What aspect ratio screen I should buy?

I would go with the one that gives you the biggest sharpest pictures regardless how big the black bands on the sides may be. I find once I start watching a movie, the rest of the screen not lit disappears.

i don't know how large your budget is but some of the higher-end screens remotely adjust to either format, leaving no "black bars."

You are going to help answer that question. If you watch mainly TV, satelite or cable 4:3 is a better choice. If you watch mainley widescreen DVD's, HDTV, or you are a widescreen nut like me, buy widescreen. Typically a 4:3 TV will be cheaper than a 16:9 TV of the same performance. The reason is they use the same boxes as their standard NTSC tv's, and marketing. Some manufacturers are not making their top performance products in 4:3 aspect ratio. Over time there should be more 16:9 programing. It is anybodies guess how long will that be. My experience is a change takes longer than you expect. I owm a 16:9 HDTV ready Tv, and the anamorphic DVD's are outstanding. I will be getting HDTV satellite TV next month, but programing is very scarce. I do not get local HDTV, (I wish). Good luck

One nice compromise TV you should consider is the Sony Wega (Vay-Guh) XBR. Those have circuitry that can vertically stretch a DVD movie should you choose. This slightly distorts the images, but does use more of your screen. I have one and find this feature makes the DVD's much more enjoyable. Now DVD's just make my 36" TV look like a 20" instead of a 13". I'm so thankful! The new generation XBR400 has built in HDTV decoding.

If you are building a Home Theater with the intention of playing DVD's, I recommend a large 50"+ widescreen TV. DVD's are the way to go, and you need a large widescreen to enjoy them. I notice that the tv show ER plays in widescreen.