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Philips 21:9 Cinema / 56PFL9954

Based on 33 reviews

Excellent:

14
Good:

13
Average:

4
Bad:

2

Pros

Great looking, deep Colors, Panel is quite bright, Ambilight looks good, as usual, Very well built, sturdy external quality.
Ambilight, built in Wi-Fi, unique
Looks. Extensive spec. Including Wi-Fi and DLNA. Great sound. Fine performance with cinemascope content
Clear and rich pictures; 21:9 mode eliminates letterbox bars; excellent sound quality; IDTV; YouTube video playback; onboard Web browser; DLNA network multimedia streaming; 802.11b/g Wi-Fi-enabled; five 24p-ready HDMI inputs; unique Ambilight ambient ligh

Cons

Weak Blacks, Expensive, as it is only meant for Cinemascope movies.
Ultra expensive, weak speakers
Compromises with more day-to-day widescreen video are hard to take. It’s hardly cheap
Occasional motion artifacts; slow Web services; image cropping for 4:3 and 16:9 content; extremely pricey for an LCD TV without LED lighting; slow 7-second TV bootup time.

By 5FWD on March 30, 2011

If movies are your life this is the TV for you. Not only can it do pretty much everything a normal HDTV does, it also presents films in a totally unique way that really brings them to the fore. The design, build quality and features are...

100
By T3 Magazine on March 08, 2011

Last year we saw the Philips Cinema 21:9 series, a stunning set with an aspect ratio designed for cinema viewing, enabling viewers to watch movies without black bars at the top and bottom of the picture. Now the Dutch company is releasing its...

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By Gadget Guy Australia on July 23, 2010

It’s not often that one can say this, but the Philips Cinema 21:9 LCD panel is unique, and you can tell that it’s unique at a glance. That’s because instead of having the usual widescreen 16:9 display, it has a super widescreen 21:9...

90
By ElectricPig.co.uk on December 17, 2009

The ultimate TV for watching Blu-ray and...

100
By CNET UK on November 18, 2009

The Philips Cinema 21:9 is aimed at a very specific audience. If you're a movie lover with deep pockets, you'll be very happy with this TV. Some projectors offer a better home-cinema solution, but they aren't all that suited to everyday use....

88
By Tech2 on October 15, 2009

PerformanceThe deal is this: Blu-ray and DVD movies are actually more often than not rendered in an aspect ratio of around 2.35:1. Thus we see black lines at the top and bottom when playing this content on a regular 16:9 TV. In this Cinema 21:9 model,...

70
By CIOL on October 07, 2009

You may say that there's something strange about this TV. It's different, yes, but thats mainly because of the unique 21:9 aspect ratio. Almost all flat panel TVs available today adopt the 16:9 aspect ratio, which is what we're accustomed to...

80
By FlatpanelsHD on August 12, 2009

Philips adventure into the world of 21:9 home cinema is spectacular and I must say that I was very anxious to get Cinema 21:9 on the test bench even though I have seen it a few times already. As always, the default settings on a Philips LCD-TV are not...

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By Stuff.tv on August 08, 2009

Looks great with cinemascope movies, but has too many flaws for the price...

60
By CNET Asia on August 04, 2009

Watching ultra-wide movies is a treat on the new Philips Cinema 21:9. But for everything else, you should just settle for a regular 16:9 HDTV which costs a lot...

80