I am shopping/researching for TVs and will probably buy something at the end of the year, or sometime early next year. I am trying to decide on getting a widescreen TV (16:9) or a standard (16:9) TV. I do watch a lot of DVD movies, but the widescreen TVs cost a lot more. So for the price I thought I would just get a standard (16:9) TV.

BUT...I have been noticing something the last few days. I was watching "ER" and noticed that there were black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. I also noticed several commercials were this way as well. Over the past few nights I noticed several TV shows are this way. I'm not talking about movies, but regular TV shows.

Is this some kind of new broadcasting? Will all shows start broadcasting this way in the future? Should I reconsider getting a 4:3 TV?

Justin