Vertically Mounted 16:9 Television Content

Is there any content geared toward vertical wide-screen 16:9 high definition or 4K (ultra high definition) televisions? And, I’m talking about living-room TVs of fifty-five inches or so… video games, streaming video, cable/satellite—not computer monitors.

Second question, if it’s not moot: are HD/UHD televisions currently produced able to be mounted vertically without mechanical, electrical, or other problems?

When OP says “Vertical” ( eg 9 :16 ), the industry calls it Portrait. (as per paper , photos, printing…)

Advertising is often done with vertical aka portrait screens.
The wide screen was developed to match the human field of vision … with two eyes…No one is going to produce a game or video ready to go, you can set your computer to Portrait output (Depending on the driver and chipset…maybe not all do it.) though and DIY.

Not all TV’s have the bolt holes on the back to fit on a mounting bracket.
When they do it won’t matter how you orient it.

The main brands often stipulate the screen is landscape and portrait compatible…
So look up the model. The professional models are made to be discrete and not so obviously a “TV”. This is so they can be advertising , and fitted side by side for multi-display arrangements.

I hate to nitpick such a fine and informative post, but:

  1. Stipulate does not mean state

  2. The word is discreet.

No, but it does mean “specify” which is perfect in line with his usage.

One subtle problem that you might not think of : some computer software uses what is called subpixel mapping to improve the apparent sharpness of onscreen text. When you mount the screen vertically, it messes this up.

Anyways, for computer displays, portrait mode works fine. It helps when viewing very common content - web pages, long pdf documents, and so forth tend to only be a modest width (1200 pixels wide or less) and have many pages of length. Portrait mode displays these kinds of documents much better than widescreen.

But that’s a niche case, and it isn’t “content” per say. However, it does work fine. At my desk I use 2 displays, a 30" display with a resolution of 2560x1600, and a 24" display at 1920x1200. The 24" display is mounted vertically.

How is that not content?

And yet you see 95% of people in movie theatres defeating this by sitting further away. :rolleyes:

I’m aware of most of this. But, I can think of (admittedly) few reasons to mount a living-room sized wall mount unit vertically. Certain video games, television, streaming, and 3D could be made for such.

4:3 and 3:2 monitors were often mounted vertically in coin-operated arcade machines. The Nokia N-Gage had a vertical screen. Pinball simulators can use vertical mode (Pinball Arcade for PS Vita controls suck since they rely on touch screen “buttons”–I wish the Vita and PSP had proper vertical button controls.

Theoretically, console pinball simulators could be made to mount vertically. Plus, you wouldn’t have to worry about 3D getting mucked up if you had active-shutter glasses (a selling point for me, as I want to be able to tilt my head without losing the 3D effect, despite probably not using it much…too headache inducing.).

A big concern, if 9:16 content does become more available is the televisions being able to handle the orientation for a lengthy period. For example, many earlier monitors, TVs from 1990-2005 or so said “not meant for portrait mounting.” I don’t know if the electrical components weren’t meant to be hanging from the side or what? Perhaps less of an issue with surface mount components?

I’m also curious if 4K televisions are going to look “blocky” when playing 1080p content. I would like to take the plunge early, as it’s time for me to enter the world of post-1995 televisions but I wanted to wait for the second generation of 4K models to come out in the 55" class.

Yes, they would work great for viewing webpages, since web is sized to fit the lowest common denominator of full sized screens. More bang for the buck.

I just got my eye doctor to start using subpixel rendering so things weren’t so chunky. It adds a lot of computing power but allows for a wonderful look to text. Maybe future TVs will allow you to adjust the SPR to your liking (like you can with Linux and probably most other modern Operating Systems, and change the type of post-processing and converting lower res pictures with higher. (A filter made for animation looks rediculous when used on live action.

Yeah, the manual for a TV I recently installed stated “not intended for portrait mounting” and went on to explain that some components could overheat in that configuration. Sounds like the venting was designed to allow heat to escape upwards in landscape mode, but if it were mounted in portrait mode, the heat can’t be vented adequately.

There is no general content aimed specifically at vertically mounted screens. All of the current digital signage for portrait mode is created custom, and I don’t see it ever become popular. For signage, there isn’t a sufficient need for universal content, as you can take normal content and display in a smaller window of the vertically mounted screen. It simply won’t be widely popular for the consumer market. Too little of demand for the high cost of producing content.