In a private tour of VIZIO's latest and greatest technologies, Big Picture Big Sound was treated to a sneak peek at their upcoming 58-inch 21x9 "Cinema Display." Designed for use with 2.35:1 and 2.4:1 ultra-widescreen (CinemaScope) films, such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gladiator and Titanic, Vizio's expansive Cinema Display will be the first flat panel offered in the U.S. to natively address this increasingly-popular aspect ratio without black letterbox bars at the top and bottom of the screen.
Although VIZIO plans to bring the XVTPRO580CD Cinema Display to market in a matter of months, the 2560 x 1080 panel we saw was a prototype so complete functionality was not available for demonstration. However, VIZIO did tell us that the Cinema Display will feature the VIA (VIZIO Internet Apps)platform for access to internet goodies such as Netflix and VUDU. Due to the Cinema Display's unique video orientation, the VIA interface needs to first be modified before it can look proper on the new aspect ratio.
The big question on everyone's mind was how the Cinema Display would handle native 16x9 material and the results were quite impressive. Watching a demonstration of Disney's Cars on Blu-ray - which features a mix of aspect ratios on the initial Disney logo screen, the Blu-ray disc menus and the film itself - the Cinema Display used its automatic aspect ratio sensing to determine when to zoom in to remove those notorious "black bars." And when watching an HDTV broadcast of a football game in 16X9, the full HD image could easily be slid over to the right side of the screen in order to make room on the left for live football scores from Yahoo! courtesy of VIZIO Internet Apps.
For those consumers who always prefer to fill the screen, it should be noted that the Cinema Display will feature assorted stretch and zoom capabilities to make that happen. And for purists, there are modes to always support the native aspect ratio of incoming content.
Pricing and Availability:
Where to Buy:
VIZIO Products at Amazon.com (Note: most newly announced models not yet available)
More Information:
More CES 2010 Coverage Live from Las Vegas:
