[IndispensableDestiny]

Ever since flat screens came out it has driven me NUTS when I go to a sports bar, someone’s home, or anywhere else, and the tv is in wide screen mode, giving black bars at the top and bottom even though the source itself is already widescreen.

That's stretching HD into a theatrical widescreen.

Black bars on top and bottom is what you must have to correctly view a widescreen movie (2.35:1 aspect ratio) on a HD screen (16:9 aspect ration).

[cuban leaf]

Yep. It’s called letterboxing. I used to buy a lot of movies on laserdisk that were letterboxed on my old 25” monitor.