Forget 16:9 - 21:9 UHD is here and affordable!...Finally!

In dumping all my old gear and looking to the new I am sooo happy to see that finally, finally someone got smart and dumped that stupid 16:9 format which letter boxed everything and brought the 21:9 format in.



What spured on my delight was making a visit to the local Best Buy and seeing Sony's new 65" Ultra HD TV. Absolutely beautiful image. Some flaws but I loved it. That is much closer to how TV as a standard should look. I did see some flaws. But - I'm not giving in to my perfection of quality just yet, because I am so delighted Ultra High Definition was finally here in the US.

In the US I can see this will be just like Blue Ray as far as recorded and streamed content.
According to Sony (fine print) you'll need at least a 10MB connection to enjoy UltraHD Streaming. I hope Comcast got the memo and will quite trying to bs everyone with their "56Mega Bit!" connection speed like it's something... that it's definitely not. We're looking for Megabytes not Megabits Comcast. We need 10 at least to be the standard for everyone. That was after all the whole point of having the Networks broadcast in HD years ago... which Comcast still hasn't provided as the standard. Though they were supposed to. The broadcast from Comcast is worse than it was when we were using antennas.

For storage Sony claims that on their 2TB drive storage system you can save approximately 45 UltraHD movies and are offering those that buy their system 50 free movies, which I would think they are going offer to anyone with an UltraHD system. UltraHD movies are priced as they were when Blue Ray came to the US at approximately $29.99 a movie.  No one can complain about that. At least not yet.

File size per movie in Ultra HD of course is more - approximately 38 gigs per movie. I'd approximate the file size to be about one quarter that if you convert them as it is with Blue Ray or SD movies from what I've seen thus far.

The one question that perplexed me in what Sony was thinking while looking at the Sony 65 inch was, if they are going to finally bring the Ultra High Definition TV's in. WHY in the world would they stick with the 16:9 format? Who wants to watch a UltraHD movie with 6 inches of padding on the top and bottom?

But in all the tree hugging I've done, Eywa must have heard my mutterings of dissatisfaction over the years as I saw a Samsung 105" Curved 21:9 UltraHD. My eyes almost teared up. It was just what I was asking for... couldn't afford it, but it was right in front of me. And it was beautiful... and there wasn't any letter boxing of the wide screen movie they had playing. It filled my eyes with joy.

But that is not all - LG - NEC and others have also come out with 21:9 wide screens monitors and tv's. Both in HD and UltraHD.

At the time of this writing you can pick up an LG 29" HD 21:9 monitor for around $200
And Samsung has announced a 29" 21:9 Ultra Definitionn to be released

And LG has a 31" and a 34" 21:9 UltraHD monitor as well.



Oh sure, you'll still get some letter boxing on the 2.45:1 movies but thankfully not the 3 and four inch padding you see now with  16:9. What you will see with 16:9 and anything below the 2.35:1 format video is called Pillar boxing. Which I would much rather see the long side padded than the short side as it is on the 16:9 Monitors and TV's.

And can not wait to get a 29" wide UHD monitor.. or larger. That and to see someone play a video game with some serious graphics on a triple 105" 21:9 UltraHD curved screen rig... ( the first thing I thought of once my eyes cleared and I started envisioning the ultimate set up)

Technology... I love you...

And just to show you what you can do with the 21:9 realestate as a digital creator take a gander at some shots with some apps on a few out there.

A Dell 21:9 HD Monitor with ProTools
An AOC 29" HD monitor Desktop

An LG 21:9 with AV Edition Software
Ostendo 43 Inch Curved Display Ultra Wide Monitor
Even Philips has an 21:9 with a 144hz refresh rate.
LG's 34inch UltraHD 21:9 with AV Editing apps running.


till next time,
keep rendering...
but start doing it in Ultra HD and 21:9 Wide Screen format!


~ chase ~




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