It appears that waistlines and overdrafts are not the only things getting wider in 2009.

Philips introduction of a 56in TV with a 21:9 screen ratio is certain to put the wide back into widescreen. While the cynical may write this new screen off as merely a marketing ploy, forget ye not that Philips introduced 16:9 widescreen TVs to the world long before any other manufacturer - and the rest is history.

The super-wide screen certainly makes a lot of sense for movie fans. The majority of Blu-ray films are presented in 2.35:1 ratio, which is darn close to 21:9 and even closer to the true 'Cinemascope' shape of the cinema. And consider this; when you are viewing 2.35:1 material on a widescreen TV some 30 per cent of your hard-earned 1080p resolution is actually black bars top and bottom.

Ironically, what you are actually watching is something nearer 720-line vertical resolution. Philips new super-widescreen TV is simply genius... watch the other manufacturers follow like sheep.

Cinemascope-shaped TVs may be a new thing, yet the format is already established in the world of projection. Here, though, it brings with it other complications, as the 2.35:1 image has to be distorted by electronics in either the projector or outboard processor and then corrected by an external anamorphic lens.

There's growing interest in anamorphic lenses for home cinema projectors, particularly in the US; these optical assemblies correct the geometric distortion of the anamorphic process to deliver a full 1080p resolution image.

I had cautiously looked into buying an anamorphic lens for my Marantz VP-15S1 projector but the sky-high prices meant I stopped looking fairly sharpish. Then I went to Sweden (on a press trip with specialist hi-fi and AV outfit Primare) and the fate of my credit card bill for 2009 was sealed. Primare MD Lars Pedersen treated me to a demonstration of a stunning cinema system in his basement.

Complete with Primare amps, huge JBL speakers and a Velodyne DD-18 sub - which is big enough to host a fair-sized home-cinema room inside - it sounded stunning. In addition, not only did the projector have an anamorphic lens, Lars had a nearly 4m-wide dedicated 2.35:1 screen that was curved to reduce pin-cushion distortion at the edges of the frame. Mamma Mia! - and a host of other Abba-related Swedish clichés. The picture was awesome.

So, dipping my toe in the 2.35:1 water, I set about acquiring an inexpensive (okay, downright cheap) bolt-on anamorphic lens for my resident Marantz. Unfortunately I ended up with an image running across the speakers and wrapping halfway round the side walls. In a flurry of power tools and plasterboard dust, I moved the projector closer to bring the image back into the confines of my 2.4m widescreen. And Mamma Mia!... it was bloody awful.

The combination of an ultra-short throw and ultra-wide image brought with it hilarious edge distortion, and the low-cost optics resulted in a slightly out-of-focus image on one side and colour shift that you could measure with a yard stick. However, the middle portion of the image, now using the full 1080p lineage of the projector, was significantly crisper and brighter than it was in standard 16:9 mode.

The moral of this story is probably don't buy cheap tat, and I am now saving up for a decent anamorphic lens for the Marantz and a curved screen (only 583 more of these columns to go...). But, more importantly, I have seen the potential of genuine 1080p resolution 2.35:1 cinema and I want it bad.

Of course, it might be easier and cheaper just to buy that new Philips TV.

Via Home Cinema Choice