Bringing the Cinema Home - Philips' Cinema 21:9 Launch

Philips Brings the Cinema to your Home

When all there is to rave about High Definition content has dried up, TV makers have little choice but to think of something zany and refreshing to entice consumers once again. How about a TV scaled to fit the cinema's 2.39:1 aspect ratio? Besides unveiling this new 9954 model (or better known as the Cinema 21:9 LCD TV) under the 9000 series, Philips has stormed the AV frontier with a new collection of consumer lifestyle entertainment products, including a handful of new LCD and LED-backlit TVs, Ambisound SoundBars, DVD Micro Theaters and iPod Docking entertainment systems. Do read the next few pages to find out what's the entire buzz about.

The Cinema Has Landed

Are the days of widescreen TVs numbered? Philips has gone where no TV maker has gone before with the unveiling of the ultra-widescreen Cinema 21:9 LCD TV. Bearing a Full-HD (2560 x 1080p) native resolution and a 21:9 aspect ratio, Philips' new brainchild does make the typical HDTV's 16:9 aspect seem a little dated.

This 56-inch goggle box is an ultra-widescreen monster built to handle blockbusters filmed in Panavision's 70mm anamorphic aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The perks? You won't spy any hideous letterboxing effects from such sources so no more black bars in your movies. Then again, there aren't many titles designed for this aspect to date.

However, this doesn't mean that you have to start throwing away your old DVD collection though. The Cinema 21:9 still accepts your conventional 4:3 or 16:9 formats and scales them to fit its mega-broad screen. However, we'll keep our comments to ourselves for now about how this plays out in practice, till we get our hands on a review set to see if this baby can scale as well as it looks.

That isn't all there is to it though. The Cinema 21:9 is also touted to be Philips' 'fastest' LCD TV with a 200Hz frame-rate and 1ms response time. And to soothe your tired eyes, Philips has pushed their Ambilight Spectra technology to the max with not two, but three-sided LED lights that frame the Cinema 21:9 TV with multihued lights to accompany your onscreen action.

What's a new-fangled TV these days without internet access? Knowing this, Philips has fitted it with the Net TV application as well, so that you get to surf sites such as YouTube and eBay from the Net TV's launch pad. Expect the Cinema 21:9 to hit stores in July, with a not-so modest asking price of $10,999. And no, it's backlighting is still the conventional CCFL tubes and not LED-based yet. Cutting edge TVs from this point onwards should be embracing LED backlighting, so that finding came us quite a surprise for us.

Meet the Rest of the LCD Crew

Besides the Cinema 21:9, Philips has made some refreshes to its TV line-up as well. The new 9000 series will feature three Full-HD Ambilight models in all. The 52-inch 52PFL9704 offering will come fitted with LED-backlights (with local dimming) and a staggering 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. They've also upgraded their screen processors with a rejuvenated engine, simply known as the Perfect Pixel HD Engine.

The 47-inch 47PFL9664 and 42-inch 42PFL9664 models will offer similar features like 200Hz frame-rate for smoother video playback and the same video processing engine, minus the LED-backlights. The 52PFL9704, 47PFL9664 and 42PFL9664 are going for $5999, $4699 and $3999 respectively.

The 7000 series consists of two sizes, the 42-inch 42PFL7409 and 47-inch 47PFL7409 models. They'll be driven by Philips Pixel Precise HD Engine on Full-HD LCD panels with a dynamic contrast ratio of 80,000:1. The 5000 series will carry three sizes, the 47-inch 47PFL5609, 42-inch 42PFL5609, and 32-inch 32PFL5409 models. However, do note that only the 47-inch and 42-inch models are Full-HD screens while the 32-inch panel only goes up to 1366 by 768 for its native resolution. The 7000 series has four HDMI ports, while the 5000 series will pack three each.

Sounding out the SoundBars

SoundBars have become synonymous with the Philips brand. Looking to improve their market share further in the home theater domain, Philips has launched five new models to augment their SoundBar offerings. Amongst them is the HTS8160B SoundBar that not only touts Philips' Ambisound and its multi-channel surround sound technology, but a Blu-ray player as well. The HTS8160B also supports DTS-HD, Dolby True HD decoding for a high fidelity 7.1 aural effect, and is retailing at $1999.

For those looking for a cheaper alternative, there's the HTS6120 SoundBar with a DVD player that comes with 1080p upscaling and a similar Ambisound feature for a 5.1 surround sound experience. The HTS6120 is retailing at $999.

New Philips Blu-ray Players

Despite its relatively soft adoption rates, there's only one HD format left standing and that's Blu-ray. Philips too is doing its part to push the boundaries of this segment with new players that have support for BD-Live Profile 2.0 and are able to output 1080p at 24 fps for cinema-like quality. And if it's just plain old DVDs that you have, these players are able to upscale your DVDs to 1080p resolution.

Portable DVD Players

Not forgetting the portable DVD player segment, which remains popular for users during those long trips, Philips has a new range, all equipped with support for DivX media besides the usual DVD formats. Prices range from $199 for the lightest, entry level PET712D to $539 for the PET1031 with its mounted stand and 10.2-inch display.

DVD Micro Theaters

Philips claims to be the market leader in DVD micro HiFi theater systems in Singapore and its latest range hopes to extend this record. This time round, Philips has identified the trend of a clutter-free environment as key to consumer satisfaction and this range of products are designed with wireless in mind. Other considerations include having support for a variety of formats and allowing a host of connectivity options, from USB to SD cards.

iPod Docking Entertainment Systems

It's telling that so many vendors have now turned their attention to being iPod or iPhone compatible, with docking systems instead of trying to compete outright with Apple. So for those who prefer a fuller sound for their MP3s, the docking entertainment systems below from Philips can provide that, along with charging your device. They can also accept other sources like CD, USB and SD cards easily.

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