I remember reading the back of one of my DVDs to see a disclaimer: “The film is presented in ‘widescreen format’ The black bars on the top and bottom of the screen are normal”. All I could think when I read that was “duh”. I mean, if you hadn’t figured that out by now, than you shouldn’t own a DVD player.

Of course, most people are fully used to the black bars when watching their movies in 16:9 format, and HDTVs are built for this. However, Philips has recently unveiled a way that viewers can see their movies in 21:9 format with the Cinema 21:9 HDTV.

You see, some movies are shot in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, which require the black bars on the screen to be seen at home. Any movie that is shot in an 1.85:1 aspect ratio can easily be converted to 16:9 format without the black bars. The Cinema 21:9 HDTV will finally allow users to see a 2.35:1 movie that will take over their entire screen, and the company states that the 21:9 can somehow adjust for 16:9 DVDs.

I’m surprised that some company has not attempted something like this before. After all, it seems like such a waste to pay hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars for a LCD or plasma television when only part of the screen is actually used. Too bad Philips didn’t have this on display at CES, but they opted to skip out on the monster trade show entirely.

The release of the Cinema 21:9 is planned for sometime in spring, but no word on a price. Philips has said that they will bring more information about this new model of TV sometime in February.

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