Home Theatre/TV: Philips Cinema 21:9 56-inch LCD Television – Review
Remember when widescreen TV didn’t exist? It’s a scary thought, but I am seasoned enough to recall the era prior to the introduction of the technology. Philips K9 and Mitsubishi Black Diamond 4:3 tellies reigned supreme, but the introduction of DVD made for an unpleasant viewing experience. You either had to crop each side in order to present a full 4:3 image, or suffer the disgrace of a true 16:9 image with giant black bars above and below the picture.
Those days were agony.
It was probably back in the mid-1990s that I clapped eyes on a widescreen TV for the first time. I was flatting at the time and I used to watch a fair bit of telly with the lads.
Luckily, Muzza had just forked out for a new 16:9 50Hz CRT TV, and armed first with laserdisc and then DVD, it really was movie heaven.
Today’s technology is a long way from those CRT dinosaurs, but one feature has remained unchanged: the 16:9 aspect ratio.
Until now, that is, because Philips has introduced the world’s first 21 x 9 panel for domestic use. Designed predominantly as a home theatre display, the Cinema 21:9 will display 2.35:1 without black bars, making it a natural partner for a high-end Blu-ray-based home theatre.
It’s a gorgeous looking piece of high-tech hardware. The black frame is subtly round cornered and devoid of extraneous buttons and knobs, while the non-reflective full HD 2560 x 1080 panel makes viewing a pleasure – forget about watching reflections of people pulling faces behind you during a movie.
Philips’s Pixel Perfect HD light engine is used in the Cinema 21:9; this is equipped with a plethora of widgets including HD Natural Motion and 200Hz processing, while 21:9 subtitling is there for lovers of foreign movies. I used 1:1 mapping for the test; this doesn’t employ overscanning and is the purest setting for best quality.Fed images from the ravishing Pioneer LX90 receiver and LX71 Blu-ray player, and following a brief picture tweaking session, the Cinema 21:9 displayed an alarmingly good picture quality that was very easy on the eye.
The 200Hz setting presented fast-moving action scenes with precious little motion blur or artifacting, while the wide colour gamut of this seductive panel provided vivid imagery on Blu-ray discs such as Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen and V For Vendetta.
Changing to broadcast TV via the built-in Freeview HD decoders also illustrated the fine credentials of the Philips, with generally excellent picture quality. Those with a penchant for YouTube and Facebook will get a kick out of internet TV wireless connectivity, and the panel can also stream content from a DLNA-equipped PC.
The one aspect of the Cinema 21:9 I admired above all else was the lack of black bars when watching movies, which turned the screen into a true cinema display. Although 12 grand isn’t pocket change, that money buys one of the finest LCD televisions I have encountered thus far.
GARY PEARCE
Philips Cinema 21:9 56-inch LCD Television – Tech Specs
SCREEN SIZE: 56 inches diagonal
ASPECT RATIO: 21:9
RESOLUTION: 2560 x 1080p
FRAME RATE: 200Hz
ENGINE: Perfect Pixel HD
CONTRAST RATIO: 80,000:1 (dynamic)
CONNECTIONS: HDMI x 4, Component x1, PC x 1, S-Video x 1, Ethernet x 1, USB x 1, Wi-Fi 802.11g
SPEAKERS: 2 x dome tweeters, 2 x subwoofers
DIMENSIONS: 1418 x 691 x 105mm (W/H/D without stand)
WEIGHT: 31.9kg (without stand)
Pros
- True home cinema display
Cons
- High-end panel comes with a high-end price tag
Verdict
A 21:9 aspect ratio seems obvious, especially as practically all movies are filmed this way. Philips’s brave move may turn out to be the beginning of a revolution.
CONTACT
This article is from Tone issue 81. Click here to check it out.
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