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Native 2.35:1 Displays

Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 11, 2011

Thanks for your amazing podcast; I've been an avid listener since episode 1. I was wondering if you could spend some time on the topic of ultra-widescreen projectors and 21:9 TVs. There are very few products of the sort, and many people spend a small fortune on anamorphic lenses, stretching processors, and such. Why are there no native 21:9 projectors out there? Ninety percent of my viewing is in 2.35 and above, and I always have black bars on the top and bottom. In my mind, 16:9 is the new full screen. What's coming down the road ahead?

Atli Davidsson

Thanks for the kind words! I'll certainly look into covering this topic on a future show. Actually, there are a few projectors with native 2.35:1 aspect ratio—Digital Projection (seen on the left above) and SIM2 announced such models at CEDIA this year, and projectiondesign announced one at CEDIA last year. However, the price tag for all of them is well into five figures, so we're still talking about a small fortune, and I doubt we'll see a significant price drop anytime soon.

As for 21:9 flat panels, Philips makes one for the European market, and Vizio has been promising one (seen on the right above) in the US for quite some time now. However, the company has still not announced when it will be available, nor has it announced final size or pricing, though knowing Vizio, I bet it will be surprisingly affordable.

If you have an A/V question, please send it to askhometheater@gmail.com.

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