Vizio is pursuing every segment of the home theater market at this year's CES. Along with announcing an updated line of mainstream HDTVs, the company has introduced a premium collection of HDTVs known as CinemaWide. That name is a natural fit for the LCD sets, which the manufacturer touts as the world's first to utilize an aspect ratio of 21:9 (something Philips may disagree with). Such unique dimensions allow movies shot in CinemaScope — the predominant method used by today's filmmakers — to be displayed without black bars. Three display sizes will be offered, and they're of the larger variety, coming in at 50, 58, and 71 inches. Edge-lit LED backlighting is in use on the smaller two, which exhibit a contrast ratio of 1,000,000 to 1. The flagship model features full array "TruLED" backlighting, resulting in superior black levels and contrast, says Vizio.

Further, its Theater 3D technology will be incorporated into the high-end family of HDTVs, with each model also bringing access to the company's V.I.A. smart TV platform. Vizio claims the CinemaWide series as the first to allow users to access the web while simultaneously viewing full-res 1080P television content in the native 16:9 format, another benefit of the ultra-widescreen design. Suffice to say, we're eager to get some time with Vizio's latest; stay tuned for impressions. Unfortunately, we've got nothing to share related to availability and pricing — the company hasn't yet released those details.