to watch 2.35:1 movies without any bars or stretching. Personally, I think that 2.35 is an awful ratio for the vast majority of movies that use it but there's no accounting for taste.
I listened to an NPR piece on the way portable media players were changing the cinematography of music videos. I think the same will with TV and movies to some degree. On a small screen, the action needs to be upfront rather than in the periphery. Landscape details are pointless. Dialogue is cut shot rather than having characters at the either edge. I think that this trend of how media is both made and consumed will work strongly against the adoption of 21:9 formats. I'm all for the evolution of monitors and tvs to 16:9, but hope it stops there.
What they will decide next is that we should just paint the wall with LED paint and make the video whatever size or shape we wanted.
So will you be giving away one of these in your recession antidote :)
test for ff passwords
My name better be Jimmy Gates II to have that kind of super amazing view with a nice sexy machine recliner..
Why is half of that TV missing?
"Philips gives cinema 21:9 HDTV a price and release date"
woosh.
well, its okay though, with a name like gonintendo,
you can be sure of 21:9 HDTV support in YOUR game console.
"21:9"
That's why.
Look, I understand why 21:9 makes it easier to proportion the cinema films on this tv... but the argument is beyond rediculous...
This TV is for immersing yourself in a movie, filling your entire perspective from edge to edge. They they make a tiny little tv for this purpose? Hello? If i'm going to be immersed by a 21:9 proportion screen, the least you can do is make it the width of a wall in my house so that it actually fills my field of vision. Look at those pictures, its hilarious.... thats going to mimic the experience of being at the movie theater???
That thing is smaller than a 60 inch plasma.... and its way smaller than 120 inch projector screen. Pointless.
I agree, they need to make the TV longer and wider. They say its a 56 inch, but its only 33 inches high and a massive 77 inches long. That is just rediculous. Its not even 3 feet tall, but its over 6 feet wide. Major Fail. I would take a nice 60inch 16:9 Pioneer Plasma for the same price anyday.
The vast majority of Hollywood films get shot with anamorphic lenses which gives you a ratio aspect of 2.39:1. This screen, I'm guessing, is designed to mimic that ratio.
If you're a film director and you spend a long time thinking about EXACTLY what you want into a shot, how it should be balanced and composed, then it's a kick in the balls when it gets released on DVD and gets cropped down to 16:9. The guys who do the cropping are having to make the decision about what does and does not go into the newly formatted frame. The end result isn't what the director originally intended or what the camera man saw down the lense of his camera.
It's a very old problem that cinema has had but it used to be a lot worse when everyone was watching films on 4:3 screens. Back in those days you were missing over half the original frame. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univisium if you're interested in a guy who tried to solve the problem a while back.
I think this is a nicer idea myself. If you get one of these TVs hooked up to a 24fps source you've got the closest thing you can get to what the director intended you to see.
I really don't get the point of that aspect ratio until you get to theatre-sized screens.
I'm with you dude. Fuck 16:9 AND 21:9. I'm holding out until Steven Seagal's Letterbox 2000 hits the streets. I already prepared by buying a warehouse 140' long and 12' high.
And if you don't know, now you know: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d82j_Qfp_VA
(pardon the Finnish)
-jp
4000 € = 3 541.69283 British pounds
...500 pounds not that much if you're normally into this segment....
the OLPC should got for 100$...it costs 200$, thats the double of the announced price..
21:9 =7:3
why dosent a company just release 16:9 under the name 320:180 to get some sales.
wtf is even the point of having it that wide?
all it does is makeit cheaper for manufactures to have more inches on the screen, and they sell it for more.
What's the point?Just imagine tweetdeck on this thing!
So it can be compared to 16:9.
And yes, it is a rip off.
The area of the panel is even smaller.
is it just me or is that guy wankin it?
I dont see anyone
Pic #6
oh yes, he's wankin it.
I'll say the same thing I said with the first article on this TV: this is yet another home-theater product for people with more money than sense. Creating a 21:9 TV makes no sense unless you have a mysterious source for 21:9 HD content. If you don't, you're just going to be cropping or scaling everything else you put into it, defeating the purpose of having all those extra pixels.
it's the same reason we have 16:10 monitors instead of 8:5 - people are used to 16:9 widescreen so they try to keep a familiar number inthere.
Is it bad that I'm still on 4:3?
