As someone who normally works on a screen that technically has a ratio of 30:8 I am all for widescreen. I think the terrestrial move from 4:3 to 16:9 was great idea. I also love seeing films in full 21:9 at the cinema. If feels much more involved when you watch something that is going that far beyond the old square screens we were once used to. There is only one problem with films at 21:9, all the widescreen TV’s we have are 16:9. In fact, resolutions that we have come to know and love for their quality such as 1080p are still only 16:9 despite films being shot in 21:9.

Finally it seems someone has decided to address this annoyance. Phillips have stepped up to the plate with the first 21:9 TV for public consumption. Great you think, wouldn’t it be nice to get rid of those black bars top and bottom of the screen when watching films. Well, good news, Phillips don’t like black bars either, bad news they don’t like them a bit too much.

Phillips in their infinite wisdom have decided that wider content is better, even if that content was not meant to be wide in the first place. So, when the TV gets given 4:3 content, it stretches it to 16:9 and when it gets 16:9 (so normal TV) it stretches it to 21:9. This of course makes everyone look a bit more squat than they should. In fact, it makes everything look a bit squat.

This in my opinion is just plain mad. Why would someone who loves watching films etc want something that distorts almost every other bit of content they give it. Now this issue came up in an interview with Phillips on the BBC’s Click programme. Phillips response is they think people will want more immersive content more. Unfortunately the interviewer never pushed the issue, and in my opinion they should have. Phillips are bringing out a nice bit of kit that is actually something new in the TV market, and then they are completely breaking it with the software they are putting on it.