[t2ffn]

Hi all,

Richer Sounds have the Philips Cinema 21:9 56PFL9954H 56in LCD TV for £1000, which for a recent top of the line TV that started at £4500 seems like a good price.

I've read loads and loads about how it handles different aspect ratios etc, but was wondering how XBMC would display on it? The resolution is 2,560 x 1,080 so will XBMC auto adjust and fit without cropping? I am running Live through a dedicated Revo.

Also, as the TV re-fits a 16:9 1080p source to fit the screen, from reviews it does it very very well, I can only assume 720p TV shows will also scale to fit the full screen as they are the same 16:9 ratio?

Anyone got any first hand experience with this TV and XBMC? I play all my movies and HD TV through XBMC, and gaming on the 360

I'm so tempted to just go buy it!!!

http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/review...-LCD-TV/p1

Thanks for any feedback.

[t2ffn]

Ok, spent a lot of my day off looking up reviews on this tv, must be ocd.

I don't think I'd like to watch some things with big thick black bars right and left of the picture, but the only way around this is to 'zoom' in so you lose top and bottom of the picture, which for TV shows etc would be a bit rubbish. Without the zoom the 16:9 image is the same size as a 42" panel, but on this 56" panel, so for regular 16:9 TV, there would be no improvement over the current 42" plasma I have.

I guess a 50" panel would give a better overall TV experience, but with much less impressive movies and wow factor. Shame.

[poofyhairguy]

My thinking on this is that odd-resolution TVs like this are about to explode. The reason? Because if you want passive 3D (aka a 3D TV that works with cheap polarized glasses) you need an odd ratio to pull it off. I expect TV companies to invest greatly in their scalers in order to make it so older content scales perfectly for these sorts of resolutions.

So a TV like this is the future, you are just a little ahead of the curve...

[bmcclure937]

My thinking on this is that odd-resolution TVs like this are about to explode. The reason? Because if you want passive 3D (aka a 3D TV that works with cheap polarized glasses) you need an odd ratio to pull it off. I expect TV companies to invest greatly in their scalers in order to make it so older content scales perfectly for these sorts of resolutions.

So a TV like this is the future, you are just a little ahead of the curve...

+1 and true cinema aspect ratio... no stupid black bars on some of those movies

I am wondering how long it will be until legit 4K content is available to consumers. hahaha

[t2ffn]

I'm not sure if the odd aspect will ever take off as would require a rethink by tv and movie makers.

Apparently philips tried to persuade a movie studio to release a 21:9 movie for when this tv was first released. At the time of release, there was NO 21:9 content available.

Still, with tv, I think 16:9 will likely remain the default for many years to come.

I think the TV would be great for movies, but would ultimately annoy when watching tv, either due to zooming and losing some picture, or leaving it pillar boxed. Shame really, its stunning.

[DappereDodo]

Please note that there are loads of sound drop issues with top-of-the-line Philips models. See http://www.supportforum.philips.com/show...H12&p=3686

[Auri]

I have a philips 21:9 since october 2010 it works perfectly with XBMC and I have no sound issues what so ever.

If you have specific questions ask them here and I'll answer or test them for you.

[t2ffn]

Thanks Auri.

How do you find it? I have read many reviews, some users say the picture is amazing, some expert reviews say its average at best. As the TV was the flagship model i'd expect it to be more than average!

What do you use it for? Mostly movies and a little TV, or TV every day and a movies every so often?

I watch a few shows, Dexter, CSI, Chuck etc which are all 16:9. I'm concerned how watching a 16:9 TV show looks on the screen. Do you use the pillar box or zoom so it fills the entire screen?

If you have the time and inclination to do it, could you for example, pause a 16:9 show with it set at 16:9 pillar box and then let the set do its magic to fill the screen with the same image? This should give a very clear image of how much of the image is lost when 'adjusting' a regular TV show to fill the 21:9 screen.

I think this is where I'm getting stuck. I don't like the idea of losing picture, like the days of 4:3 image being zoomed to fill a 16:9 screen.

What resolution do you have XBMC outputting? I read somewhere about 1920:820 (ish) being the perfect resolution as this is about 21:9. It seems daft though, as thats then not Full HD.

Also, do you use Xbox 360 or similar on it? Does this again get cropped to fill? I can imagine that would effect my skills on Call of Duty if I couldn't see all of the image

Thanks

[Auri]

Thanks Auri.

How do you find it? I have read many reviews, some users say the picture is amazing, some expert reviews say its average at best. As the TV was the flagship model i'd expect it to be more than average!

What do you use it for? Mostly movies and a little TV, or TV every day and a movies every so often?

I watch a few shows, Dexter, CSI, Chuck etc which are all 16:9. I'm concerned how watching a 16:9 TV show looks on the screen. Do you use the pillar box or zoom so it fills the entire screen?

If you have the time and inclination to do it, could you for example, pause a 16:9 show with it set at 16:9 pillar box and then let the set do its magic to fill the screen with the same image? This should give a very clear image of how much of the image is lost when 'adjusting' a regular TV show to fill the 21:9 screen.

I think this is where I'm getting stuck. I don't like the idea of losing picture, like the days of 4:3 image being zoomed to fill a 16:9 screen.

What resolution do you have XBMC outputting? I read somewhere about 1920:820 (ish) being the perfect resolution as this is about 21:9. It seems daft though, as thats then not Full HD.

Also, do you use Xbox 360 or similar on it? Does this again get cropped to fill? I can imagine that would effect my skills on Call of Duty if I couldn't see all of the image

Thanks

Ok I'll do some testing for you tomorrow.
I watch both TV and Movies 50/50. I watch both 16:9, 720p and 1080p and imho it's AMAZING.