What TV? I want the super-shape-changing condo!
If that thing has a mode where it can do 2 4:3's side by side (without scaling), they might have something there, particularly for pro markets like videoconferencing and video production.
where the hell are you going to find content thats in the native resolution?
I can't verify this but:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/news/2009/01/30/Philips-Unveils-21-9-Cinema-TV-In-UK/p1
...according to Philips more than 60 per cent of DVDs and Blu-rays already on sale allegedly support 21:9
End Cinemascope in our lifetimes.
wait wait, so good news is is shipping around June but, it's only shipping to UK? what's so good news about that?
Interesting how it lights up the wall around its edges. I wonder if the color can be changed to any color you want.
You need to read up on Ambilight.
that bitch better be 2520 by 1080 resolution- so 16 by 9 hdtv at 1080i and bluray non stretched still matches resolution of source 1080p. the 2520 is the resolution that 21:9 should be to allow 16:9 to be centered at 1920 by 1080. Otherwise- EPIC FAIL!
http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/news/2009/01/30/Philips-Unveils-21-9-Cinema-TV-In-UK/p1
"Its native resolution was to be revealed but we managed to discover it will be 2,560 x 1,080 pixels and 16:9 content (typical widescreen) will display without any pillar-boxing. 4:3 on the other hand will feature these horizontal black bars (less invasive than horizontal 'enveloping' in my opinion)."
-------------
The question on my lips:
16:9 without pillarboxing? So stretched, then? Cut-off?
Confusion 'cause the writer doesn't mention anything in this dept.
it'll be interesting to see how the ambient lights change their hue when watching ordinary 16:9 TV shows, with two 2.5:9 black bars on the way.
Disco Stu approves of Ambilight.
Disco Stu also sez "right on!" to non-comformist aspect ratios.
The article starts off with "There's no way you can't lust after the Philips 21:9 Cinema TV..." yet it's clear that many commenting are not lusting, myself included :)
How about a 55LNA950.
its cheaper
its better
its not a philips
One day soon I am going to have a place like that. Mark my words. One day.
I want that house, or condo! It's a beauty.
These pictures are just making hate life... Look at all of them enjoying life in their big house, drinking wine and in front of a fireplace with open windows, EFF you guys! EFF YOU!
Anyone know the make of the chair?
I think this picture is the worst ad for ambilight ever, those colors completely clash with the room and outside and make the display look like an unpleasant monstrosity.
but...but... isn't Ambilight synonomous with unpleasant monstrosity? :p
WANT.
Now I can have even bigger bars on the sides of my screen.
So Tony Stark owns it?
I hate those bars on 2:35. why can't it just stay as 16:9 for a little while.
Rip off...
IS THIS PLASMA OR LCD, NEVER ONCE HAS THAT BEEN MENTIONED! GREAT ITS 21:9 BUT WHAT THE HELL IS IT, PLASMA OR LCD?
@ dreamscape86 BINGO!
@ Jeavis I agree with you, I am sick of switching media formats, I am sick of SD or HD, I am sick of different aspect ratios. I think its time for the industry to f*cking grow up, pick something then stick with it. I think they should also work hand in hand with the film industry so we have movies and TV show with no black lines on the top and bottom, or sides. Even the f*cking film industry cant even decide on ONE format. I dont give a shit about 21:9, I love it when a movie fits into my 16:9 with no black lines on the top or bottom. Even if there are black bars on the top and bottom I dont mind it, not enough to buy a 21:9 TV. Until ALL TV channels are 16:9 there is no way I am buying a 21:9 TV..why...just to have double the thickness side bars when watching regular TV. I mean some cable channels are HD but they are still 4:3 ratio. I am sick of all this different factors.
I also hate the posh setting they have the TV in, yea like everyone lives like that. Rather then making the setting look so good, they should focus on the real world, not some fake posh minimalist shit.
Bottom line, I am waiting for OLED. I am probably going to buy a 16:9 OLED way before this would even become successful enough to survive. Prove to me why we need 21:9, and it will never be proven until TV broadcasters all provide 21:9. nuff said.
Anybody know where I can get or who makes that chair and ottoman(foot rest) from the main picture?
That would be the Ari lounge chair (1966) by Arne Norell .
21:9 aside, i relly like that BAMBOO sculpture(?) off to the side
tomo