People who logged into Youtube today have probably noticed that everybody’s favourite internet video site has undergone a slight change–everything has gone widescreen! That’s right, now you can watch a dog humping a baby in 16:9, rather than the original boring ol’ 4:3. Though, if you’d rather stick to boring ol’ 4:3, that’s not going away either. [Youtube]
Back in June, our own Brian Lam did a Battlemodo between two high-res video goggles. During that review he noted “I do wish they came in 16:9 versions, but the 4:3 ratio is probably more practical.” Well, Vuzix is going to put that to the test with their new AV310 goggles. They claim that it is the first video eyewear to offer a true widescreen experience—the equivalent of a 52-inch screen viewed from a distance of 2.7 metres. It also features 5 hours of battery life on a single AA as well as a typical “3D” setting. Expect the AV310 to retail for $US250.
Over at Sound and Vision Mag they’re asking exactly this question, and there’s a lot of logic behind it. Current flat-screen TV tech favours the 16:9 (or 1.78:1) dimension ratio, but many movies are shot in Cinemascope 2.35:1, around 32% wider. That’s why you still see letterboxing on your HDTV, or the frames are cropped to fit. High-end home theatre projectors already cater for Cinemascope dimensions by using anamorphic lenses and some fancy processing to correct the image. So will next-gen home TVs end up wider too?
Here’s the deal. Yesterday an advertisement was floating around showing a Nintendo DS that had bigger, wider screens. They didn’t look quite 16×9 as the gaming blogs were claiming, and the whole ordeal could have been a pretty quick Photoshop blunder by a third party software designer. Anyway, a lot of people ended up running the story, so I thought we should let you know about it in the remote case that a.) someone at work was talking about a widescreen DS or b.) it somehow ended up being real. Nintendo has called the device “purely rumour and speculation.” I just think it’s funny that the DS in the ad is out of battery. [aeropause and eurogamer via kotaku]
People who want big screen space without having to buy a wide desk to support it can take a look at this BenQ V2400W, which is the world’s slimmest 24-inch widescreen monitor. It’s apparently more than 21% slimmer than the next slimmest monitor at 2.44 inches, and has a 4000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio and 1080p HD support. Two and a half inches. Thinner than most of the stuff we’ve got dangling around. [Far East Gizmos]
