Have you ever sat watching your OLED 4K HDR TV with smart TV bells and whistles and thought, "This is great, but wouldn't it be better if it had moving speakers?" Not so the speakers can run after you down the hallway when you go to make a cup of tea. No, it's so your TV can show films and TV in different aspect ratios, without black bars. Obviously.
Wait, what?
Okay, so normally when you're watching a movie in 21:9 aspect ratio on a TV, you'll see black bars at the top and bottom. When you switch to a Netflix stream in 16:9, the screen is completely filled. But then if you watch Fawlty Towers on UK Gold or an old movie on Talking Pictures, it'll be in 4:3 and black bars will appear on either side of the image.
Well not any more. Not on LG's watch. It's latest patent filing shows a TV with a 21:9 aspect ratio and mechanically sliding speakers. The LG TV, which was discovered by the patent-library-searching newshounds at Let's Go Digital, is supposedly set for unveiling at CES 2019 in Las Vegas.
On this TV, black bars are banished. The speakers start at the very edge of the TV when showing a movie in 21:9. They then glide inwards to frame 16:9 visuals. If you want to watch something filmed in 4:3 they'll glide even nearer the middle, at which point we suspect things will start to look rather weird, with a chunk of dead screen real estate sticking out at either end.
You don't need to press any buttons – as soon as the TV is turned on, the speakers will automatically adapt to the broadcast aspect ratio. Presumably if the next film or TV show you watch has a different aspect, it'll adjust accordingly.
There are no other details at present but there'd be no point putting an audio setup like this with a low-to-mid-range TV, so expect to see these motorised woofers straddling a 65-inch+ OLED premium beast of a telly at CES. And then don't expect to see them ever again, until you win the lottery.
LG filed this patent with WIPO Haque Express earlier this year.
Aspect ratios: a fun guide
21:9 is the true widescreen format used for most modern Hollywood films. The noticeably narrower 16:9 ratio is the one used on widescreen TVs, which is a little confusing but good news for most people who don't have hugely wide living rooms. 4:3 is what old CRT tellies used to use and was also a popular aspect ratio among many film makers in the black and white and early colour era.