After reading some great sources given by you wonderful folks, I've learned a ton this week about HDTV, resolution, widescreen formats etc.

Wouldn't ya know it though, I just keep coming up with more questions.

There's an excellent idiot's guide to Anamorphic Widescreen on the Digital Bits website. Basically it explains why Anamorphic Widescreen is so great.

This begs the question: If I'm watching anamorphic widescreen in aspect ratios wider than my 16X9 TV, won't the black bars at the top and bottom cause "burn-in" over time?
Am I not then forced to either choose between "stretching" the original aspect ratio to fill the screen (poorer quality, and possible lost info) or ruin my TV? Or could it be that there isn't enough time in the day to watch enough DVD's so that these bars cause burn-in?

Maybe I'm way off here...things were so much easier when I didn't care about video...