As a result of seeing distorted television images in other people's houses, if I were to decide to buy a television now my FIRST requirement would be that it should be easy to set it so that the image is not distorted when watching either widescreen films or repeats of older television programmes - black strips at the sides or top and bottom are not a problem.
My second requirement would be that it shouldn't be too big. If the newsreader's head is roughly the size of a real head then it's about right. I don't want to pretend I'm in a cinema.