Even the auto-fill 16:9 to full screen is amazing, sure if you look closely you'll see average quality, but this TV is not meant to be watched closely.

Currently my sofa is about 3.5/4 meters away from the screen which I think is PERFECT.

I'll see if I can make a youtube video also showing XBMC and the Philips 21:9 (dunno if I have much time but I'll try)

Give me a few days to get this sorted for ya.

[t2ffn]

Thanks man, much appreciated.

The only real concern for me is losing a chunk of picture or watching a small picture on a big screen.

There's a 50" LG for £520 that I bought for work that is basically half the price of this 21:9, both at Richer Sounds, so just trying to work out if the extra is worth it for the wow wow wow factor

[Auri]

Thanks man, much appreciated.

The only real concern for me is losing a chunk of picture or watching a small picture on a big screen.

There's a 50" LG for £520 that I bought for work that is basically half the price of this 21:9, both at Richer Sounds, so just trying to work out if the extra is worth it for the wow wow wow factor

This is the untouched 16:9 SD footage (click pic for bigger size screenshot)


This is the streched 16:9 SD footage (click pic for bigger size screenshot)


My XBMC is set to a resolution 1920*1080 (the max my video card or windows can handle I think) and my Philip cinema has it's view mode set to "Cinema 21:9"

When I watch 1080p it's full screen no resizing and there is no other TV in the world that can match full screen bluray 21:9

I'll make examples of that tomorrow and make a small video of it, so you can see it in action for yourself.

[t2ffn]

Thats the perfect way of comparing, thankyou. I can only see the pics using my phone as work block images linked to photobucket and the likes, but it appears (on my phone) when the image is stretched to 21:9, none of the image has been cropped, rather it is stretched?

The two people seem shorter and wider. Is this perceptable when watching or do you watch it in 16:9 untouched?

Did/do you find it difficult to get used to the black bars at the sides?

Thanks for your feedback on this.

Paul

[Auri]

Thats the perfect way of comparing, thankyou. I can only see the pics using my phone as work block images linked to photobucket and the likes, but it appears (on my phone) when the image is stretched to 21:9, none of the image has been cropped, rather it is stretched?

The two people seem shorter and wider. Is this perceptable when watching or do you watch it in 16:9 untouched?

Did/do you find it difficult to get used to the black bars at the sides?

Thanks for your feedback on this.

Paul

Black bars on the side is a big NONO, I tried it and it's a pain to watch.
Please note that the above are resizes done by XBMC itself, not the Philips 21:9 (the resizing like show in the pics above are not perceptable imho, you get used to it fast and it's not that big off a difference, maybe in the screenshots it looks screwed up but on the screen itself, it is so massive you don't really perceive it)

You can let the philips 21:9 do the resizing also but it's difficult to show you in a screenshot.

What I will do is, next weekend I'mm make a video recording myself showing you every resize mode both in XBMC and the TV itself, then I think you can see for your self how it works.
I'll also show some 720p and 1080p footage in all it's glory

Keep in mind I only have a SD camera so the video footage won't be amazing

[t2ffn]

Thanks for the helpful advice and pictures.

I showed the girlfriend the pictures of this tv vs a 42" http://www.techau.tv/blog/wp-content/upl...mage27.png and got a big My kinda chick

So, I will look forward to your pics/vid, to help me decide between 50" plsma or this.

Ona side note, some other q's / concerns you may be able to comment on from your 1st hand experience:

Black smearing - seen some complaints that showed it was pretty bad for smearing blacks in dark scenes.

24p judder - the set doesn't support 24p - this doesn't mean much to me though? You see much motion judder?

Gaming - do you use an Xbox 360 on this? Do you lose much screen on Smart Fit?

Picture quality - how do you rate it with good quality source (720/1080p)?

Sound quality - some say brilliant, some say weak?

Set noise - complaints on the net about high pitched noises the set makes? Like an old CRT? That does annoy me, got one in the bedroom! I swear that noise irritates me 90% of the time I watch the TV in there!

Sorry for all the questions, but this could be the replacement for my current plasma, which is more than due for a change! (Its not even 1080p!! )

Thanks

[Auri]

Thanks for the helpful advice and pictures.

I showed the girlfriend the pictures of this tv vs a 42" http://www.techau.tv/blog/wp-content/upl...mage27.png and got a big My kinda chick

So, I will look forward to your pics/vid, to help me decide between 50" plsma or this.

Ona side note, some other q's / concerns you may be able to comment on from your 1st hand experience:

Black smearing - seen some complaints that showed it was pretty bad for smearing blacks in dark scenes.

24p judder - the set doesn't support 24p - this doesn't mean much to me though? You see much motion judder?

Gaming - do you use an Xbox 360 on this? Do you lose much screen on Smart Fit?

Picture quality - how do you rate it with good quality source (720/1080p)?

Sound quality - some say brilliant, some say weak?

Set noise - complaints on the net about high pitched noises the set makes? Like an old CRT? That does annoy me, got one in the bedroom! I swear that noise irritates me 90% of the time I watch the TV in there!

Sorry for all the questions, but this could be the replacement for my current plasma, which is more than due for a change! (Its not even 1080p!! )

Thanks

No need to apologise when searching for as much info as you need to make a good decision. I'm like that myself, I spend hours and days on the internet before I buy something virtually reading all there is to nkow about it before I make the buy.

Give me till the weekend to gather this info for you and make footage.
I'm abroad for work for the rest of the week so I won't be home until the weekend.

Regards
Auri